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Original poster

Academic parents - welcome to the Senior Common Room of Requirement

205 replies

BoffinMum · 05/02/2011 15:23

Welcome to the Senior Common Room of Requirement. You find yourself in a discreet space with a view over rolling lawns from large period windows, and a roaring log fire, with the College dog asleep in front of it. A number of comfortable Chesterfields and wing-backed armchairs are thoughtfully positioned around antique occasional tables. A selection of reading matter is on the medieval chest near the entrance, including New Statesman, Economist, New Scientist, Nature, Prospect, THES, every conceivable daily paper, Spare Rib and the Socialist Worker. Peters, the College butler (sponsored by a successful alumnus with a top domestic employment agency, so at no cost to the public purse) is on hand to fulfil all necessary demands. This is the place for MNetters of academic leanings, and post docs and student parents are welcome to knock on the door should they require academic or pastoral advice. Sit back, quaff your sherry, Fair Trade coffee or even a smoothie made from fruit grown in the College grounds, and enjoy.

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Original poster
BoffinMum · 26/02/2011 18:49

MamaChris, see your postdoc on condition he/she babysits for an hour or two in return. Wink

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Original poster
BoffinMum · 26/02/2011 18:50

Where is Peters, by the way? He's gone awfully quiet. Ah, there you are, my good man. Any chance of a few college Margueritas for my colleagues here? And a few crab puffs as a pre-prandial amuse-geule?

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CaptainBarnacles · 26/02/2011 20:31

Yes, I do think some senior academics are absolutely shameless about recycling. But that is the fault of the journals for letting them get away with it. Surely it should be picked up at peer review?

I wouldn't dream of submitting two articles which overlapped. But book/article overlap seems a bit different - and is the norm in my field, where articles often lead to a book. And books are SO much work that writing one of them every six years is a huge ask, never mind producing 3 more articles which don't overlap with it.

Original poster
BoffinMum · 26/02/2011 20:37

What I fail to understand is how the rate of work apparently doubled overnight without anyone making a fuss? We went from 8 years to 4 (OK, now only just 5) with the same publication requirement. The quality of articles in my field has gone down IMO and anyway, I really don't see how a samey sort of safe article reifying existing knowledge is better than a commissioned report that both breaks new ground and leads to tangible outputs within society. I will be very interested to see what the panels make of all of this. Half of them don't seem to write/assess their own stuff anyway from what I have heard, so I doubt they will want to change a system that plays to their advantage. Ah, the plutocracy of the worthy ...

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BeenBeta · 26/02/2011 21:23

BoffinMum - your post @ 18.48 is something which I have also seen repeatedly.

In my view academic life is and will much more in the future be about the 'haves' with tenured positions and chairs and the 'have nots' who will increasingly be dumped on.

In addition, the 'haves' are already and will increasingly capture higher and higher pay relative to those below.

In my view this will undermine University teaching standards as Professors increasingly never appear in a lecture theatre and those below them are pressured into publishing more while struggling under impossible teaching loads.

Anyone else experiencing this phenomenon?

Original poster
BoffinMum · 26/02/2011 21:41

It does not have to be so.
I was thinking of starting a group along the lines of the All Souls Group to influence things otherwise.
PM me if you want in.

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CaptainBarnacles · 26/02/2011 22:06

BeenBeta - YES. This is exactly what is happening at my place. Except I wouldn't say that the professors never appearing in a lecture theatre is having a negative impact on teaching standards. Wink

Boffin - what is the All Souls Group?

hermionegrangerat34 · 26/02/2011 22:39

I've just wandered in...this place is lovely! Rather like my actual SCR but with women in it...

Original poster
BoffinMum · 26/02/2011 22:43

A secret society of educationalists, entry by invitation only, where all the national policy and senior appointments are stitched up without any transparency whatsoever. Meet every April in Oxford, no notes, no use of technology, no public membership list.

One of my colleagues said, "It's like Opus Dei except instead of a celice, they have sandpaper inside their leather elbow patches". Wink

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Original poster
BoffinMum · 26/02/2011 22:47

LOL Hermione Grin

Have a petit fours. Peters saved them for us from an extravagent private dinner.

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Original poster
BoffinMum · 26/02/2011 23:01

Smoking Gun

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moonbells · 26/02/2011 23:19

any room for non-uni research bods in here?

Original poster
BoffinMum · 26/02/2011 23:24

Naturally, have a petit fours.

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hermionegrangerat34 · 26/02/2011 23:26

Yummy. I love it when there's a wedding reception or VCs dinner the night before and we get the left overs!

moonbells · 27/02/2011 10:11

Thanks, would love one.

I loathe writing papers - prefer doing the analysis (give me numbers to play with any day) but salami publishing is common in medical research too.

CaptainBarnacles · 27/02/2011 10:23

Wow, Boffin, I had no idea.

Original poster
BoffinMum · 27/02/2011 12:21

You see, we're all pissing about with the REF when the big business has been stitched up elsewhere. Which is why I thought it was time to seize the reins. Power can be there for the taking if people feel so inclined.

We will make petits fours and nice common rooms obligatory when we have global dominion, of course. Wink

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Original poster
BoffinMum · 27/02/2011 12:22

I did a medical paper recently (don't ask) and it was a doddle compared to social science. You hardly had to do anything on top of the stats.

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moonbells · 27/02/2011 23:26

Agree, lots of med research is simple. But not often when radiological physics is involved! Grin

Have some virtual creme eggs, just remember not to touch beer at the same time!

moonbells · 01/03/2011 14:19

woops killed another thread... St Davids

I'll go back and hide again now

BeenBeta · 01/03/2011 14:53

Boffin - many years ago I was involved in writing a medical paper and the professor told me never repeat an experiment if you get the right result first time. He also said 3 data points is more than enough to plot a graph but 2 is adequate. He did not use standard error or standard devation either.

Ths man had massive amounts of funding in a top MRC lab. Shocking.

Original poster
BoffinMum · 01/03/2011 21:54

BeenBeta, I could not get away with that in my field.

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BeenBeta · 01/03/2011 21:57

Not in mine either.

MamaChris · 01/03/2011 22:12

well I could be pernickity and say the standard error is fairly meaningless with just two samples, but I guess this isn't the place to get into that, right Grin