Four prominent career researchers – Dorothee Alfermann (Leipzig University), Natalia Stambulova (Halmstad University), Miquel Torregrossa (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) and Paul Wylleman (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) – discuss the associations between their research during the past 20 to 30 years and their own professional careers. Some of the most important findings from their research on topics such as career transitions, career termination/retirement, psycho-socio-cultural factors/holistic development, and athletes’ crises include that: * a career and its termination are the result of multiple factors (athlete and social environment); * transitions have the power to change the development of careers in sport and life; * research should include retrospective accounts and rationalizations and also future prospects; * athletes’ careers are influenced by their concurrent development in different domains and the occurrence of transitions.Challenges in their own career included balancing career and family, coping with life-long mobility requirements, making Russian career research meaningful internationally, balancing personal career with the growth of the own research team, and applying research findings.After four brief career narratives the researchers will discuss: * How their thinking about athlete careers evolved during their research career; * The associations between a research-based ‘career-type-of-thinking’ and their own career; * The people and organizations having influenced their career; * The major lessons learned and what recommendations could be given to younger career researchers and sport psychology/career/dual career practitioners?Questions from the audience also will be encouraged.