Laying the foundations for an academic career

1. Laying the foundations for an academic career Dr. Claire Stocks Research Staff Development Officer Humanities Faculty

2. In this session… • Understanding academic careers • Strategic career planning • Identifying the skills needed to get and keep an academic post • Reflection on own position and career planning

3. The ‘good’ old days PhD Research Assistant Lecturer Senior Lecturer Reader Professor

4. The 21st century lecturer Teacher Inventor ‘Expert’ for hire Administrator Manager Learner Consultant Editor/reviewer Researcher Entrepreneur Expert teacher

5. A degree of flexible working A degree of intellectual freedom Currently good non-pay terms and conditions Fairly secure? Probably worse pay than private sector Difficult to achieve work/life balance Better prospects for mobile workers Increasing need to have a range of skills (and to be ‘excellent’ at all) Academia – pros and cons

6. 2008/9 academic staff data (HESA) • In total, there were 179,040 academic staff (117,465 full-time and 61,575 part-time). • Of those, 77,745 were female and 101,290 were male. • There were 45,825 ‘teaching only’, 92,135 ‘research and teaching’ and 39,915 ‘research only’ (and another 1,170 who were neither teaching nor research). • 115,945 were on open-ended contracts and 63,100 (35%) were on fixed-term contracts. • 17,535 academic staff were employed as Professors, of whom 3,270 (18.7%) were female.

7. Preparing for academia • What are the potential barriers to you getting an academic job? • What have you already done to prepare yourself for an academic career? Think about REAL steps that you have taken – not just plans or ideas that you have. Be prepared to offer CONCRETE examples.

8. Potential Barriers • Competition. • Don’t have the qualifications/skills/experience. • No jobs in your area. • Not well-connected. • Lack of time to do all of the necessary things. • Unclear about what is needed/expected. • Geographical limitations. • Financial limitations. • Time limitations.

9. Strategic Career Planning What is your career aim? What do you need to achieve that? How close are you now? What specific steps do you need to take in order to close the gap between where you are and your goal?

10. Promotions at Manchester • Teaching • Research • Knowledge Transfer • Service and Leadership

11. Things to consider • What kind of academic role you’d prefer (teaching-focussed, research-focussed, teaching and research, managerial) • What kind of institution you’d like to work in (Russell Group, post-1992) • Whether you want to stay in the UK • What type of department you’d like to work in (if you span more than one discipline). • If you leave academia, can you come back? …and prioritise accordingly

12. University missions The mission of the University of Oxford is to achieve and sustain excellence in every area of its teaching and research, maintaining and developing its historical position as a world-class university, and enriching the international, national, and regional communities through the fruits of its research, the skills of its alumni, and the publishing of academic and educational materials. (Oxford University) • To be an enterprising university, achieving internationally recognised excellence in: • education for capability • research for the real world • partnership with business and the community. • (Salford University) To be the UK's leading university for world class professionals. (Manchester Metropolitan University)

13. Gathering the experience/evidence • Performance and Development Review • methods@manchester • Researcher Showcase (Humanities) • The Beacon of Excellence in Public Engagement (and the Whitworth/Museum) • MMU, Salford, Liverpool, Liverpool Hope, LJMU, Lancaster, the OU • Researchers in Residence • Mentoring (Manchester Gold) • Researchers into Management • Pathways (June)

14. What else will help you to succeed? • Networking and collaborations • Get involved in your department • An ability to deliver on promises / to deadlines • A good understanding of the department / university you’re applying to • Professionalism • Find out what the exceptional people do • Know what’s usual for your discipline • Think about how to market yourself • Record yourachievements and get used to talking about them

15. Being a credible candidate – some (relatively) quick fixes • Get HEA Fellowship and/or some teaching experience • Get some professional advice on your CV • Offer to review for some journals • Offer to mentor junior researchers • Do some development – get trained to perform the roles you aspire to • Look for opportunities to co-author • Get some articles out for review (at least) • Have a publication strategy • Get experience outside of academia

16. Plan B • What does it take to get (and keep, and progress in) the job you want? • What are your priorities? What will you sacrifice? • What other options are open to you? • What have other researchers in your discipline gone on to do? • What skills have you developed that you could use elsewhere? • What do you enjoy?

17. What will you do next? • Come up with one or two concrete ideas for what you can do next to increase your prospects of getting an academic post. • Decide when you will have done these things (pick a specific date). • In pairs – tell your partner what you intend to do and make a note of his/her goals. • Swap e-mail addresses and commit to checking on your partner’s progress.

18. Resources • ‘What do researchers do? Career profiles of doctoral graduates’ available at: http://www.vitae.ac.uk/CMS/files/upload/Vitae-WDRD-career-profiles-Jun-09.pdf • Beyond the PhD: http://www.beyondthephd.co.uk/ (Arts and Humanities) • Manchester University Careers: http://www.careers.manchester.ac.uk/staff/research-staff/ • Pathways event: http://www.careers.manchester.ac.uk/students/postgraduates/pathways/