The university is a remarkable place to work. It can also be an extraordinarily frustrating one.
Here I write about the realities of academic work: research, teaching, publishing, promotion, leadership, and the peculiar contradictions of university life. These are personal perspectives, informed by experience and research, rather than a guide to getting everything right. Academic institutions deserve scrutiny. So do academics.
Academic careers: getting in, getting on, and what comes next
My forthcoming writing will explore academic work across three stages: early career (entering the profession and establishing a scholarly identity), mid-career (promotion, competing demands, leadership and institutional politics), and late career (judgement, mentoring, influence and legacy). The intention is to ask uncomfortable questions, not offer another set of university productivity hacks.
Start here
- Academia: Hard to Enter, Harder to Defend, Still Worth It! — Why academic work remains worthwhile, despite its contradictions.
- The Publish or Perish Paradox — The incentives shaping academic publishing.
- Publish or Perish: The Sequel — What meaningful scholarly contribution might require.
- Publish or Perish 3 — Rejection and persistence in academic life.
- The Trouble with ‘Useful’ Degrees — The purpose and value of university education.
- Stop Acting Surprised: Teachers Don’t Have Time for Your Research — The distance between research incentives and professional practice.
