Academics Chat Thread Mark II

[SignsofSpring]

As the one who didn't look and then managed to close the last thread, I'm going to be the one to start this one! All thoughts, rants, ideas on being an academic especially in Covid-19 times are here...

Agreed @impostersyndrome. I've just looked at my list and I've been in on 10 bids in the past 10 months. One of which (a pretty small one) was successful. Between this, working part-time and the lag effect of mat leave my publications record is really suffering.

@QueenoftheAir best of luck with the ERC bid. Sounds promising at least!

Two weeks since my interview and not a peep out of them. I have been digging around trying to find likely time scales but I can’t find anything. I know it can vary on the continent from a same-day answer to several months, so no immediate panic, but my word is it stressful. Their HR department just says it takes as long as it takes.

I am meant to be taking a few days off, and as with many such breaks, I cannot switch off.

I am actively trying to stay away from email, Teams etc, but I can feel anxiety rising, and that awful feeling of sinking when everything becomes overwhelming.

I think that when the plates keep spinning, it s ok but any slowing down, and all feels on the verge of collapsing.

I often dream of leaving my job and ditching my PhD students who are more and more like baby birds needing sustained. The fact that they are comfortable in offloading their anxieties on me is cute, but i am not exactly a "stable" person - I get triggered by pretty much anything to do with MH or anxiety or diseases.

I sometimes fancy on going back to my low responsibility job of bartending, when changing the barrel of lagger was the big drama of the night.

I feel angry that my uni puts me in so many pastoral roles when in fact each convo feels like papercuts. They know i feel this way - their answer is that i only need to do "signposting" - as if signposting a student in crisis was ever such a detached activity. 9 out 10 student I am responsible for has some sort of MH or domestic challenge.

Keflavic - i hope you hear soon
Do you have an insider who could help you find out?

Apparently the offer to do something if our workloads are too big was nothing to do with workloads and "if you feel you have too many project students then maybe something needs to give but it might not be project students".
Frankly, working 0.6, I could give up everything else including all research and it would probably still feel burdensome. You just can't put them off like you do external colleagues/teaching prep/writing.

The fact that they are comfortable in offloading their anxieties on me is cute

Sometimes I feel I should just open my chest & let them suck my blood straight from my heart.

I don't think students even realise that staff are human sometimes.

i think some will happily take you up on that offer

Thanks Marasme. I do but she’s very junior and I don’t want to put her in an awkward position. She said they are being very tightlipped anyway.

Fucksake I’m in a meeting on research evaluation and I’ve just brought up the question of the impact of Covid. The PR I. Charge has just said “well, everyone has been impacted haven’t they?”

Hmm, only if everyone has been home schooling/caring for elderly relatives who now can't do their shopping/spent the whole pandemic in a study bedroom like some of our PhD students.
Otherwise, no.

You're so unfair, @worstofbothworlds. I know for a fact many gentleman academics have been affected too - they've had a massive amount of spare time to work on publications on account of having nothing else to do.*

*No, really, I have someone on my facebook at the moment boasting that in all the time he's saved from socialising, he's doubled his publication rates this year.

I've heard that grant applications have gone up this year (beyond specific covid calls). Given that I, and just about every woman I know, has barely had time for research much less writing new grant applications (I met somene Jan 2020 with plan to put in a May application - we're now hoping for this May or Sep), it means clearly some people are benefiting from enhanced research times, while others are the opposite.

It was actually a woman saying this. Child free AFAIK

There's already research out somewhere showing women academics have submitted fewer publications and done more childcare/household management in the first/second waves, who'd have thought it?!

On another topic, what is everyone thinking (I kind of dread to ask) about the USS valuation? It's 28-33% for employers, and up from 9.6% for us up to 16% of salary. It is just so incredibly high, apparently, to keep what we already have. Anyone with more knowledge than me? Surely we will be back to striking again as I don't see institutions going with this, ours is already sending out 'sad' emails about it.

Is it really 16%? Bloody hell. I thought it was 11%. I'm not sure I can afford such an increase.

@murmuration, I wonder if grant applications are up because job adverts are down?

I don't have a permanent job and there's nothing; I think a lot of people who'd be applying for a permanent job are frantically finding eligible grants.

I just had to google what USS is, thankfully my uni are in the TPS. Though that may be as bad for all I know. 🤷‍♀️

OK, I see it was going up to 11% this year anyway, and now they're saying it will have to go up further. I'm hopelessly ignorant about pensions, but isn't there the danger that a lot of people will just stop paying into the scheme, which will jeopardise it anyway?

I think it was up to 16%, so from14-16%, that's quite an increase from 10% odd.

@SarahAndQuack he'll have a lot more time to do grant applications what with having no social life in the future due to being an arse then, won't he?

@KeflavikAirport some people have had an empathy bypass.

I sometimes fancy on going back to my low responsibility job of bartending, when changing the barrel of lagger was the big drama of the night.

I've been feeling a lot like this recently. I feel like I'm not achieving anything, everything I do gets nitpicked and I'm exhausted from trying to juggle everything. And we have some smug (males) in the department who are being more productive than usual during all this. It just makes me think it'd be better all round for me to throw in the towel and go back to nattering with workers on the checkouts of Tesco.

@SignsofSpring

On another topic, what is everyone thinking (I kind of dread to ask) about the USS valuation? It's 28-33% for employers, and up from 9.6% for us up to 16% of salary. It is just so incredibly high, apparently, to keep what we already have. Anyone with more knowledge than me? Surely we will be back to striking again as I don't see institutions going with this, ours is already sending out 'sad' emails about it.

I can see a lot of people opting out if this goes through. Absolutely dreading the prospect of more strikes. I don’t think we’d have public support at the moment.

I’d opt out if we wouldn’t lose the death in service benefits. 16% is unsustainable.

@SarahAndQuack - I'm not sure, unless there is more 'research co-investsigator' grants? Written by the hopeful postdoc not the PI. The places I've heard are from ones where you need to have a permanent contract that extends at least as long as the proposed funded period to apply.

I think it's not just housework/childcare that's hitting women: I remember reading ages ago an article about how women academics take on a disproportionate amount of teaching, pastoral and service roles - all of which would be increased in the pandemic. (Just in our Dept, we calculated the average number of committees each woman sat on was 2.5, whereas for men it was less than 1!)

Yep, I'm talking about hopeful postdocs. I can't apply for grants because I'm in the situation you describe, but like most people I know I am doing the rounds of colleagues with my best 'write a grant with me? Please?' face on. We all are.

I'm definitely find the pastoral side is hitting. I was slightly press-ganged into teaching this term (I'm not thrilled about it) and I generally teach fairly emotive stuff so am used to it having an impact, but it's really obvious students are feeling more overwhelmed, and also more abandoned by members of staff (naming no genders) who seem to think because they're not physically on campus they needn't engage.