What motivates you? There are many reasons you might enjoy (or not enjoy) your current job, but if you are dragging yourself out of bed on a Monday morning it could be that you are not working in an environment that is in tune with your values. When you are…>
Academic Careers
From Academia to Industry and Back
I have always thought of myself as an academic person: somebody that would never leave the university research environment for Industry, and would try and climb through the ranks, aspiring one day to become a researcher and eventually a Professor.
Available Resources For Researchers in China
Conducting research in China is a relatively easy task for academics today. Scholars seeking to further investigate their research field in the country have a number of options to get started: agreements between foreign and Chinese universities, scholarships provided by the Chinese Ministry of Education, specific programs for researchers But…>
How To Make Sense Of Labour Market Information
Labour Market Information/Intelligence (LMI) are terms that can sound a little dry. You might think that they involve detailed data around employment rates, salaries and industry demand. Which of course they do. But it’s also a lot more. If you’re wondering how to use LMI in your job search and/or…>
Understanding your role as a Lecturer
There was a time, not so long ago, when academic contracts contained no formal job descriptions, other than a vague injunction to ‘perform the wishes of the Head of Department’. This may no longer be the case, but reading a job description, or ticking a few boxes at annual performance…>
Developing Cross-Cultural Skills
As academic jobs become highly competitive in Western Europe and North America, many entering the job market may not have a choice but to move overseas if they want to work in academia. Experts say one of the most important skills for academics moving abroad because of work is cross-cultural…>
Student Support Roles
With the advent of much higher fees, there has been an increased interest in UK universities in the issue of student satisfaction, with many faculties and departments hiring specialists to perform student-facing support roles to supplement the pastoral work of academics and administrators. Why might this interest you? In many…>
Academic Writing: How To Write A Textbook
This article explores an often neglected aspect of academic publishing: the student textbook. Many scholars regularly publish their research in journal articles or academic monographs but never consider writing a textbook. Why write a textbook? Many lecturers become frustrated because a course that they want to teach has no obvious…>
Teaching skills: Delivering an Effective Lecture
Even with the widespread use of e-learning and the creative use of new types of learning spaces, lecturing is still used to convey new knowledge or skills to a large number of students in a relatively short time. Often they are used to introduce key concepts which are then developed…>
What kind of academic do you want to be?
While competition for academic jobs is fierce and progression even to entry-level is not guaranteed to PhD graduates, once entered, a career in academia can take all sorts of twists and turns as different opportunities present themselves along the way.