Academics Chat Thread

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

I believe the old Chat thread has fallen off the front page of this section, and I thought it might be time to reinstate it. I know it's only sporadically useful, but sometimes it's nice, right?

I am a lowly postdoctoral English Lit type. Finished my PhD in 2014, teaching associate for a couple of years, and now part-time while DD is a baby. I'm currently working frantically to get my book manuscript to the publisher by my deadline (October), and also trying to regain enthusiasm for the job market.

Who else is lurking around here?

@GawdrestyeJerryMentlemen no condemnation from me- sounds sensible. I have also dealt with a couple of students write about their mental health one on the 23rd, can't leave that for sure. No desire to appear on radio/TV right now though, I have to say my desire for this stuff might be at an all time low, must try to get back motivation to engage- where from?

I think in some ways academia has come into the light over the pandemic, not just science but all areas. Not that it will help us in terms of funding, but for sure I have never heard so many academics quoted, interviewed etc. It is a little bit motivating to think people need us, and I also include in that medieval literary scholars who explore plague or philosophers and sociologists who look at idea contagion and theories of crowd or whatever...

@GawdrestyeJerryMentlemen - yep, not sure i am ready for the 1000+ mailbox when i return.

then again... one of my colleague died after a long illness. It was barely noted by the senior management, their workload was redispatched among the staff in the unit, and everything kept going seamlessly. Their massive contribution not highlighted.

My DH keep saying that I am a fool and could achieve twice as much in the private sector with half the aggro. He jumped and certainly has flourished since.

also the realisation this year that my employer really does not give a shit about me or how I am, unless I bring in £££ in form of grants

Yes. In annual reviews of professors research income and outputs were given the largest weight as usual. So rewards for those who duck out of major teaching and student facing admin roles and focus on their own research, and no credit for those who worked until exhaustion keeping everything going through the last year.

I also have the full two weeks off and find it absolutely necessary every year. I won’t write references until the 4th and told my PhD students to have this time completely off too. We all need a break.

Judging by the last few posts on this thread I won't spoil the mood if I ask a depressing question.

Am I kidding myself to carry on trying to get a permanent job, do you think? I'm in Arts and six years post-PhD. I've had a couple of years as a temp lecturer, then a two-year postdoc, plus some filler jobs including one that was fairly admin heavy, so my CV is quite well-rounded. Both places I've been employed are fairly prestigious. I have a decent publication record, not as many as some people but enough for a REF submission. My book came out a few months ago. I've had some interviews for permanent jobs and the last one they said I was a very close second choice and I didn't get it because my research wasn't quite close enough to what they wanted. That was six months ago, before the book came out.

I know it's always a very long shot whether you're going to get something permanent or not, but I can't tell if I'm getting to the point where I've missed the boat.

@SarahAndQuack I am in social sciences, but what I would say is that yours is the type of profile of our successful lecturers these days- several years post-doc, book, REFable and so on. It is a lottery as well, but they definitely aren't getting jobs more junior than that.

Other than that, it depends how many jobs come up in your area (and can you teach the generic courses for that type of post) and would you be able to move most places?

It really is about keeping on keeping on, I think. Great that you were a close second, you might have to apply for quite a few more to get there but I think it's worth it personally despite all the exhaustion/stress, I like the academic job itself, not the politics obviously, and increasingly I try to make it work for me and not the other way around.

Thank you, that's really helpful. I should say, I have applied for most things going - I only mentioned the job where I got close second because I am hoping it's an indicator I was on the right track. I can teach most courses, not absolutely anything but I'm reasonably mainstream. I could move, but TBH it's getting less and less appealing as DD is coming up to school age. I live somewhere reasonably commutable for a lot of universities and I would probably apply anywhere in the UK, though.

Sorry if this has been covered before, but how many of you are teaching f2f next term? My employer refuses to put my course online, even though it would be perfectly possibly to do so. I’m very unhappy at having to go in to teach when I work and live in a Tier 4 region and my classes could easily be taught virtually.

I'm teaching one course, but online. I think f2f is absolutely fucking stupid and it's making me angry for you and everyone else.

I am teaching online (second module of the year). Face-to-face is absolute madness. What is your employer trying to achieve? Some sort of sick and useless virtue-signalling to show the student gets value for their money? We have done some feedback sessions after last term and students are (surprisingly) very positive about the online delivery. We are combining remote lecture videos with live sessions, and this approach works really well (but is much more work).

We’re continuing as we did in semester one. Mostly online with f2f for medicine an dentistry. F2F extra curriculars were planned but I’m not sure whether they will now. I didn’t volunteer for any f2f so it’s just recorded lectures and tutorials for me. Of course I had planned to do those recordings and all the marking before the semester started but now my kids will be off school until 18 Jan.

We are all online except for practicals which are in staggered distanced groups

Last communication from management was that f2f teaching (staggered return) would continue in semester 2.
I’m social sciences-ish and was expecting to carry on teaching f2f from the 25th Jan.

Await any updates following today (we’ve been moved to tier 4)......

It’s interesting to hear what’s happening elsewhere. We are doing at least 75% face to face and the rest online. Covid rates among staff and students are currently low so this is senior managements’s ‘proof’ that f2f is tenable. We have a lot of international students and the university will do anything it can to keep them happy. Talking to students though, most would be happy going online. The f2f sessions are so restrictive (no moving around, no group or pair work, no handouts etc) that they get a more interactive experience online than they do in class. I find the whole thing so frustrating.

We are starting off online for exams and the first two weeks, then it was going to be a staggered start, with some campus and some online, but I wonder now if that will happen.

I've had some interviews for permanent jobs and the last one they said I was a very close second choice and I didn't get it because my research wasn't quite close enough to what they wanted.

@SarahAndQuack. I know several young colleagues with pretty much this story. If you can hold your nerve, you're actually in a good position. To get this sort of feedback, you are on track, and you will be in line for a position.

I know that the feedback you recently had is very frustrating - I've been in the position of having to give that feedback (and 30 years I got that sort of feedback more than a few times!), and I do understand how it feels unhelpful because there's nothing you can do to make yourself "better" or more immediately employable.

But all my younger friends/colleagues former PhD students who've been in that position have been appointed to good posts. But it's a matter of how long you can stay in the profession - money, support etc.

Times are tough and particularly in your specific field if I'm correct in thinking who you are (sorry that sounds stalkery but I think we have met!). But the year I got my PhD there were 2 decent jobs in the whole of the country in my field. I was interviewed for one (didn't get it), wasn't even shortlisted for the other (research fit again) and had to take a much less good temporary contract. There were no post-docs for humanities PhDs in those days, and no grants which employed post-docs (no AHRC etc). It's hard in different ways ...

Given your networks, can you start to talk to likely PIs who could write you into their grants? I've kept a former PhD student of mine in employment by doing this - most UKRI councils seem to like named post-docs as that makes a project even more secure/planned. And I've got another grant in application stage. I know it's a slim chance with 15-20% success rates, but it keeps you looking research active, and could lead to at least an Honorary Research Fellow connection?

What about Marie Curie? Or looking at a university to sponsor you to apply for an ERC Starter grant?

Sorry if this has been covered before, but how many of you are teaching f2f next term?

I'm teaching online pretty much all my modules. One of them is a practical module, and I'd much rather be in the room with the students. However, it's a big compulsory all-year cohort module, ad 3 of the team teaching on it are much more clinically vulnerable than I am (I'm on the borderline due to age & underlying health conditions) so we're all teaching online so that all students get a comparable experience. Our students would complain hugely if they thought any group had an "advantage" over any other.

I was checking work emails earlier (I know, but just to delete most of them!) and our indefatigable Registrar has emailed with a summary of the Government letter sent either yesterday or today, specifying which courses are allowed to be F2F and which should be online:

The Government has asked universities to restrict the number of students returning to campus at the beginning of term to those studying in the following subject areas:

Medicine & dentistry; Subjects allied to medicine/health (including Nursing and Medical Imaging); Veterinary science; Education (initial teacher training); Social work; Courses which require Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Body (PSRB) assessments and or mandatory activity which is scheduled for January and which cannot be rescheduled. We have been asked to delay the start of in-person teaching for all other students until the week beginning 25 January at the earliest, in order to delay the movement of students across the country.

My subject area was due to be exempted in order for us to teach F2F but that looks like it is no longer the case.

This is Government guidance, so if your universities are requiring F2F, they will be going against this letter ...

But I'm feeling so angry about how some people are benefitting from this situation and others are hugely hugely disadvantaged that I'm tempted to kick up a fuss nonetheless.

Strength to your arm @Timmytimeout - can we help you here in terms of strategies to get equivalent support to that of your male colleagues? Firstly, it helps to try to approach it without emotion - stifle the anger if you can. I suppose, point out that others had this support, and now you need it. I find that sometimes, just asking a question, rather than making a demand, can work ... so maybe it's about asking

"Dr X had xyz support because of his situation. I now find that I'm in a similar situation, so how do I go about accessing that support?"

if you're refused, then it's a matter of finding a further question which articulates the sexism of their decision ...

Good luck

OTOH, my colleagues with primary-aged children were very pleased to hear that, in the previous lockdown, they are considered key workers, and therefore eligible to send children to school, even if the schools are closed for all other pupils.

I'm so sick of the way academia is set up to benefit men, and of the ways in which these men all look out for themselves and each other while professing to be progressive, "feminist", etc.

@QueenoftheAir, thank you so much, that was a hugely helpful post. I don't know if we know each other, but quite likely! Just to be clear, I didn't find the feedback frustrating - it was given kindly and I do recognise how difficult it must be to be giving advice too. I take your point about it being differently hard in the days before Arts postdocs became a 'thing'.

I do have a colleague who's discussed writing me into a grant, which I hope may happen. I still have some time left on this last postdoc (but am past the time limit for most postdocs now), so it could work out time-wise. It's just I've been trying to make decisions about the future. Part of the issue is my family intend to be supportive but don't understand (it does not help that I have an older brother who made professor just shy of 40, albeit in a rather less competitive field, so I can't explain that it's quite common to be mid-30s and not in a permanent post yet).

I think Marie Curie would be too hard on my daughter and my partner - that's why I'd limit moves to within the UK.

Thank you so much for your post. It's made me feel much more hopeful I'm not just wasting time!

But I'm feeling so angry about how some people are benefitting from this situation and others are hugely hugely disadvantaged that I'm tempted to kick up a fuss nonetheless.

I would be furious about what you describe too. I'm not surprised they brought in temp staff to cover, either - I think that is happening a lot. Often with the presumption that temp staff are young and therefore not vulnerable, and unencumbered with familial responsibilities.

I'm getting really fed up with the way that a lot of things that have been standard problems for years have suddenly become visible now that (shudder gasp!) male colleagues more routinely have to deal with them.

I am not back at work for another week, but already panicking at the thought. I hate the relentlessness, the passive aggressive or downright aggresive colleagues, the workload, unreasonable expectations and cannot even find much joy in my research.

One week to go and already a wreck in anticipation. I am actively looking for some tips to not let myself be swallowed all by the bleakness, to put some boundaries and preserve a bit of my sanity. Considering weather blocking time in my diary is feasible at all in the Zoom age, and how to ringface PGR feedback time to a less all consuming regimen.

I know it's really hard to deflect the constant stream of emails. Some tactics I use are emailing them with a list of likely questions before the terms starts (so I've just emailed all my students a list of how to get an extension, how to defer an exam and what to do if they feel physically or mentally unwell) as this heads off a lot of queries and block times in my diary (so office hours are Mon and Thurs and that's it, no other times). That said, I don't have a huge number of PG's, only a handful, it's mainly the UG's for me who take up a lot of time and energy asking me things that often aren't in my power and they would be better off going directly to get that extension or directly to wellbeing services than coming to me. I think the role of the tutor is muddled at my institution and that's why it's not very efficient.