Permanency

I am in a very fortunate position: when asked that extremely rude question, second only to ‘when will you finish your thesis/book?’, when will you get a permanent job?, I can now blow a big, fat raspberry in the enquirer’s face. Yes, I am now permanent, back to part time, but nonetheless, here to stay! This has led to some rather odd experiences, not least of all people in a similar position and some postgrads asking me how I’ve achieved this.

A very junior academic’s dilemmas

The history department within which I work has just instituted a system of research mentoring groups. These informal groups of people with loosely (sometimes very loosely) connected research interests are designed to offer support and share best practice. Why, then, did I came out of our group meeting feeling overwhelmed, depressed and seriously contemplating a career in publishing?

A bit of a rant: from hourly paid to pro rata

Readers of the more teaching-related posts will have noticed that both Reivers and myself can rant a little. I’m not sure if I have ranted at length anywhere about the position of those on the very bottom rung of the ladder, but reading a post on the Just Higher-Ed blog, linked from jobs.ac.uk reminds me that if hourly-paid people don’t stick up for ourselves, we can’t expect others to.