Academics - think I have A Plan (at last!) - is it feasible?

[phdlife]

Some of you might have seen me post before trying to figure out what the hell I was going to do post-academia. But have recently realised that I am stuck with it, it's who I am and to try anything else is going to make me miserable. (Applying for anything else was making me miz!) Think I may have hatched a plan, however need advice please whether it seems feasible?

My alma mater runs a small fellowship program specifically for women going back after a career break - so that's my first question: I did tons of pg tutoring, left a permanent lectureship, more pg tutoring, had a one-year lectureship, then two autumn semesters' post-doc tutoring - have now not worked at all for a year; it will be two by the time I apply for the fellowship. Does that count as a career, let alone a break?

second thing is, although I published a lot during my MA and early PhD, most of it was non-refereed - reviews, short essays in postgraduate journals, etc. I've only got two "proper" publications - one book ch and one journal. Won't get any more out any time soon as have been 24/7 childcare, now emigrating, new baby due soon after we arrive in new country. With that kind of record do I stand any chance at all of grant-getting?

third question: ds is 18m, dc2 is due in March. Grant applications due in August, to start January following year. Dh willing to SAHD (theoretically at leat; though I am determined/desperate I've had enough bad luck that it's hard to believe I will actually ever get this career back on track). But is it reasonable/feasible to think that without having done one before, I could do a respectable grant application from home, with a 27m-old and 5m-old?

Thanks for advice...

bump

I am watching the thread with interest but don't know the answers. It depends on your field I think. In my field it would be much easier to publish a couple more "proper" publications than to manage a successful grant application, written from home. But some fields have more money in than mine. So realistically I would try and work up the publications if you are serious about staying in academia.

I think it would count as a career so far if you include the phd, but you'd have to check the terms of the fellowship to see if it counted as as break.

funnily enough fennel, I had lunch with a mentor today and he said almost the exact same thing as you!

might try and push out another article or two before going for the grant (bwahahahaaa!)

To me that sounds like a career break. How many women have the time to get a big fat academic career going before they have kids? Not very many, so I would say most people applying would be in a similar position to you.

Could you get the bulk of the application written before the baby comes? Can you get some childcare between now and March - even with just a couple of afternoons a week you could get a lot done.

It probably is a good idea to get another publication out if you can. Is there a PhD chapter that could stand alone?

Do you need references for this fellowship, or will they send the application to external referees? If the former, I think positive references can go a long way, so get your referees primed and enthusiastic about the application.

Good luck!

thanks dustbuster! the dept where I studied was chock full of live-at-home 24yo's finishing their phds and churning out thousands of articles which made me feel like I was a complete slacker!!

am hoping to get one publication and yes, bulk of the application done before baby comes. dh will be doing a LOT of childcare - at least until he gets a job - then I'll line up the aunties/gps. thank god we are moving home!