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A more fun and kind academia with Johanna Stadlbauer (Episode 79)
Episode 7921st October 2025 • Research Adjacent • Sarah McLusky
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Johanna is a researcher developer on a mission.

Johanna Stadlbauer is Head of the Research Careers Campus at the University of Graz in Austria, offering development and support for early to mid-career researchers.

Sarah and Johanna talk about

  1. Why she wants to make academia kinder and more fun, and what that looks like in practice
  2. How being proactive helped her progress from a maternity cover contract to essentially creating her own job
  3. The anthropology research and activism that underpins her approach
  4. The importance of helping people feel seen, and free pizza!

Find out more

  1. Read the full show notes and transcript on the podcast website
  2. Connect with Johanna on LinkedIn
  3. Find out more about the Research Careers Campus and Post-Doc Office including the Communities of Curiosity Festival in April 2026


About Research Adjacent

  1. Where are you listening from? Share a pic and tag @ResearchAdjacent on LinkedIn, Instagram or BlueSky
  2. Fill out the research-adjacent careers quiz
  3. Sign up to the Research Adjacent newsletter
  4. Email a comment, question or suggestion
  5. Leave Sarah a voice message

Mentioned in this episode:

Member of the Month: Vicky Bowskill, Inklusive Nature

Vicky helps researchers and changemakers to connect nature, science & society by telling compelling visual stories. Find out more at www.inklusivenature.com

Interested in advertising on the podcast?

If you have a service, product, event, or opportunity that would be of interest to our audience get in touch via hello@researchadjacent.com to explore how we can work together.

Transcripts

Johanna Stadlbauer:

We try to create the space where we assume the people have

Johanna Stadlbauer:

skills and knowledge and know what to do.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

They just need like a sparring partner

Johanna Stadlbauer:

The Dutch universities, they have a slogan that's called Room for Everyone's Talent.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

That would mean, little bit of the loosening of the different staff

Johanna Stadlbauer:

categories and just thinking in terms of the shared mission of a university.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Although posting stuff on the internet isn't probably the way to make a big

Johanna Stadlbauer:

impact on a structural level, but I think people who read it feel seen.

Sarah McLusky:

Hello there.

Sarah McLusky:

I'm Sarah McLusky and this is Research Adjacent.

Sarah McLusky:

Each episode I talk to amazing research adjacent professionals about what

Sarah McLusky:

they do and why it makes a difference.

Sarah McLusky:

Keep listening to find out why we think the research adjacent space

Sarah McLusky:

is where the real magic happens.

Sarah McLusky:

Hello and welcome to episode 79 of the Research Adjacent podcast.

Sarah McLusky:

We are back to the usual interview format for this episode, and I feel

Sarah McLusky:

like if you spend any time at all hanging around on LinkedIn, you will

Sarah McLusky:

probably have already come across today's guest, Johanna Stadlbauer.

Sarah McLusky:

With a mission to make academia kinder and more fun, her posts certainly embody

Sarah McLusky:

that blending compassionate advice with the odd horse or elk picture.

Sarah McLusky:

And if you're not already connected with her, then use the link in the

Sarah McLusky:

show notes to go and find her now.

Sarah McLusky:

Johanna also brings this spirit to her day job, which is running

Sarah McLusky:

the Research Careers Campus at the University of Graz in Austria.

Sarah McLusky:

Their holistic development program for early to mid career researchers offers

Sarah McLusky:

everything from microgrants and training to writing retreats and yoga sessions.

Sarah McLusky:

You can get a good sense of Johanna's ethos in the lineup for their Communities

Sarah McLusky:

of Curiosity Festival in April.

Sarah McLusky:

And again, you'll find a link to that in the show notes as well.

Sarah McLusky:

In our conversation, we talk about how she transitioned from anthropology

Sarah McLusky:

research to researcher development, the ethos and activism that underpins what

Sarah McLusky:

she does and why free pizza is always a good way to bring people together.

Sarah McLusky:

Listen on to hear Johanna's story.

Sarah McLusky:

Welcome along to the podcast, Johanna.

Sarah McLusky:

It is fantastic to have you here as a guest.

Sarah McLusky:

And I wonder if we could begin by just hearing a bit about

Sarah McLusky:

who you are and what you do.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Yes.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Thank you so much, Sarah.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

I'm very excited because I've been following your podcast and you

Johanna Stadlbauer:

following you for quite a while.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So I feel very honored that you give me this 30 minutes to talk about myself today

Johanna Stadlbauer:

and to have this conversation with you.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So my current job is I lead a unit for researcher development.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

We work with people from PhD candidates, actually earlier than that, Masters

Johanna Stadlbauer:

students who would be interested in doing a PhD are a lot of our bread and butter,

Johanna Stadlbauer:

but generally we, we develop from PhD candidates to tenure track staff and

Johanna Stadlbauer:

we offer them events, funding, small microgrants, networking opportunities,

Johanna Stadlbauer:

more structured programmmes, retreats like the writing retreat, networking

Johanna Stadlbauer:

opportunities and all normal skills workshop, which are one or two days.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And also a listening ear and quick and easy advice if they shoot us an email

Johanna Stadlbauer:

or a longer term brainstorming sessions.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Anything they need to make the next step in their career.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And so I lead this unit, which is called Research Careers

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Campus, and was established on the first of April this year.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And before that, I was in the same team but responsible for

Johanna Stadlbauer:

establishing the Postdoc Office.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Which still exists just now as part of this unit.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And my colleagues or my team are will be soon eight people.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

They're all researcher developers and we're also recruiting an

Johanna Stadlbauer:

administrative officer or operations professional right now to help us with

Johanna Stadlbauer:

the 40 plus workshops we do a year.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And sending over all that funding, all these mini grants for the people

Johanna Stadlbauer:

to do their research trips and organized conferences and so on.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So that's my job.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So maybe just for context, the University of Graz is in Austria and

Johanna Stadlbauer:

is Austria's second largest university.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

It's been around for many hundreds of years and it has 30,000 students and it

Johanna Stadlbauer:

has about 4,000 staff members, no, 3,200 academic staff and 4,700 staff overall.

Sarah McLusky:

That's, yeah.

Sarah McLusky:

So it's a big operation.

Sarah McLusky:

Yeah.

Sarah McLusky:

Fantastic.

Sarah McLusky:

And you said that the, this Research Careers Campus is a new unit, a

Sarah McLusky:

new thing that's in existence.

Sarah McLusky:

What was the rationale behind it?

Sarah McLusky:

Why did the university want to set up a unit like this?

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So since 2011, we had services for our PhD candidates.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

That was roughly the time in Austria where the first of these services were made.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

The first was made at the University of Vienna quite a few

Johanna Stadlbauer:

years earlier, I think maybe 2008.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And then we came, I think second and that was the time of the Salzberg

Johanna Stadlbauer:

principles and of in general thinking about how to structure doctoral

Johanna Stadlbauer:

education to create well-rounded researchers and also well-rounded

Johanna Stadlbauer:

professionals for other sectors.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Basically, what is doctoral education for and how do we do it

Johanna Stadlbauer:

so that we create excellent talent.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And after that, I'd say was the time of the postdocs.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So in Austria in 2016 the first association was formed that would

Johanna Stadlbauer:

care for this later career stage.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And then we came in 2022, was when we established the Postoc Office and now in

Johanna Stadlbauer:

our higher education context is the time for the mid-career researchers, let's say,

Johanna Stadlbauer:

as, as far as I can understand the trends.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

We've, managed to get the university on board to also cater now to people

Johanna Stadlbauer:

who are currently fulfilling tenure track agreements so that they can be

Johanna Stadlbauer:

made permanent and also try to think of an even later career stage and

Johanna Stadlbauer:

how can we engage with researchers who are already rather established

Johanna Stadlbauer:

in their careers but might still want good professional development and you

Johanna Stadlbauer:

asked me before we talked what else is around in terms of staff development

Johanna Stadlbauer:

and our university has had leadership development as many universities

Johanna Stadlbauer:

have from the staff development unit.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So that's attached to HR and that's been always around.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So this support for the tenure track phase and for PIs has

Johanna Stadlbauer:

been always in existence only.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

It is a smaller subsection of the general staff development and HR

Johanna Stadlbauer:

operations, and we are now since 2025, basically the central institution

Johanna Stadlbauer:

for this academic career support.

Sarah McLusky:

Yeah.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So we all have a background ourselves in research and

Johanna Stadlbauer:

we are like try to be on eye level with the researchers if they wanted.

Sarah McLusky:

Yeah, it makes sense.

Sarah McLusky:

And you've said that it's, now that it's come together because of this

Sarah McLusky:

understanding that, it's not just early career researchers that need support,

Sarah McLusky:

it's more mid-level senior researchers as well who need professional development

Sarah McLusky:

and certainly are, there's some situations I've been in where you, you find yourself

Sarah McLusky:

thinking, yeah, it's not really the younger ones that need this training.

Sarah McLusky:

Some of the older ones definitely need this training as well.

Sarah McLusky:

But yeah, I think it is interesting that direction of travel.

Sarah McLusky:

I think I've noticed that in the UK as well as people starting to say

Sarah McLusky:

why are the PhD students in the early career researchers getting everything?

Sarah McLusky:

What about other people.

Sarah McLusky:

And one thing that I think, I'm particularly interested in is not

Sarah McLusky:

just what about the mid-career and senior researchers, but what about

Sarah McLusky:

all the people who are working to support the research as well?

Sarah McLusky:

So people like you, people like researcher developers.

Sarah McLusky:

What professional support are they getting?

Sarah McLusky:

Is that something that's on the radar at all in Austria?

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So we have no technician commitment

Johanna Stadlbauer:

or something like that.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And I don't think we have as of yet, a large that's not actually true

Johanna Stadlbauer:

there, there have been already since the Doc services at the university.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So the PhD services started also professional networking activities,

Johanna Stadlbauer:

for example, professionals in doctoral education as it was called then.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So that's started, I think in Austria and is all over Europe.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And now this PRIDE network has also spawned one for postdoc

Johanna Stadlbauer:

development professionals.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So the awareness and associations are certainly there.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And in terms of where can we get our own development from our own institutions.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

That would always be within HR and staff development.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So they offer the normal, what's called internal development opportunities.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So workshops from project management to leadership.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So for example, my colleague Gerald and me so we are now head and deputy,

Johanna Stadlbauer:

head of this unit, which we would just enrolled in this normal leadership

Johanna Stadlbauer:

development at our university.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And now we had the pleasure of doing a leadership workshop with new PIs.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

They're all together.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

All the staff groups get developed together in, in terms of leadership and

Johanna Stadlbauer:

that's been going for a long time as well.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So I suppose in Austria, if you are a research professional services

Johanna Stadlbauer:

person you'd get your professional development from your own HR staff

Johanna Stadlbauer:

development unit, and also within european and German speaking networks.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So there is another called UNIWIND which is an association of all the graduate

Johanna Stadlbauer:

centers in the German speaking countries.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Austrian, Switzerland are associated partners.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So we can also go to their yearly meet ups where all the people in our job

Johanna Stadlbauer:

get together who work with researchers.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So when I came here, which was in 2020, the team has,

Johanna Stadlbauer:

that has been here since 2011.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

They would be part of all the relevant networks and would

Johanna Stadlbauer:

regularly get professional development from these networks.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Another one is COIMBRA, which is a network of many universities in

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Europe and they also have a working group for doctoral education.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And also there's university alliances, so the European University Alliances

Johanna Stadlbauer:

every university in Europe is in one of these alliances, and there are, if you

Johanna Stadlbauer:

have a working group in your alliance for PhDs and postdocs, you will meet

Johanna Stadlbauer:

your opposites at the other universities.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And that's also a form of professional development.

Sarah McLusky:

Yeah.

Sarah McLusky:

Oh, that also sounds really useful.

Sarah McLusky:

Yeah, it's great to know that it isn't just the researchers that

Sarah McLusky:

are getting all the attention.

Sarah McLusky:

There's also something for the whole research community.

Sarah McLusky:

'cause that's how I like to think of it is as a whole team that does the

Sarah McLusky:

research rather than just the researchers.

Sarah McLusky:

So we first connected via LinkedIn and I particularly love that your,

Sarah McLusky:

your kind of tagline on LinkedIn is to make academia more fun and more kind.

Sarah McLusky:

Tell me a bit about that and how you're bringing it into

Sarah McLusky:

the work that you're doing now.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

That stems a bit from my own experience as a postdoc and

Johanna Stadlbauer:

from my own experience going through the different contracts I had in academia.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

I graduated with a PhD in 2014 and I was a PhD candidate employed

Johanna Stadlbauer:

from 2012 on, and no one ever told me much about how to do stuff.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And I was always the only PhD or postdoc at my department.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So I took part in all the women's empowerment programmmes and tried to

Johanna Stadlbauer:

build peer networks and try to learn from modeling what other people did.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And sometimes I will get rejected when I wanted to do something collegial or

Johanna Stadlbauer:

when I wanted to do something for, just for the sake of it, because people had

Johanna Stadlbauer:

the milestones they had to achieve and couldn't do the collegial, solidarity

Johanna Stadlbauer:

type thing that I wanted to do.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And also I was really stressed out by the workload and so when I came back to

Johanna Stadlbauer:

the university in this role I'm having now or in this role I had before I came

Johanna Stadlbauer:

into the, this leadership role, I thought how will I survive being confronted

Johanna Stadlbauer:

with all these stressed academics, of which I was one just a few years ago.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And I, so I just make this work that I do and my communications and the spaces

Johanna Stadlbauer:

that we create as relaxing as possible.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And I was in for example, a women's network, which was meant to be like an

Johanna Stadlbauer:

accountability group where you would push yourself for the next career steps.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And I got so stressed out in this group because they were always telling

Johanna Stadlbauer:

me, ah, you need to be more firm with your boss, or you need to do this and

Johanna Stadlbauer:

this, and set your boundaries and.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

That pushed me almost to the brink of burnout with all that other stuff I had.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Not that this group was had a part in that, but the messaging

Johanna Stadlbauer:

you have to do didn't help me.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So that's what I try not to do.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And we try to create the space where we assume the people have skills

Johanna Stadlbauer:

and knowledge and know what to do.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

They just need like a sparring partner and they need a good pizza, and they need

Johanna Stadlbauer:

three nights in a hotel so that they can focus on their writing and they maybe

Johanna Stadlbauer:

need some sauna and yoga and they need some fun enjoyment where they can be

Johanna Stadlbauer:

together and also build good networks.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So we never do anything where you wouldn't get something tangible out of it.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

But we always try create an atmosphere that's somehow nourishing

Johanna Stadlbauer:

and not stressing people out.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And we offer many external coaches and trainers and we try to select them.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So that they have messages that focus on the innate talent and skills and

Johanna Stadlbauer:

motivation of the people and less on like it's a rat race and you will not

Johanna Stadlbauer:

survive if you don't work 60 hours.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And also, so we look at the good things the the good life, the nourishing

Johanna Stadlbauer:

aspect, the joy in your work, and how we can create a space where people can

Johanna Stadlbauer:

tap into that basically without, we also talk about the bad things and the

Johanna Stadlbauer:

challenging things but we don't say this is necessarily the way it needs to be,

Johanna Stadlbauer:

and, for example we will have, people will approach me and say, I've experienced an

Johanna Stadlbauer:

instance of power abuse in my last job.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Can you tell me if I could talk to someone to find out what actually happened?

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So people know that they can approach us for the hard things, for the burnout type

Johanna Stadlbauer:

things, for the people not doing they're duty towards you, for stress and overload.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

They know that they can talk to us about it, but we don't go around

Johanna Stadlbauer:

and say academia is only for the very hard people or something.

Sarah McLusky:

Yeah.

Sarah McLusky:

And how is that received?

Sarah McLusky:

To me it sounds amazing and I think some people listening might already

Sarah McLusky:

know that I'm a yoga teacher.

Sarah McLusky:

I'd be like, yes, sign me up for all of this stuff.

Sarah McLusky:

But how do people react coming in?

Sarah McLusky:

Because that's potentially quite different to what people expect from

Sarah McLusky:

a professional development programmme.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

It, they can get their normal workshops on how to become

Johanna Stadlbauer:

tenured and they can get 2000 euro for a conference or for a research

Johanna Stadlbauer:

trip and some only want the 2000 Euro.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

That's fine.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

If you are in a very vibrant lab and your PI takes care of your journey

Johanna Stadlbauer:

and you just need a further 2000 euro, you can get it from us and if

Johanna Stadlbauer:

you need coaching with someone who really pushes you to the next step.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

You can also get it from us, but if you are seeking for some feminist academic

Johanna Stadlbauer:

sisterhood, you can also get it from us.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So I haven't had I, I suppose the people who feel this is different, they'll

Johanna Stadlbauer:

just take the money and the workshops.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Yeah.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And they will still come to the pizza because pizza is networking, yeah.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And everyone likes a good free pizza.

Sarah McLusky:

Absolutely.

Sarah McLusky:

Yeah.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Even people who are here a very short amount of

Johanna Stadlbauer:

time will find their way to us and will get the message very quickly.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

That they can talk about these things or that they, can meet people or that they

Johanna Stadlbauer:

can do startup groups to do together.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So we have this writing group that's open every Friday and people come

Johanna Stadlbauer:

up with all sorts of other groups.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And we also support this peer grouping a lot.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So there's like mothers in science.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

We try to give them, for example, money for speakers, or we try to give them the

Johanna Stadlbauer:

space to meet or we pay for a buffet.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

There's Open Science Graz.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

There's many other self-built organizations where we just

Johanna Stadlbauer:

try to support a little bit.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So people who are into that and get the message that they can get it here.

Sarah McLusky:

It's good that there's there's options for everybody depending

Sarah McLusky:

on their preferences, which sounds really, yeah, really important.

Sarah McLusky:

'Cause that's one of the most important things about

Sarah McLusky:

professional development, isn't it?

Sarah McLusky:

Is that everybody finds their path and they get the support

Sarah McLusky:

that they need because it isn't a one size fits all kind of thing.

Sarah McLusky:

Yeah.

Sarah McLusky:

Excellent.

Sarah McLusky:

You've said there, you've hinted at the fact that you

Sarah McLusky:

were a researcher in the past.

Sarah McLusky:

Tell us a bit about your journey what you did and how you've

Sarah McLusky:

ended up where you are now.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Yes.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So I've already said, so I'm an anthropologist, a cultural anthropologist,

Johanna Stadlbauer:

which means you do qualitative research and you talk to people about their lives

Johanna Stadlbauer:

and you're interested in the everyday, and you're also interested in the

Johanna Stadlbauer:

things like capitalism and larger scale societal power structures, let's say.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So I think that prepares one very well for everything.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And my PhD research was actually on expatriates.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So people who work in international companies who get sent around and do

Johanna Stadlbauer:

these 1, 2, 3 year contracts abroad and bring their family with them.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So in that sense I know already from empirically research how

Johanna Stadlbauer:

it is to move every three years.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And it was also I had a gender studies component in there that

Johanna Stadlbauer:

also relates to what I do right now because academia and inequalities

Johanna Stadlbauer:

are very much should be thought together if you think about careers.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So you have to think about who gets to, do which things and who, which

Johanna Stadlbauer:

people maybe are, act actively hindered by the way the system is right now.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So I'd say that PhD and the research topics I did prepared me a little

Johanna Stadlbauer:

bit for this and what led me to this professional path was all these

Johanna Stadlbauer:

peer grouping activities I did, I think and all the trainings I took

Johanna Stadlbauer:

that the university offered already to researchers because before the

Johanna Stadlbauer:

professional research development units were built, we've had women's

Johanna Stadlbauer:

empowerment units for about 30 years.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And they.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Did everything from leadership development to, trying to fix the

Johanna Stadlbauer:

leaky pipeline by giving you mentorship opportunities and all of that.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So I took every opportunity that they offered and I also modeled myself a

Johanna Stadlbauer:

little bit after the person who was the main figure in our University of

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Graz equality office because she had this one-on-one interest in you and

Johanna Stadlbauer:

she would just also open her networks to you and she'd also take no shit.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So she would be like, if you, don't show up to one of the

Johanna Stadlbauer:

workshops you're on my blue list.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And so that's good.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

If you know who you are engaging with, you are really taking the opportunities

Johanna Stadlbauer:

they give you also seriously, because you know who will think about you

Johanna Stadlbauer:

not showing up to that workshop.

Sarah McLusky:

Yes.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And so through a mentoring programmme there and through

Johanna Stadlbauer:

the interventions of this woman, I was also able to make the step out

Johanna Stadlbauer:

of academia when I quit my postdoc job that I got after my PhD job.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And set myself on the path to creating more educational programmmes from

Johanna Stadlbauer:

research, so after I decided not to continue with my postdoc I switched

Johanna Stadlbauer:

to work with NGOs where we would do research on violence prevention and

Johanna Stadlbauer:

then make training programmmes for professionals from this research.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And then I worked in the equality offices as well at two different universities.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

One in Germany and one in Austria.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And in Austria I was responsible for starting a project towards

Johanna Stadlbauer:

a non-binary university.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So how all areas of the university could recognize that there are people

Johanna Stadlbauer:

who are neither men or women, and, how that would work in IT, how that

Johanna Stadlbauer:

would work in teaching and so on.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And that was a very short project.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And the other one was a longer project about creating a portal against

Johanna Stadlbauer:

sexualized harassment on campus.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And that also necessitated going through the whole institution from director to

Johanna Stadlbauer:

IT service to the deans to individual researchers and see how they position

Johanna Stadlbauer:

themselves against sexualized harassment and then build an informational portal

Johanna Stadlbauer:

that people could get information for if they are affected themselves, if they want

Johanna Stadlbauer:

to be an ally to someone who is affected, if they want to create environments

Johanna Stadlbauer:

that are a culture of care against this.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So I did some organizational development for a few years, and

Johanna Stadlbauer:

then I got a maternity leave cover in 2020 in the Doc service here.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So in the unit that served then doctoral researchers and then was tasked by

Johanna Stadlbauer:

the man who is now the president of the Austrian Science Fund, who was

Johanna Stadlbauer:

then the vice director for research with building up postdoc services.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And then after I had done that successfully we widened our remit,

Johanna Stadlbauer:

and I was promoted to be the leader of this unit we have built now.

Sarah McLusky:

Yeah it really makes sense.

Sarah McLusky:

Everything from the research that you did.

Sarah McLusky:

I know that sometimes when we look at our careers, you go, oh, it went all over the

Sarah McLusky:

place, but to me it really makes sense.

Sarah McLusky:

You clearly had this really deep interest in helping people to progress,

Sarah McLusky:

whether that's, going right back to the impact that moving around, with

Sarah McLusky:

jobs has on people up to the impact that gender has on how people show up

Sarah McLusky:

in the workplace and how the workplace accepts and supports those people.

Sarah McLusky:

So it makes sense that you've ended up doing career related type stuff now.

Sarah McLusky:

Does it feel like it makes sense to you or is that just looking back it makes sense?

Johanna Stadlbauer:

I know my job that I have right now is, the

Johanna Stadlbauer:

mix of everything I did before.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So in that sense, it makes sense.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So there's really nothing I did that doesn't fit into this job.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And I basically created this job myself.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So it's not a surprise that it encompasses everything that I like to do.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And I wouldn't say I have an innate love of helping people.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

I would maybe more say I have an innate love of talking and writing

Johanna Stadlbauer:

and creating knowledge and imparting it, and also engaging with people and

Johanna Stadlbauer:

doing stuff collaboratively and getting to, set my own agenda a little bit.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

But obviously my job is to help people very much.

Sarah McLusky:

No that's, that's really, that's really fascinating because,

Sarah McLusky:

because yeah so it's almost like you, you approach all this career related stuff,

Sarah McLusky:

then maybe from a slight remove then.

Sarah McLusky:

You're more taking a kind of cooler, more theoretical approach to it than

Sarah McLusky:

necessarily just in there to help people.

Sarah McLusky:

Yeah.

Sarah McLusky:

That's fascinating.

Sarah McLusky:

Love it.

Sarah McLusky:

I also love, I often say to people that doing a maternity cover is a really

Sarah McLusky:

good way to get a foot in the door.

Sarah McLusky:

And I think, yeah you've proved it, but to be in a position where you've essentially

Sarah McLusky:

created your own job is fantastic.

Sarah McLusky:

I've on occasion, been in that position myself and it can be

Sarah McLusky:

a very satisfying place to be.

Sarah McLusky:

Although it isn't always sunshine and roses is it, isn't always exactly how you

Sarah McLusky:

expect even when you design your own job.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

No.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So the maternity cover was actually, you asked the, when you when we

Johanna Stadlbauer:

talked about beforehand, what we would talk about, there is also a bullet

Johanna Stadlbauer:

point called challenges you faced.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Yes.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

One of my bullet points for that is maternity covers.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Because I was always bit stressed out when I had a temporary role and

Johanna Stadlbauer:

especially a maternity cover in Austria is you don't actually know how long

Johanna Stadlbauer:

the contract will be until the person has birthed their child and then they

Johanna Stadlbauer:

get to determine how long they are out.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And that sort of, so you have a few times that your contract duration is

Johanna Stadlbauer:

being renegotiated depending on the needs of the person who is on leave

Johanna Stadlbauer:

. I just was, I always was really proactive in what I want out of

Johanna Stadlbauer:

this maternity cover and what I would like for myself afterwards.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And I know when they employed me in 2020, someone told me, oh,

Johanna Stadlbauer:

this will not lead to anything.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

But thankfully we were able to make it lead to something and in no

Johanna Stadlbauer:

small part from my advocacy and in showing the hard work that I did.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

I think that's also the key there.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And in fact my boss at that time told me she was a little bit overwhelmed

Johanna Stadlbauer:

by me advocating for myself so often because I came regularly and said,

Johanna Stadlbauer:

so what do you think needs to change?

Johanna Stadlbauer:

That we get another position in here?

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And yes, you have to strike a balance in that you don't piss

Johanna Stadlbauer:

off your superiors by being too proactive, but also show them there

Johanna Stadlbauer:

is actually something I could do here.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And, there is a need for that in that institution.

Sarah McLusky:

Yeah.

Sarah McLusky:

Oh, interesting that you might be perceived sometimes

Sarah McLusky:

as being too proactive.

Sarah McLusky:

That's not something that people often complain about.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Says more about me, I think because at that time I

Johanna Stadlbauer:

was already 35 or 36, and I thought.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

What I actually want is a permanent role.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And I would like this to be here.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Yeah.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And so I was also more communicating and see these other conditions

Johanna Stadlbauer:

in which I would like to work.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And can you somehow tell me what to do?

Johanna Stadlbauer:

That we can meet this conditions together?

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So I was 35.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

It was being more, on my own terms.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And I knew that I could do things and that people would need these

Johanna Stadlbauer:

things so I was selling myself.

Sarah McLusky:

Yeah.

Sarah McLusky:

Yeah.

Sarah McLusky:

Oh it's clearly worked well where you are now.

Sarah McLusky:

And one of the other things I encouraged you to think about before

Sarah McLusky:

we came on the conversation as well, is what you're most proud of.

Sarah McLusky:

What did you come up with there?

Johanna Stadlbauer:

That was lovely to think about.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And actually I had something from my time in academia because I quit this

Johanna Stadlbauer:

postdoc was a six year postdoc role, and I quit it after two years, but I

Johanna Stadlbauer:

quit it in 2016 and in 2015 I was a keynote speaker at the conference with

Johanna Stadlbauer:

500 people and it was the Berlin Methods Meeting, which is a very, in the people

Johanna Stadlbauer:

who do qualitative research, it's a very prestigious very nice conference.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And I really enjoyed being that keynote speaker there.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And on a qualitative approach that is very niche and.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

I thought that's nice that I can go out on a high and this research I did on this

Johanna Stadlbauer:

very niche approach is still being quoted and I still get some people who approach

Johanna Stadlbauer:

me and want me to do workshops in that.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And so I think the little I did as a researcher has actually made a big impact.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

At least for the people who are interested in this specific topic.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So I'm proud of that and I'm proud of this portal against sexualized

Johanna Stadlbauer:

harassment that I created in 2020 because that's also still around.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And that's something I always wanted when I was a researcher, that I

Johanna Stadlbauer:

could see an immediate impact and an immediate use case for what I did.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

If you work against sexualized harassment, you never have to ask

Johanna Stadlbauer:

yourself, why are you doing it?

Sarah McLusky:

No, absolutely.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So the societal impact is immediately apparent and that's

Johanna Stadlbauer:

also cool that they still have that.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Yeah.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

On a related note, I'm also proud that everyone I ever worked with would

Johanna Stadlbauer:

still be available as a networking contact and has yeah, got gotten a good

Johanna Stadlbauer:

impression of me and that I left some things that are still there, basically.

Sarah McLusky:

Yeah.

Sarah McLusky:

Yeah.

Sarah McLusky:

But you've left a positive impact on the world it sounds.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Yeah, people still contact me sometimes

Johanna Stadlbauer:

and I can also contact them.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So that's nice.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And that's also useful for my work right now because people who are researchers who

Johanna Stadlbauer:

are now department chairs, for example, I can invite them as experts for our

Johanna Stadlbauer:

postdocs or for our tenure track staff.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And that's very useful.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And what I'm also proud of is the, this LinkedIn sideline I have, which

Johanna Stadlbauer:

is also how you found me probably.

Sarah McLusky:

Yeah.

Sarah McLusky:

Why, what was it about LinkedIn that made you want to just go for it and start

Sarah McLusky:

building a network there and posting?

Johanna Stadlbauer:

We got an evaluation as a unit from external

Johanna Stadlbauer:

evaluators, and they said now's the time you should grow on social media.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And that really social media is where you could also service

Johanna Stadlbauer:

your target group, so to say.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And so I took that and tried to do it strategically and read a short

Johanna Stadlbauer:

thing from an ad agency or from a marketing agency on how to do LinkedIn.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And then I just did it.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And then I thought since I have, I don't have a Facebook

Johanna Stadlbauer:

or an Instagram or anything.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So that was basically my first foray into how to, put the

Johanna Stadlbauer:

picture of yourself online.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

I think I just enjoy the attention as well because of no other social media.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And then it, I could see, since I did it with a goal, I could see that this

Johanna Stadlbauer:

goal is being fulfilled so that, our researchers actually take notice of it.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Researchers we maybe want to recruit also take notice of it.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

My colleagues take notice of it.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And the people in the university who we engage with regularly

Johanna Stadlbauer:

started taking me more seriously.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

It had many positive benefits and that's why I kept at it.

Sarah McLusky:

Yeah.

Sarah McLusky:

Oh definitely.

Sarah McLusky:

For anybody listening who isn't already connected with you on

Sarah McLusky:

LinkedIn, I can definitely recommend going and finding Johanna there.

Sarah McLusky:

We'll put the link to your profile in the show notes.

Sarah McLusky:

People can come and connect with you there.

Sarah McLusky:

You post really, like with this whole fun idea.

Sarah McLusky:

Yeah.

Sarah McLusky:

You post some stuff that's perhaps a little bit out of the ordinary for

Sarah McLusky:

LinkedIn, so definitely worth a visit.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Yeah.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And there's also a way to maybe shape the research culture a

Johanna Stadlbauer:

little bit through conversations.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Although posting stuff on the internet isn't probably the way to make a big

Johanna Stadlbauer:

impact on a structural level, but I think people who read it feel seen.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And they get a different message than the ones I got when I was a postdoc,

Johanna Stadlbauer:

and that must be worth something.

Sarah McLusky:

So yeah, I think well, change starts with people, doesn't it?

Sarah McLusky:

It starts with people deciding that they want things to be different,

Sarah McLusky:

and sometimes you have to start having those conversations first,

Sarah McLusky:

or planting the seeds, planting the ideas before change actually happens.

Sarah McLusky:

So I think it's useful.

Sarah McLusky:

I think it's changing things maybe just a little bit, but

Sarah McLusky:

it's definitely changing things.

Sarah McLusky:

So speaking of changing things, I do like to ask my guests, if you had

Sarah McLusky:

a magic wand, what would you change about the world that you work in?

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Also a very difficult question.

Sarah McLusky:

Yeah.

Sarah McLusky:

That's why I love it.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

I put down, make it more collaborative and less hierarchical.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So make academia maybe more like in the spirit of the Dutch universities,

Johanna Stadlbauer:

they have a slogan that's called Room for Everyone's Talent.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

That would mean, little bit of the loosening of the different staff

Johanna Stadlbauer:

categories and just thinking in terms of the shared mission of a

Johanna Stadlbauer:

university and how everyone can contribute to the shared mission.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And that means also everyone can take the organizational development

Johanna Stadlbauer:

into their own hands so everyone gets rewarded and acknowledged for the

Johanna Stadlbauer:

things they do for their institution.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So that would mean professors take on the mentoring and don't see it as a

Johanna Stadlbauer:

burden in the fulfillment of all the other things that need to be achieved.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

That means research support gets together with established academics

Johanna Stadlbauer:

and co-create the institutions.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

That means technicians are recognized, that means PhD candidates are

Johanna Stadlbauer:

recognized and they all get into how to create these structures.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Basically though universities are democratic institutions and they

Johanna Stadlbauer:

already have the different committees in which you do that, just to see

Johanna Stadlbauer:

that being more rewarded and just to see that spirit maybe more.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And that people don't feel that they need to look down on someone and put someone

Johanna Stadlbauer:

down just to maintain their own position.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

It's very naive, but I think you sort of learn to move through these hierarchies

Johanna Stadlbauer:

by insisting on these spaces which are exclusive and that thereby you

Johanna Stadlbauer:

are in the inner circle and you are creating an outer circle and you're

Johanna Stadlbauer:

trained to do it through many instances.

Sarah McLusky:

Yeah, I think, as you say, it's, you say maybe naive, but it is a

Sarah McLusky:

magic wand, so you're allowed to dream.

Sarah McLusky:

But yeah, I think it is really interesting that we're trying to, it is almost baked

Sarah McLusky:

into the whole idea of a university, that it is to some extent exclusive.

Sarah McLusky:

It's like you have to be really clever or really special or whatever

Sarah McLusky:

to go to university and it's still seen as that within society.

Sarah McLusky:

But then that just as you say, reinforces some of these barriers and hierarchies,

Sarah McLusky:

which are yeah, definitely standing in the way of making progress in some of the

Sarah McLusky:

ways that I think we need to, but yes.

Sarah McLusky:

So that sounds like an excellent use of the research adjacent magic wand.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Oh, thank you.

Sarah McLusky:

Just thinking about wrapping up our conversation.

Sarah McLusky:

So yeah, so the best place to find you online then is LinkedIn.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Yes, LinkedIn.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And we also regularly do interview series.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Sometimes it's interviews with postdocs about their journeys

Johanna Stadlbauer:

after the stint with us.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And sometimes it's interviewing people from the University of Graz

Johanna Stadlbauer:

who have also research experience and now work with researchers.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

So that would be the library, open access professionals, the gender equality

Johanna Stadlbauer:

professionals, the research managers, research development professionals.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And these interviews are always archived on our website, and most of them are

Johanna Stadlbauer:

in our blog, which is the RCC blog.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

And you could post a link to that.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

That has 124 or 130 entries already.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Small snippets, that would be an archive of everything

Johanna Stadlbauer:

I've ever posted on LinkedIn.

Sarah McLusky:

Fantastic.

Sarah McLusky:

Although that sounds like really useful resource 'cause that sounds essentially

Sarah McLusky:

quite like Research Adjacent but just within University of Graz yeah.

Sarah McLusky:

Fantastic.

Sarah McLusky:

We'll get a link for that and put it in the show notes as well.

Sarah McLusky:

And yeah, so thank you so much for coming along and sharing your story and sharing a

Sarah McLusky:

bit about what things are like in Austria.

Sarah McLusky:

It's fascinating.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

Thank you Sarah.

Johanna Stadlbauer:

That's was so great to get given the space.

Sarah McLusky:

Thanks for listening to Research Adjacent.

Sarah McLusky:

If you're listening in a podcast app, please check you're subscribed and then

Sarah McLusky:

use the links in the episode description to find full show notes and to follow

Sarah McLusky:

the podcast on LinkedIn or Instagram.

Sarah McLusky:

You can also find all the links and other episodes at www.researchadjacent.com.

Sarah McLusky:

Research Adjacent is presented and produced by Sarah McLusky,

Sarah McLusky:

and the theme music is by Lemon Music Studios on Pixabay.

Sarah McLusky:

And you, yes you, get a big gold star for listening right to the end.

Sarah McLusky:

See you next time.

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