Mental health and research leadership: supporting scientists through life transitions

Research leaders are trained to manage projects, budgets and grants, but rarely the human variability of the people who deliver them and they tend to assume stable availability, productivity and functioning of team members. However, cognitive, emotional and functional capacity varies across the life course, shaped by sleep, stress, hormonal transitions, caregiving, work environment and importantly physical and mental health. Transitions including parenthood, menopause, bereavement and relocation can affect attention, executive function, motivation and emotional regulation, with consequences for scientific performance and career development. This presentation examines these neurobiological and psychosocial influences and offers a practical framework for research leadership. Because leaders may observe changes in concentration, communication, attendance or productivity without knowing their underlying cause, support should begin with functioning rather than diagnosis. Five steps are proposed: recognize a meaningful change, ask privately and respectfully, support through temporary adjustments, refer within professional boundaries, and follow up, while preserving confidentiality and autonomy. Fatherhood is highlighted as an overlooked transition that illustrates how sex-related biological factors and gendered social expectations interact to shape mental health, caregiving and professional functioning, with implications for gender equality. A resilient team design through shared knowledge, cross-training, distributed responsibility, realistic timelines, planned handovers and psychological safety creates the foundations for effective management of scientists’ life transitions.