I'm now clinically fed up with post-by-election analysis telling Labour that it has to choose between middle-class cosmopolitan liberals (Gorton) and the white working class (Denton). This is cobblers because it's based on the misconception that there is only one ideological dimension.
Never seen you so angry 🤣
I'm pleased to have another academic paper published, this one in Cambridge University Press' prestigious Ecclesiastical Law Journal. This one is open access so you can have a read: “Discovering Anglicanism – ecclesiology at Lambeth Conferences 1867–1998”. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
I'm already a UCU dep rep.
Unfortunately, the problems also create bad morale within departments and this is infectious.
Puts marking in perspective!
lol no
Yeah you're right. It's easy to forget that it's a great job. However, the trajectory of the sector is so difficult to live with.
In my worse moments, I just want the sector to collapse.
Sorry to hear that - it sucks.
Thanks - I'm already a departmental representative for the UCU trade union, the main union for academics in the UK.
I just hope that things are better in a few years - we may turn a corner soon!
Yeah some days are harder than others; today was such a day :-S
I'm thinking about different options!
Yes, you got lucky there! I'm years away from retirement and just sitting it out doesn't seem like a great option!
Great to hear! I think I've just got to battle through this difficult period and look for interesting new projects. In the longer term, I'm sure conditions will get better :-)
Yeah, it's even worse for early-career researchers and, with my permanent job, I'm well aware that I'm one of the lucky ones. It's a horrible, horrible state of affairs.
Sorry to hear you're in the same boat! Unfortunately, the dreadful atmosphere is contagious.
Is anybody else in academia *really* struggling with motivation at the moment? With the combination of deep restructuring, the dreadful labour market and gen AI, it feels like the walls are closing in. Some of us were hoping to work for 20 more years!
Well the new batch of opinion polls is quite confusing! One can imagine the next parliament being tremendously fragmented and lasting just a few years.
Yes - it's got a massive upside!
Lol. Think I'm on more than a few of those lists myself. And such censoriousness is, of course, why many people find Bluesky so offputting.
Yeah I was just floating the idea and can imagine there may be considerable downsides. Nonetheless, there must be a way to move towards a better 'permanent job to PhD' ratio without penalizing ordinary learners.
Might the government/universities/funders introduce a formula which sets a ceiling on the number of PhDs/postdocs relative to permanent positions?!?
One of the worst things about academia atm
I know so many immensely talented people who are just not going to get jobs in academia. The number of post-docs and job openings is so much lower than just a few years ago. The conditions are brutal.
See you there :-)
Congrats Marta!
Very pleased to share that I passed my PhD viva yesterday!
Huge thanks to my lovely examiners @robjohns75.bsky.social and @profsob.bsky.social, and amazing supervisors @rosieshorrocks.bsky.social, @nspmartin.bsky.social and Ed Fieldhouse...
1/3
Excited! Were it not for the damn school-run, I would stay up for the result.
