Hanging tough: post-PhD researchers dealing with career uncertainty

ABSTRACT

This study examines the impact of career uncertainty on post-PhD researchers’ experiences. Drawing on an identity-trajectory approach and a qualitative design, we analysed experiences of post-PhDs from the UK and Switzerland. Our findings show that in the course of their work experiences, career uncertainty takes two different forms: intellectual uncertainty and occupational uncertainty. On a daily basis, both forms strongly impact the participants’ work and personal lives and can limit their ability to plan for the future, restrict their developing research expertise and networks and induce tension in trying to reconcile work and personal lives. While often struggling with a blurred institutional status, participants ‘hang tough’ despite their uncertain situation, notably by clinging to the academic researcher identity. Contributing to the previous work on the increasing casualisation of post-PhD positions and the resulting challenges, our study offers new insights into how different aspects of career uncertainty influence post-PhDs’ work and identity.     

关于高师数学（本科）专业教育教学改革的思考

高师数学（本科）专业教学改革的最重要的工作是进行教学内容和课程体系的改革，要深入开展教学内容和课程体系的改革，除认清现状和新形势下的新要求外，还要转变观念，处理好教学内容与教学时数的关系及共性与个性的关系，同时也应做到3个兼顾。     

Teaching improvement grants: what they tell us about professors' instructional choices for the use of technology in higher education

To understand the creative possibilities for the instructional uses of technology, it is important to understand what professors’ are thinking about or imagining they could be doing. This article describes how an analysis of teaching improvement grants can inform us regarding professors’ instructional choices for the use of technology in higher education. An analysis over 6 years of award winning innovative technology proposals emphasized the positive practices that were being proposed, the importance of situating the analysis within an historical framework (eg, over time, culture, infrastructure) and the value of focusing on professor thinking that precedes teaching action and subsequent evaluation of its impact on learning.     

Reframing our approach to doctoral programs: an integrative framework for action and research

A serious problem exists in the academic world, namely doctoral education attrition rates that approach 50% in some disciplines. Yet, calls for action have generally been ad hoc rather than theory driven. Further, research has not been conceived and implemented with sufficient breadth to integrate factors influencing the outcomes across the societal/supra‐societal, institutional and departmental/disciplinary contexts. Concurrently, epistemological questions are being directed at the appropriateness of both the content and the process of doctoral programs. In this paper, we propose as a heuristic, an integrative framework of nested contexts to guide both research and action. The framework integrates the range of factors influencing doctoral student experience, so that we can envision responding to this issue in a coherent and effective fashion.     

Over time,how do post-Ph.D. scientists locate teaching and supervision within their academic practice?

While building a strong research profile is usually seen as key for those seeking a traditional academic position, teaching is also understood as central to academic practice. Still, we know little of how post-Ph.D. researchers seeking academic posts locate teaching and supervision in their academic practice, nor how their views may shift as they are hired into such positions. Drawing on a framework of identity-trajectory narrative, this two-year study of seven Canadian post-Ph.D. scientists examines in-depth the shifting place of teaching within their academic practice. A positive view of the role of teaching in the post-Ph.D. position evolved to a more complex positioning as individuals became pre-tenure. The contributions of this study include a focus on early career scientists (much previous research examines social scientists); its rare longitudinal reach following individuals across roles; and its integration of teaching within other academic work.     

Lessons learned: Faculty developer and engineer working as faculty development colleagues

Abstract

In working together to deliver discipline‐specific workshops, we have had to focus on communicating effectively with each other. We have come to recognize that our biggest obstacle has been divergent ways of thinking and speaking, due to different disciplinary cultures. The metaphor we now use to conceptualize our relationship and deal more effectively with our miscommunications is ‘bridging cultures’ and ‘crossing borders’. We have learned a great deal from trying to make crossing borders more explicit in our work together; our learnings form the basis of this paper.     

Fixed‐term researchers in the social sciences: passionate investment,yet marginalizing experiences

While there are increasing numbers of fixed‐term researchers internationally, their experiences are relatively under‐examined. As a result, I argue their developmental needs are not well understood and rarely addressed. This study – a cross‐case analysis of social science researchers in two universities in the UK – builds on the few existing studies; it confirms earlier findings that conditions have not substantially changed, yet new themes emerged that create a richer representation of researcher experience. The goal of this article is to sensitize us as an academic development community to the needs of these individuals and ways in which we might engage with them.     

Rethinking our underlying assumptions about what we do and why we do it: academic development as a case

In this paper, academic developers from universities in three countries explore underlying assumptions about what we as developers do and why we do it in relation to evaluating development programs. Through addressing three questions, key ideas emerge that highlight what is often overlooked in day-to-day practice: the fact that academic development has a ‘signature pedagogy’ defined by the ‘learning paradigm’; the potential role of different stakeholders in setting criteria for evaluation; and the inclusion of non-traditional academic development literatures (e.g., adult education, educational change, organizational development) to avoid perpetuating established practices. Our intent is to intellectually challenge ourselves and others to move beyond sharing program and evaluation activities to explore ideas and literature not often considered in our day-to-day work. While the context is academic development, we believe the questions and the answers that emerged are of value to all involved in staff and professional development.     

数字时代图书馆知识产权规避与自我保护

本文探讨了数字图书馆在建设与服务中所面临的各种知识产权风险以及数字图书馆知识产权的自我保护问题,并提出了相应的规避和保护措施。