Research management
Working as a research manager in Germany
© shironosov / iStock.com
Research managers are needed wherever research takes place. This article provides insight into the tasks research managers perform, which employers are suitable, how they are paid and future career prospects.
Updated: 2025-05-13
What is research management?
Research or academic management is an element of scientific management and serves to assist and support researchers in their projects by taking administrative tasks off their hands. It thus establishes the conditions at research institutions that are necessary for the promotion of cooperation, supporting all parties in the development and achievement of common goals. Whereas research and administration used to be strictly separated, research management is now the interface that merges these two areas.
Difference between a research manager and a research officer
While research managers take on a full palette of tasks in the strategic and operational areas and are responsible for overall parameters, research officers usually work on clearly defined tasks in the consultative area.
Tasks in research management
While research managers are responsible for a wide range of tasks, most of them fall into the category of project management. According to Dr. Annette Mayer, a professor at the Technical University of Berlin and head of Scientific Continuing Education and Cooperation (ZEWK), the following concrete tasks are part of a research manager’s portfolio:
- The acquisition of third-party funding in cooperation with researchers
- Completing and reviewing financial plans
- Risk management
- The execution and management of research projects
- Time management, such as the definition of benchmarks
- Evaluation of research results
- Support in the utilisation and marketing of research results
Beyond that, research managers also face strategic tasks that precede the operational project phase. The focus here is on identifying areas that could open up fields of research. Identifying factors such as: Where do needs exist? Where have there been calls for project proposals? Where can third-party funding be acquired?
Who employs research managers?
Jobs for research managers can be found at larger research institutions, such as the Fraunhofer Institute or the Max Planck Society, at universities and in private industry. As a rule, each university employs several research managers, particularly in the natural sciences and engineering.
Education necessary for research management
Those interested in working in research management can acquire the skills necessary in two different ways.
- The first and more common path is stepping away from active research and into research management. Generally, this category includes researchers who have earned their doctorates but who are not seeking to become university professors and who enjoy the managerial tasks associated with research projects. Those who follow this path into research management indisputably possess technical expertise and usually acquire the necessary project management skills gradually over the course of their careers.
- The second path tends to start with business administration and leads through additional training to a position as research officer or manager. Such candidates might start as normal administrators in research departments who acquire the necessary skills through certificate courses or degree programmes in science management. The Technical University of Berlin, for example, offers an application oriented, part-time master’s degree programme in science management.
Salaries in research management
Salaries in research management are relatively high given that the two paths to such a position outlined above require a fair amount of career experience. As a rule, there are no entry-level positions in research management, since there are no training programmes or undergraduate degree programmes in the field. Public sector research officers are usually categorised in income group E13 and receive gross salaries of between 60,000 and 80,000 euros per year, depending on experience.
Research managers who supervise several projects or have experience in senior positions may also be classified higher and thus receive a base salary of more than 80,000 euros per year.
At the large research institutions that are not bound by union negotiated pay scales, salaries for research managers are at least as high and tend to be a bit higher on average. Six-figure salaries are also possible for those with the most professional experience.
Perspectives in research management
Because of the increasing professionalisation of universities and research institutions, the future prospects of research managers and research officers are bright. The times in which professors and postdocs had to take care of third-party funding and related tasks completely on their own have faded into the past in an increasing number of academic departments.
Due to scarcity, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find qualified employees in research and teaching – and research managers can play an important role in relieving such personnel of project management tasks. According to Mayer, professional research management makes a significant contribution to project efficiency, product development and departmental success.
Research management experts are also in high demand in companies with large research departments.
