Nice new corner! Come and chat!

[NeverEverAnythingEver]

We have our new board! Calling all cademics/aspiring academics/fed-up academics - come and chat!

I am an academic academic.

I am revising a paper and finishing it off before lecturing starts. Bigkids let's have a competition to see who finishes the paper first! Competition is good, right?

If only we only teach! Or only research. Or only apply for funding. Or only supervise postgraduates. Or only look out for patentable outcomes. Or only market our course. Or only engage in public understanding of science. Or only do outreach in schools.

Remind me again how much they pay us?

Well done Buffy - that's great!

Waiting to hear about a r&r paper from earlier in summer - when I sent it back, I really felt I'd nailed it, but obviously in the intervening period it's become a big pile of nonsense. And I'm not re-reading it, in case that's definitely true!

Great to have a corner! Whatever it's called. Faith, please don't lack confidence. And know that everyone has imposter syndrome, even the people you'd never ever think would, especially during the PhD when the affirmation of getting grades disappears, and we realise how much is out there that we don't know. Many people respond with bluster, which is hard to take when you don't yourself!

Well done buffy!!

Emailing is a phobia of mine I avoid opening them for days. I fear each one will say 'we thought your paper was shit'. Strange as I'm fine answering the phone.

Paper has to be with the other authors (all 17 of them!) tomorrow so I will get it done, it just might be shit...

My deadline for fellowships is November but the budgeting is so complex I need to plan it all right now. I'm just not sure I want to work as hard as having my own research group will require anyway success rate is 1% so probably no chance anyway!

I put in a grant application last month and also half hope/fear that it won't get funded.

Have you finished yet Never? And sent your email Jeanne? I'm procrastinating quite a lot. Have got the whole first draft written but the discussion is pretty crap and j have to get the dc in half an hour. Bugger. Late night beckons

I'm mostly done apart from the last section - I'm meeting colleague to discuss that tomorrow. I've also sent about a million emails to organise other parts of my job...

Well done

Erm, I haven't.

I have drafted it quite a lot and talked it over (helpfully!) with my lovely housemate who is friends with one of the people I have to win over, but I've balked at sending it. Daft.

OTOH I am sitting here doing syllabus planning and feeling really quite excited about next term's teaching, so there is that.

Now to email and ask why exactly I've been asked to supervise someone who works completely outside my area!

Lol

Send it send it send it!

Jeanne - one of my books is Pat Cryer's The Research Student's Guide to Success. I got it and read bits of it and tried to create the environment for the Research Student to Succeed.

It was easier than getting advice out of anybody.

Congrats buffy!

And I'm the ultimate imposter. Note the username I bagsied

I've also found books useful as guidance (and to replace the lack of training in how to supervise PhDs... The Prof I was meant to shadow looked at me like I was mad when I asked to sit in on his tutorials with our co-Student). Similarly for examining a PhD. I don't have the titles to handm but I think both were OU publications, if anyone's interested.

Just checking in as I have spotted this. Will post properly when not stuck in an airport and about to board a flight home. Really pleased to see an academic corner on mn ( not fussed what it is called!)

I've got a book on the PhD viva process too! Again, it was much easier than trying to get any advice. I'll dig that one out next time I'm at the office.

Hello all, lovely to see the corner! I loved the peace of the summer - definitely feel as though things are ramping up now.

Academic common room sounds good. I'd rather it wasn't under education - employment seems appropriate.

Ah, just posted after reading page one only.

I get the same feeling as Buffy about projects - almost more scary when they get funded. I'm leading my first large application as PI and have been agonising over the meeting agenda. Have to try and remember to ask for help with the proposal and not feel I have to do it all to prove my position.

This is a great idea!

I'm in the humanities and am just starting the final year of a three year post-doctoral research position. I think I'm doing pretty well overall (leaving aside occasional bouts of imposter syndrome) but I really need to get more stuff published to be competitive on the jobs market.

Tentative hello.........I am thinking about applying for a lectureship role at my local uni. Don't want to out myself but it is a post grad course in a vocational area. I have relevant practical experience and some experience of training people and supervising students on placements. What worries me is lectures. Daft question but......will I have to regularly stand up in front of 100 people and deliver an hour of lecture or have things move on? Is there more small group work, interactive lectures, workshops types of approach. Are you a,lowed to do that in a lecture?

Hello - a wannabee here. I was wondering if any of you came to academia later in life?? I have often thought about higher level teaching/lecturing and not really done anything about it. But I think I have some knowledge of an area that is increasingly trendy and I would like to research more and love the idea of teaching it and exploring it more.

SO where do you start. I already have an MBA in a relevant area. I keep looking at PhD but get a bit confused at those that are renumerated/sponsored/bursaried etc

HI Lagoonablue - it totally depends on the nature of the course. Undergraduate courses are more likely to be larger and then lecturing in a hall is the most efficient mode of delivery, but if the classes are smaller (say up to 30), anything goes: seminars, discussion groups, all sorts of teaching modes are used nowadays. What is for sure though is that if you're applying for a lectureship they'll normally expect some experience in teaching and if you haven't got it yet, you'll need to take a university teaching qualification. This is a good thing if you're feeling apprehensive about large lectures.

lagoon, excuse me if I'm presuming - but, if you're nervous about lecturing, don't be! I'd not given a single lecture this time last year, and then I got a lecturing job and did nearly 30 hours of them in the Autumn term (no training, either). The first one I was nervous and massively overprepared. By the last one it just felt normal. It is amazing how fast you get used to it. Mine were undergrads, but if it's the 'argh, 100 people in front of me and I have to talk for an hour' bit you're worried about, you'll be fine!

(And if you want tips I have some, but don't want to come across as saying what you already get.)

RB - I'm sorry, without knowing your area I don't know which would be which. I think it might be a case of just sitting down with a list of universities/courses and checking the finance situation one by one. That's what I did - but with mine it was quite simple, either you got AHRC (Arts/Humanities) funding or you applied for smaller independent bursaries.