How can research professionals adapt to new technology and stay ahead of the curve?

To stay at the research forefront, professionals prioritize continuous learning via workshops and online courses. Regularly reading journals, blogs, and news is crucial for staying informed. Staying abreast of current affairs through news sources is essential for navigating dynamic challenges. Real-time updates on market shifts, policy changes, and global events provide valuable information for informed decision-making. In summary, a synergistic approach of formal education, practical training, and staying informed through various sources forms a robust strategy for professionals to thrive in their competitive fields, fostering a lifelong learning mindset and equipping them with essential knowledge and skills.

The best way to stay ahead of peers is to have adaptation and learning attitude, which ideally means finding innovative ways to research or to adapt to a given task. In research you got to have a learning mindset in order to achieve your goals and objectives using tech to contribute to research area of expertise.

Leveraging AI tools like ChatGPT can help you learn and expand your ability to contribute as a researcher at any level. I've used it to build out the base of a research plan and even help with analyzing data. It's sometimes scary to use new tools so spend time learning online about how to leverage the tools most effectively.

First, will need a curiosity to learn and problem-solving skills with a clear goal for the particular area of research. Then clear vision about what you want to find innovative ways to do that research. In research, learning with a positive mindset is essential to achieve your goals and objectives using technology with software skills to contribute to your research area of expertise. You can also try out the new technology to apply to your research projects. By learning skills about software and experimenting with research projects, you can gain confidence and competence in using the new technology.

Evaluating new technologies and their impact on our research is an essential step to improve as researchers. I'd suggest looking back at how we did our previous research but also comparing our new workflow or results with scholarly work, particularly those works with a high impact in our field. One factor I consider when evaluating a new tool is the mental energy required: how much time and energy does it cost to implement it in my workflow? Does this tool help me work smarter, not harder? An example: do I need to build a database? Or does a simple spreadsheet work for me? Answering these questions can be beneficial because they allow us to improve through learning.

Learning through sharing is a natural part of research. After all, how could knowledge advance without sharing it? Some fields, especially those with a long tradition like Antiquities studies, where even young students tend to stick to traditional ("old") technologies to perform their studies. Sharing our work not only with people from our field but also with a broader audience can be doubly beneficial, as we can learn from different perspectives or see gaps because we tend to take some aspects for granted. A further suggestion is to keep updated on new networks: while some for-profit websites are well known, there are alternative communities that foster free-access research where you can learn and share your work.

Considering the extent and speed of technology development as well as the diversity of sciences, I think every researcher should focus on a specific field and topic.