How to Onboard a New Researcher to Your Programme

Someone joins your research team on Monday. Could your programme deliver a complete picture of what has been studied, what was learned, and how research connects to decisions, without relying on oral history?

Before Their First Day

Checkpoint: Does a programme overview document exist right now? Not in someone's head.

Checkpoint: Open your research repository. Could a new person navigate it without guidance?

Checkpoint: Can you name the five most important studies the programme has conducted?

Week One

Checkpoint: Can you deliver a thematic walkthrough of programme knowledge from documented sources?

Checkpoint: Pick a topic. Use only the systems, no colleagues. How long did it take to find all past research?

Weeks Two and Three

Checkpoint: When the new researcher needs to reference past findings, can they find them without asking a colleague?

Week Four

Checkpoint: If the new researcher cannot efficiently find past research by week four, the problem is not the person. It is the knowledge infrastructure.