In this blog post, Matthew Federico Becker shares more about academia and practical EU-funded projects and their impacts. He reflects on what is to be in between academia and societal impact, sharing with us the challenges and opportunities within these fields.
“Everyone is equipped with a needle. The question is whether we have the courage to use that needle. Maybe society would be kinder, more open, and more interesting if we just chose to use it more often to burst bubbles.
I am at a point in my life in which I have had enough of coming up with excuses not to use the needle – because my life is worth more to me than giving in to fear. There are enough people out there that simply cannot burst their bubble, because they do not have the resources, time, or privilege to do so, even if they wanted to. However, I do have all that. If I chose not to burst the bubble, that would make me lazy and selfish. And, if I am very honest, I want my life to be more interesting than that. I want to initiate and become part of change, by offering up my expertise and skills.
For almost my entire adult life, I have considered myself an academic. My bubble was – and still is – the university, its people, its ideas, and its idealism. I was involved in student groups, including the geographical student council, and the European Geography Association. I worked as a research assistant for two professors. I still get warm and fuzzy feelings when I think about going to the university’s cafeteria, about going to the pubs, and having fascinating discussions from the moment the city around us went to sleep until it slowly started waking up. Welcome to my world: An academic bubble of great ideas, depth, infinite potential, and a
profound sense of freedom. And yet, it still is a bubble.
Last year, I chose to use the needle. Instead of applying for PhDs, and sticking to what I knew was familiar, I got a job at a local economic development agency. I have now become a practitioner. I am a project manager, I manage projects. It is a new way of thinking, a world full of challenges and very real consequences. Most importantly, though, it is a new bubble, and it is indeed very different from the academic bubble. It is a bubble of business, businesspeople, and politics. It is no longer the big idea itself that is the point of discussion, it is an array of new questions: “Okay, great! So, what can we do with that? How can we present
it properly? Who can make that decision? And whom do we need to persuade?” I no longer work for myself, I work for a real local community, and I try my best to support it, with my skills, my experience, and my expertise.
Although I am now part of a new bubble, I never truly left my original one. I can bring in ideas from the academic bubble and enrichen my new bubble. I am not forgetting who I am. Even so, I have managed to burst my own bubble.
For me, this is what scientific communication is all about. It is about getting out of your comfort zone to help others, and to give them access to new ideas. If academia is the brain of society, it should not isolate itself. The body needs the brain to function, and the brain needs
the body to sustain itself. Mens sana in corpore sano.
Academia is about bursting your own bubble to help others burst theirs. Scientific communication is the invisible hand that guides the needle. I can only encourage other academics to do the same. In order to make change, you have to get out of the bubble of academia and slowly scratch away at others. Good ideas always need someone to implement them. I dare you to try it yourself.”
