Essay 03: How to run a successful lab
Over the past 15 years, Sonja Curtis has helped take CASA from a two-man team to a leading force in the science of smart cities. She shares her advice for new institutes and research labs.
Comparing the growth of CASA to a small startup company is perhaps the best analogy
Fifteen years in the same job isn’t something I ever envisaged earlier in my career, but then I’d never worked anywhere like the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA) before. During that time, my role has developed and evolved enormously as the department has grown.
In the early days, there were two permanent members of staff: one academic – Mike Batty, who founded it – and one administrator – me. My role encompassed every aspect of administration, from human resources, graphic design, web design, event management and finance to research grants, PhD administration and purchasing. No two days were the same.
As a research centre, most of the staff worked on short-term contracts and it was always a challenge keeping the funding coming in order to retain people. It wasn’t always possible, of course – but it’s rewarding to see the career paths of many who started here have taken since. CASA alumni have academic posts all over the world. Some have their own companies, some work with government departments and others work with international organisations. And Andrew Hudson-Smith, who was one of CASA’s PhD students when I started, is now a Professor, Director of CASA and Deputy Academic Lead for UCL East.
We started offering postgraduate taught courses at CASA a few years ago, and these have proven extremely popular. It’s enabled us to secure an additional eight permanent academic posts and five administrative staff. It really is a close-knit team and it’s fantastic to be part of a place that’s training up the new leaders in these fields. The Master’s students are as much a part of CASA as the rest of us.
There’s a solid administration team in place now, too, which is very pleasing. Lisa Cooper heads up the academic administration, Alasdair Tatam leads on finance and research administration, Carol Trent is our executive assistant and Yuefeng Jiang is our data and IT technician. They’re all brilliant and I want to provide as many opportunities as possible for their future career development.
Comparing the growth of CASA to a small startup company is perhaps the best analogy. It’s been a tireless effort from everyone since the outset. We come from a wide range of backgrounds, with very different personalities, and all with something unique to offer. When it’s all hands on deck, everyone downs tools and offers to help, whatever their role. It’s the people that make CASA great.
If I was to give advice to a new institute, I’d say: you need to be prepared to put in the hours. Choose your staff carefully and treat them well. Plan, and continually revise plans, for the short, medium and long term, and be prepared to adapt to change and obstacles along the way. It won’t all be plain sailing, by any means, but some of the best team-building may arise from challenging situations, and some of the best discussions might happen letting off steam down the pub at the end of the week. And, of course, if you can, appoint a top-class department manager who’s committed to the long haul to ensure the Institute succeeds.
Sonja Curtis is Department Manager of the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA).
s.curtis@ucl.ac.uk
Infographic
Download 'Critical Mass', our Annual Review data breakdown