Dr Connor Richardson - Learning to Belong Somewhere New

About this episode

Dr Connor Richardson discusses his experience of starting anew at the University of Edinburgh after nearly a decade at Newcastle.

Dr Connor Richardson narrates his blog written for Dementia Researcher. What is it actually like to start over somewhere new? After nearly a decade at Newcastle, where he did his undergraduate degree right through to his postdoc, Connor moved to the University of Edinburgh in December 2025. This blog looks at the other side of leaving. He writes about the energy of meeting people with fresh eyes, the strange comfort of mundane admin in those first few days, and the imposter syndrome that arrives when the evidence base you relied on for belonging is suddenly somewhere else. His advice when confidence takes a knock is to communicate early, and above all to slow down rather than try to match anyone else's pace. https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/blog-learning-to-belong-somewhere-new/ -- -- Dr Connor Richardson is a Neuro-epidemiology Research Associatea at The University of Edinburgh. His research interest lie in using advanced statistical modelling and machine learning to measure dementia risk. Connor blogs about his research, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and sometimes his Pomapoo’s. -- Enjoy listening? We're always looking for new bloggers, drop us a line…

People in this episode

Guest: Dr Connor Richardson

Topics covered

• starting over
• imposter syndrome
• academic transition
• neuro-epidemiology
• communication
• belonging

Keywords

• Dementia Researcher
• neuro-epidemiology
• imposter syndrome
• academic transition
• communication
• belonging
• Edinburgh
• Newcastle

Sponsors

University College London, National Institute for Health and Care Research, Alzheimer's Association, Alzheimer's Research UK, Alzheimer's Society, Race Against Dementia

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Edinburgh, Dementia Researcher

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