As part of the Leeds Beckett Research Voices blog series Dr Anne Schiffer and Dr Tenley Martin reflect on their experiences of taking their first research sabbaticals last year – whilst supporting each other through monthly peer mentoring sessions.
Hi Anne and Tenley, When – and why – did you first start thinking about doing a sabbatical?
Anne: I remember hearing colleagues talk about five-year research plans and thinking with a slight panic ‘is this something I should have?’. I had recently been promoted to Reader and had struggled to manage my increased workload. I remember feeling like an imposter for not having this five-year plan when everyone else obviously did.
It turns out they didn’t but what is more important, I sat down and mapped out what the next five years of research might look like for me. This included how different projects could feed off each other and how to transition away from some roles and task into a more synergetic programme of research and relevant responsibilities. One of the things I included in this plan was a sabbatical which I saw as a more focused period to conduct research and create the head space and time to think.
Tenley: I had been thinking about a sabbatical ever since I started this job, wondering when that was going to be a possibility. I kept being told no until right after the end of the last Research Excellence Framework (REF) period. At that point my Director of Research assured me that sabbaticals were going to become an option and then I started to think what I would want to do during a sabbatical period.
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Find the full blog post here: https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/research-enterprise/2025/04/top-tips-research-sabbaticals/