Careers

The co-intelligence revolution is quietly reshaping what academic excellence means – and who can attain it, says Jakub Drábik

European universities urged to re-evaluate structures and support for employees after ‘profound’ shifts in jobs market

For one mid-career academic scientist, precarity is becoming unbearable. But they are too experienced for entry-level industry jobs and not experienced enough for senior ones. They’ve stayed too long, and now they are stuck – ‘somewhere between too much and not enough’

Edinburgh’s pioneering new framework will allow academics to pursue commercialisation without negative career impact, says Christina Boswell

Running an academic department is, famously, a mixed blessing. Academics cherish their autonomy, and anyone who infringes on it faces a rough ride. But not all academics are difficult, and those who are fall into a wide variety of categories. David Michayluk offers his hard-won tips on handling each one

Flagship programme and dedicated skills funding could help Europe meet labour needs, EUA says

More research council funding in the humanities and social sciences should be distributed in the form of micro-grants, says Peter Sutoris

Survey of first-generation scholars finds many struggle with ‘unwritten rules’ of academic life

Irish institutions hope new employment grade could help retain staff and drive research

Amid financial turmoil, post-92s are creating subsidiaries to employ staff without having to enrol them in the expensive Teachers’ Pension Scheme. But what does that mean for grant and REF eligibility – not to mention hierarchies and industrial relations in an already restive sector? Juliette Rowsell reports

More than half of PhD graduates find jobs outside universities after graduating but students complain programmes are still only set up to help create new professors

As more of the research process is exposed, the readiness and resources of researchers and their institutions must be considered, says Tim Errington

The Fulbright Commission’s insistence that fellows return home is senseless in a country dismantling its science base, says Nicolas Mongiardino Koch

Junior scholars are urged to do all they can to build bridges with the people who can give them jobs and promotions. But how calculating should they be about who to approach? How should they do it? And isn’t it all a bit grubby? Six established academics explain their perspectives

Marking every minor triumph inculcates a motivated mindset of appreciation for your effort and the process of scientific discovery, says Valerie Horsley

Those who take on vital academic housekeeping should be acknowledged as champions of good practice and rewarded accordingly, says Eleanor Baker

Without increased support, many RAs may choose to leave for other opportunities that provide more job security and benefits, says Bre-Anne Fifield

The president of San José State University on harnessing location to build partnerships, the importance of representation and why she isn’t a ‘traditional academic’

The likes of Cambridge can and should open up more permanent positions without resorting to age discrimination, says Wyn Evans

It makes zero difference to reviewers if someone else gets a paper in a high-impact journal, so why are they so pernickety, asks Stephen Cochrane 

But Cambridge must reform procedures that have evidently left many colleagues traumatised, says Thomas Roulet

Too many academics who have lost their motivation mid-career abuse a system that is often unable or unwilling to confront them, says Brian Bloch

We need, instead, to develop structures that allow everyone to flourish, both academically and as parents, says Eleanor Palser

If universities won’t cover immigration costs, they must at least help applicants make informed decisions about coming, says Tanja Wingenbach

The importance of senior faculty advising junior colleagues on their career trajectories is increasingly emphasised. But is guidance – and the giving of it – being fairly shared? Should mentoring schemes be formalised? And are they really enough? Seven academics have their say

Boosting your publication metrics need not come at the expense of your integrity if you bear in mind these 10 tips, says Adrian Furnham

What other industry would deem those with so much prior training to still be mere trainees? Let’s call them what they are – researchers, says Michele Nardin

Keeping highly trained people on tenterhooks for so long undermines the conditions necessary for innovation, says a university manager

Upfront costs can run into thousands of pounds, so speedy repayment is vital for equal access to permanent employment, says Eleanor Palser

The nature of the job differs dramatically depending on how one physically presents. Teaching support needs to catch up, says Hannah Kim

Despite a court’s endorsement of controversial virologist Alexander Kekulé’s suspension, suspicions linger that it is politically motivated, says Brian Bloch

Previous output is by far the best predictor of future success, but has become far less important for Dutch funding allocation, says Raymond Poot

A professorship comes with prestige, but appointments are opaque and there are other rewarding ways to cap off an academic career, says Ron Iphofen

Analysis of 5.8 million authors across all scientific disciplines also shows gender gap is closing, but with distance to go

The American University in Cairo’s first Arab leader on helping people reskill, serving the community and taking on the ‘necessary evil’ of administration

Instead of focusing on the reliability of the data, I know first-hand that defamation suits become personal and career-threatening, says David Sanders

While academics may be dismissive, the process helps their professional colleagues recognise their own scholarly contributions, say four of them

We need to encourage and support scientists to leap into the unknown to solve our grand challenges faster and more equitably, says Xiangkun Cao

The only way to get a permanent contract seems to be to take a teaching position. But that isn’t where my skills or interests lie, says Vanessa Baxter

Only one in five researchers in UK universities have been employed in private sector, says new report

Seven years after he took the ‘big leap’ out of academia, John Ankers explains what he’s learned from life coaching other scholars who are mulling a change of career

The new rules are welcome, but change will only truly occur if institutions finally get over their obsession with publications, says the Hidden REF committee

Permanent contracts, lighter workloads and higher salaries would boost the flagging prestige of Ukraine’s academy, says Alexander Kostyuk 

Research funder investing in leadership capability to support academics and encourage collaboration across disciplines and sectors

Tracking doctoral alumni in other sectors would inform departments about what their specific training allows graduates to do, says Patrick Walsh

Academics warn of damage to progress on equipping officers for modern-day policing and creating a ‘bona fide profession’

Academics’ belief in merit-based promotion at odds with their experiences of discrimination, study finds

Constant rejections for academic jobs took a bigger emotional toll than anything they encountered during their PhDs, says Michelle de Souza

Most presidents don’t get fired, and those who do typically go on to rewarding new positions, says Holden Thorp

In the wake of Jacinda Ardern’s and Nicola Sturgeon’s decisions to step down as leaders of their respective nations, university leaders and experts reflect on when is the right time to give up the biggest office on campus

Senior faculty are trying to prove their worth by making the lives of others so unpleasant that they agree to leave. It is time to call them out, says Aymen Idris

The lost golden age of hiring and wider social appreciation of the disciplines never existed, says Harvey Graff

Telling precariously employed literature scholars to just hang in there doesn’t cut it in a job market as bad as today’s, says Chris Townsend

Belated moves to mitigate precarity are welcome but may come too late for one scholar exhausted by insecurity

Mechanisms to determine university leaders’ salaries are opaque and unreliable. We need more meaningful metrics, says Adrian Furnham

Better alignment of pay and benefits, working cultures and expectations will clear the way for research to have impact, say nine Future Leaders fellows

Lack of consensus over how to define economic worth of programmes to student and taxpayer hampers education department’s efforts

For academics trained to plough a narrow, deep, heavily footnoted field, writing for a more general audience can be difficult. But the rewards, both personal and financial, can be considerable. Matthew Reisz picks the brains of publishing professionals for their dos and don’ts

Overloaded slides, peculiar body language and speech that is too quick, slow, quiet or relentless are all easily fixed, says Brian Bloch

Building a publishing platform that allows scholars to earn from sales of their papers has put all Pooja Sawrikar’s rage to good use