🎙️ Podcast Link 🎙️
It’s Friday afternoon, #CVPR2025 rebuttals are almost done thanks to amazing colleagues, and I have a massive backlog of #HackingAcademia topics to get to, both requested and from my own list.
So the first 2025 Hacking Academia video (and the 44th overall) is on:
The Importance of Timing ⏱️ ‼️
“Timing is everything” they say, and timing and cycles can play a key role in professional university research careers, from the individual to the organizational to the global.
In this video I go through some common examples across the spectrum, what impact they may have, and some ways to find out where in the timing cycle you are and what you can do (or not do) about it.
Some examples I go over include:
💠 Confused about the polar opposite responses of two colleagues to an invitation to collaborate on a grant proposal, one enthusiastic, one cynical and uninterested? You may have struck them at different stages of the ebb and flow of career success and grant applications.
💠 Proposing a grant in an application domain that is widely perceived to be on the downturn and dying as a sector? You may want to reconsider your timing, or topic. And timing also applies to whether the momentum is currently in the university research sector or in the startup and industry sector…
💠 Enquiring about a faculty job at a specific university? Your prospects will be vastly different “out of round” versus at the start of a major hiring initiative (positions can be created ad hoc but it’s typically much rarer)
💠 Wondering why your university is specializing in a narrow number of topics whilst the one just down the road is expanding and generalizing? Sometimes it’s not that either uni is inherently different to the other, but rather that they’re just at a different point in the cycles that dominate academia…
💠 Looking for funding support from your organisation? Your chances may go up substantially if it’s near the end of their financial year and they’ve unexpectedly got unspent funds (and you have a compelling suggestion!)
💠 Or seeking funding from the government, for an exciting initiative? Your prospects may change drastically depending on whether they’re at the beginning or end of their term, or in caretaker mode leading up to an election.
💠 And finally, I talk about how deliberately proceeding even when the timing is bad can be worthwhile: to get your name, ideas and interest out there, so that when in future the timing “turns good”, you’re the first person that comes to mind…
academia #academic #university #career #careeradvice #cycles #strategy #tactics #jobs #promotion #grants #fellowships #funding #government #politics #research #disciplines #fields #sectors #domains #downturn #boom
Full Video Notes
Timing is everything. It’s a great quote, and it’s applicable in a lot of situations. It’s not the only quote about the importance of timing—if you go online and search, you’ll find lots of great quotes, including many by famous individuals, about the concept of timing: good timing, bad timing, and so on. That gives you some idea of the importance of timing in your life, and especially in a professional career. That’s the topic of today’s Hacking Academia video—the notion of timing and cycles in your professional research career, with a particular focus on academic and research careers, especially in relatively fast-changing environments like Australian academia, where it feels like a lot has changed in the last five years.
I’m going to focus on a few different scenarios, ranging from individual, personal situations around timing all the way up to global trends. I’ll talk a little about how you can understand where you are in a timing cycle and how that might influence your behavior or tactics for a particular activity, before wrapping up the video with some final thoughts.
Let’s begin with a personal concept around timing that comes up surprisingly often in academia: your attitude—or the attitude of your colleagues—will, in many cases, be heavily dependent upon their recent run of success or rejection. This matters not only for understanding and supporting colleagues, but also because it can influence their optimism or pessimism around initiatives you might propose.
A classic example: if you’re planning a collaborative grant proposal, someone who has just had a stellar run—getting nearly every grant or fellowship they applied for—might be feeling elated, which is great. But they might also become overly relaxed or casual about the effort required to launch another initiative, like the one you’re proposing. They may overlook the fact that your proposal has only a 10% acceptance rate and will require significant work. That optimism, while understandable, may lead to underestimating the workload or the risk of disappointment if it’s unsuccessful.
At the other end of the spectrum, you might approach a colleague who has had a terrible run of rejections over the past two or three years. Not surprisingly, they may feel dismayed, disappointed, even cynical about their chances. That mood will likely color their judgment and make them more hesitant to take on a new, ambitious initiative—even if it’s promising. Again, this isn’t a judgment on them, but rather something to be aware of when you’re seeking collaborators. People’s willingness to take on new projects is often shaped by their recent history.
Timing and cycles also play out at the organizational level in academia. Universities go through cycles, and while this is often joked about, it holds real truth. One common cycle is specialization vs. generalization. A university might spend five to seven years focusing resources on a few specific areas, recruiting heavily and promoting research in those fields—often at the expense of others. Then, at another point in the cycle, the same university may reverse course and aim to diversify, spreading resources across all research domains more evenly.
Different universities may be in different phases of this cycle. One might be deep into specialization, while another is ramping up generalization. This doesn’t necessarily reflect deep institutional differences—just different points in the cycle.
These organizational shifts also occur across disciplines. A university might focus heavily on STEM fields for several years, then shift its focus to the humanities. Often, these decisions align with the tenure of particular executives or leadership teams, and so they can vary quite substantially over time.
Outside the university, political and governmental cycles also play a major role. In many countries, including Australia, governments operate on 3- to 4-year terms. New governments bring new priorities, ideologies, and funding focuses. These changes influence which kinds of research get supported.
At times, there may be strong government support and generous funding; at other times, there may be budget tightening. The exact timing within an electoral cycle also matters. For example, during the “caretaker” period leading up to an election, no major new decisions or initiatives are typically launched. Right before this period, however, there may be a burst of funding announcements or new programs. A government at the start of its term will act very differently from one nearing its end—and this can dramatically affect your research prospects.
Timing is also critical when it comes to research disciplines and application domains. For example, I work in autonomous vehicles, and it’s arguable that they reached peak hype and investment somewhere between 2015 and 2018. Twenty years earlier, the field was considered science fiction. These timing cycles have a strong influence on research funding and activity.
Interestingly, these cycles can be hard to interpret. During the autonomous vehicle boom, for instance, much of the talent was drawn out of universities and into industry and startups. That meant that although the field was hot and well-funded, it could actually be harder to do academic research in it, particularly in countries without a strong local ecosystem.
It’s not just whether a field is “hot” but where it is in the cycle. Trying to launch a project when a field is perceived as declining is a very different proposition compared to launching it during a boom. When the problems seem solved or the hype fades, it’s hard to gain traction for new initiatives.
Technological advances are another important aspect of timing. In my field—robotics, AI, and computer vision—two milestones stand out: the popularization of deep learning around 2012, and the ChatGPT moment in late 2022. These weren’t the origins of those technologies, but they marked explosive public and institutional awareness. These moments changed the game for many researchers.
For example, I was a junior member of a large research center in robotic vision just as deep learning was rising. It forced us to rethink our research strategy entirely. More recently, we were preparing a strategic roadmap for robotics research just months before ChatGPT emerged, and suddenly everything changed. These events can be abrupt, and responding quickly can give you a real advantage.
Another career consideration tied to timing is the job and promotion cycle. In the US, faculty hiring typically follows well-defined national timelines. In Australia, the process is more ad hoc—but still subject to cycles. If you apply when an institution is actively hiring, especially during a big expansion, you’re far more likely to succeed than if you apply just after they’ve finished hiring.
Yes, exceptional hires are sometimes made out of cycle, but they are rare. Even if you’re highly qualified, applying at the wrong time—when budgets are frozen or roles are capped—can mean automatic rejection. Conversely, during a hiring boom, opportunities can arise suddenly and in large numbers. Understanding these cycles helps ensure your effort isn’t wasted.
Timing is also crucial when it comes to the general financial health of your sector. Over the past 20 years, there have been periods where some universities had significant discretionary funding, launching new centers and hiring strategically. During such times, proposing a major initiative or being hired as a senior academic is much more viable. Contrast that with leaner periods, like parts of the pandemic, when hiring freezes and layoffs dominated.
Interestingly, even during tight financial times, there’s often a flurry of unspent money near the end of the financial year. Budgets must be used or risk being cut next cycle. If you’re ready with good ideas at just the right moment, you may be surprisingly successful in getting support. Having proposals or ideas ready to go allows you to capitalize on these short windows.
So what can you do with all this? First, realize that your actions—your strategy—should depend on these timing cycles. To do that, you must first understand the cycles relevant to your discipline, institution, and country. Fortunately, this is often straightforward: talk to experienced colleagues, ask questions, observe patterns. You can usually get a sense of whether you’re in an upswing or a downturn.
These cycles shouldn’t completely dictate your decisions, but they should influence them. You’ll experience less stress and fewer wasted efforts if you factor them in. For instance, you might choose to delay a proposal by six months if the current environment means it’s likely to fail. That time can be spent productively elsewhere.
The same applies to job applications—timing your effort when there’s actually a chance of success can spare you a lot of frustration.
The final concept I want to touch on may seem to contradict earlier advice: often, despite your best planning, the timing will simply be wrong. You might apply for a job and get rejected, not because you’re unqualified, but because someone else was an even better fit or the timing wasn’t right. But if you’ve made yourself known, built connections, and shown what you can do, people will remember you.
That means when the timing does become right—six months later, perhaps—you’ll already be in the frame. They might even come back to you with a new offer. That’s why I always encourage people to go through the process: do the interview, make the proposal, put yourself out there. Even if nothing comes of it right now, it often pays off later.
In conclusion, timing—and the broader idea of cycles—is a powerful concept in a professional research career. It can change your strategy and your success rate. It can help you avoid wasted effort and guide you to where your energy is best spent. And most importantly, understanding timing gives you a chance to position yourself for success—not just when things are easy, but especially when opportunity is fleeting.