You seem to equate research as a leisure activity with amateur research. If you read 'leisure' simply as 'outside your main, bread-earning job', then it absolutely can be cutting edge research published in peer-reviewed outlets. It's not even that uncommon, look for people who have a university affiliation (that isn't just teaching) as a side gig. And that's just one way you could be pursing serious research outside your main job, you don't even need a university affiliation - it's certainly helpful with access to resources, feedback, ideas (and, let's be honest, it probably helps with visibility/credibility too), but it's not strictly necessary. As a different example, there are some (rare) examples where legitimate mathematical results were discovered by hobbyists going completely on their own. I also remember a documentary about a crew of retirees, including former physics professors and a precision mechanics engineer, who were performing physics experiments of masses at extremely low accelerations to test some limits of special relativity iirc - which in itself was technically the result of 'leisure research', like several of Einstein's most famous discoveries.
If it's something you're interested in, my suggestion would be to decide on a rough area and then seek out experts to brainstorm ideas for a suitable problem for you to work on, maybe one that leverages your existing skills in a creative way (like the engineer in the above example).
Since you mentioned Einstein, it reminded me of a comment by Max Born on the subject, from the Born-Einstein letters:
“Einstein expressed over and over again the thought that one should not couple the quest for knowledge with a bread-and-butter profession, but
that research should be done as a private spare-time occupation. He himself wrote the first of his great treatises while earning his living as an employee of the Swiss Patent Office in Bern. He believed that only in
this way could one preserve one's independence. What he did not consider, however, was the organizational rigidity
of almost all professions, and the importance which individual members of a profession attach to their work. No professional pride could develop
without it. To be able successfully to practice science as a hobby, one has
to be an Einstein.”
> look for people who have a university affiliation (that isn't just teaching) as a side gig.
Can you expand on this? Like people who have full time jobs in perhaps a different field but do research on the side using the facilities/resources of a university? If so how does one slide into a gig like that?
Having done that, I can answer. I'll be a little vague on the topic to keep some anonymity.
Without a plan, per se, I nurtured a burgeoning personal research interest that was well outside my field. The initial hobby was very rudimentary but it gave me enough feedback and fuel that over a number of years I built more advanced software and hardware to investigate it more scientifically. Eventually, having reached the limits of the data I had access to, I reached out to a local university to start a collaboration.
If you already have an idea, I think, as long as you're sufficiently interested in actually doing research, you'll be able to find some professor that is as well. On the flip side, I know for a fact that most professors have more research ideas than students, so they can certainly provide you with things to investigate.
As a bonus, for the professor, since this is a side gig for you, there isn't an cost for them (or much less of one). Access to facilities and resources depend on the university. But I was certainly surprised by what I was given access to in the service of doing the research.
Wow ive been hoping to do something very similar! If you're open to chatting a little more, i would love to learn a bit about how you do this - my email is in my profile or i will contact you if you drop an email here.
I work as a software developer at a major research university. I got a PhD there long ago and I've worked in a wide range of jobs ever since including another job at that university. PhD connections helped me get the first job but not my current job. The university hires a large number of people to do everything from food service, building maintenance, the trades, to technical and administrative. All of those employees have a number of privileges such as being able to take a free class every semester (a grad level seminar can open opportunities like nothing else) and if you have flexibility in hours you can go to talks, etc.
Let's put it this way. If you can write a (1) good grant proposal with a good chance of getting funded you are required these days to (2) get a professor to be the principal investigator if you want to spend it and I'd say (1) is much harder than (2). Not like it is easy, but it is possible.
If it's something you're interested in, my suggestion would be to decide on a rough area and then seek out experts to brainstorm ideas for a suitable problem for you to work on, maybe one that leverages your existing skills in a creative way (like the engineer in the above example).