Changing Academic Life: Recent Episodes
Geraldine Fitzpatrick
Academic life is changing. Many of us are drowning in increasing work demands. Our ‘value’ is increasingly defined by competitive metrics. Academic career paths are often uncertain and precarious. What can we do, individually and collectively, to change academic life to be more sustainable, collaborative and effective? This podcast series offers long-form conversations with academics and thought leaders who share stories and insights, as well as bite-size ‘Related Work’ musings on specific topics drawing on literature and experience.
Celebrating 10 Years & Season Reflections on Meaning, Identity, Care, and Leadership
This is a special episode because it’s not only marks the end of the current season, it also celebrates 10 years of the Changing Academic Life podcast, The first podcast episode went out on 3 July 2016 and it has now reached 156 episodes by late June 2026. In this episode I start off reflecting on the podcast as a service contribution towards trying to create a better academia and the reminder that small actions can have big impacts. A big thank you to my guests and listeners, and for your feedback as exemplified in a supportive email I just received from Eleanor, among others. And I ask listeners to share the podcast and consider informal discussion groups. I then go on to reflect across the 11 season episodes, highlighting themes of meaning and joyful effort, evolving identity, navigating academic “games,” bureaucracy and corporatization, better leadership grounded in trust, deep listening, and care and wellbeing. My last invitation is for you to make one small intentional change towards your better academic life and creating better cultures.
00:00 Welcome to the Podcast
00:32 Ten Year Milestone
02:21 Why Keep Going
03:58 Listener Messages Matter
05:59 Share the Podcast
06:38 Season Episodes Recap
12:30 Meaning and Joy
14:37 Identity and Agency
17:01 Bureaucracy and Leadership
19:47 Listening and Care
24:48 Intentional Next Steps
26:36 Closing Thanks
Previous CAL100 episode from Feb 2024: Celebrating 100!
Deep listening is a foundational yet undervalued skill across all our supervision, leadership, and collaboration relationships. My motivation for this episode came from some recent workshops experiences, conversations with colleagues, and posts from others that have all highlighted the importance of listening in different ways. This is a multi-voice episode, weaving together insights from past conversations with Christian van Nieuwerburgh, Oscar Trimboli, and Michael Bungay Stanier. Together we explore how we can cultivate better listening.
Good listening starts with how we show up—our wellbeing, intention, and undivided attention—and practical preparation such as reducing notifications, hydrating, and breathing. Good listening then is a way of being, staying curious longer with open “what” questions, checking what support is wanted, and resisting “advice monsters” that push premature solutions. We also discuss the relational, developmental and productivity costs of poor listening, and I close with Oscar’s five levels of listening and Michael’s exhortation to stay curious a little longer. The invitation to you is to consider how you might practice deeper curiosity and presence for better listening where you are.
00:29 Why the Focus on Listening
05:36 Listening Starts with Listening to Ourselves
13:27 When the Content isn't the Real Content - Curiosity and Questions
18:05 Christian on Optimal Matching
20:58 Michael on our Advice Monsters
26:39 Michael on the Problem with Rushing to Advice
29:59 How We Ask a Question Matters
33:44 Relationship Costs of Poor Listening
42:52 Oscar's Five Levels of Listening
44:23 Wrapping Up
The Full Podcast Episodes:
Michael Bungay Stanier on the power of curiosity and taming your advice monster
RW8 Asking good questions, empowering good people
Oscar Trimboli (Part 1) on being better listeners (CAL61)
Oscar Trimboli (Part 2) on how to listen deeply (CAL62)
Christian van Nieuwerburgh on Bringing Back the Joy (CAL142, S8E7)
Related Links:
Uni of Glasgow Outstanding Catalyst Mentors – Padlet with testimonials (Kay Guccione)
Narelle Lemon, Deep Listening: Are You Being Helped, Hugged or Heard? Jun 9 2026
The Thriving PI Summit– free online event June 29-Jul 2 2026 – organized by Ana Pineda. Free registration.
Mike Levin is a Professor of Biology at Tufts University in the US and leads the Levin Lab and pursues research across cancer, birth defects, regenerative medicine, AI, synthetic morphology, and philosophy, unified by a central aim: understanding how minds become embodied and scale across biological and synthetic systems. Mike explains his early inspirations and his practice of looking for what is “not in the textbook,” challenging dominant paradigms and treating scientific frameworks as metaphors that both reveal and hide phenomena. He describes navigating academia by separating creative exploration from pragmatic communication, strategically and slowly rolling out disruptive ideas as data accumulate, and connecting new ideas to what others value. He discusses building and managing an interdisciplinary lab, sustaining high publication output through intensive work, persisting through rejection, and advising students to envision long-term outcomes and not give up. This conversation will inspire you to also ask new questions.
00:29 Episode Introduction
04:24 Introducing Mike, the Levin Lab and the Embodied Minds Research Agenda
06:30 Early Curiosity Origins - TVs and Bugs
09:45 Fresh Eyes Method
11:48 Hidden Capacties of Algorithms
13:21 Beyond Disciplines
15:07 Navigating Academia Your Way
17:08 Curating Radical Ideas
20:21 Two Minds Strategy and Being Realistic
24:45 Understanding Communities, Building Your Own Community
26:09 Slow Curated Rollout Dial
29:32 Imposter Syndrome Reality
29:58 Data Over Opinions
32:11 Interdisciplinary Metaphors
34:44 Rethinking Scientific Categories
36:23 Hiring For Discomfort, Building a MultiDisciplinary Team
39:14 From Crazy To Obvious
41:07 Seeding Lab Communication
43:51 Partnering With Model Systems
45:06 Sharing Science
45:51 Productivity And Sacrifice
47:22 Stress And Best Job
49:19 Speaking to Young Researchers
50:55 Never Give Up
Related links:
The Levin Lab website and Starter pack: Introductory materials to the lab's academic work
Tufts Allen Discovery Center
Mike's personal Blog: Forms of life, forms of mind and Google Scholar page
Podcast Exploring the origin and nature of minds in the physical universe and YouTube channel
TED conversation about "The electrical blueprints that orchestrate life"
Advice he gives to his students
Dr Raffael Himmelsbach and I discuss his unorthodox path from a political science PhD at the University of Lausanne into science policy and research-adjacent leadership roles across multiple countries, including work with the Center for Digital Life Norway and co-directing a Vienna Ludwig Boltzmann Research Group on wound healing. He describes moving away from a publication-driven track toward designing programs, coordinating networks, and working with people, and reflects on the discomfort and courage required in ambiguous roles where goals and success criteria can be unclear. Drawing on large-scale, multi-institution collaborations, he discusses stakeholder management, the risks of equating success with spending and visible activity, and the importance of creating safety and “attractiveness” for collaboration. He shares practical tools such as participatory lab manuals, structured check-ins, and “parking lot” rituals, and reflects on leadership beyond positional authority, the tension between expert and leader identities, and the value of coaching and self-leadership as he now transitions to leadership coaching and organisation development consulting.
00:29 Introducing Raffael
03:38 From Political Science to Science Policy and Responsibility
10:03 Finding his Happy Place in a Research Adjacent Role
17:53 Becoming more Professional, Accepting Being Uncomfortable
22:03 Coordinating Multidisciplinary Multisite Projects
28:14 Key Learning About Courage
32:10 Knowing your Stakeholders, Defining Success Beyond Activity
35:18 Bootstrapping Collaboration Through Safety and Attractiveness
41:23 Lab Manual As Social Contract
44:14 Participation and Shared Responsibility
46:28 Leadership Without Command Control
50:50 Rituals That Make People Seen
53:39 Leader Identity vs Expert Identity
59:01 Drawing on Experience to Help Others
01:01:27 Third Space Roles and Future Academia
Related Links:
Raffael Himmesbach Consulting and LinkedIn profile
Raffael's report on The Centre for Digital Life Norway at Nine Years: Insights from the Legacy Workshop
Ludwig Boltzmann Research Group Senescence and Healing of Wounds
Raffael Himmelsbach, We need to talk about leadership transitions in science, LinkedIn blog post Jan 2026.
Richard Van Noorden, Some hard numbers on science’s leadership problems, Nature 557, 294-296 (2018) doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-05143-8
Connecting to Christian van Nieuwerburgh’s idea of “joyful effort” and discussions at the University of Graz Research Culture Campus Fest about supportive, inclusive research cultures and prioritizing meaningful work over productivity, this episode revisits an episode from January 2025 on research identity, meaningful work, and funding. I explore the tensions between our autonomy to pursue intrinsically motivating, value-driven research and systemic constraints such as funding calls, promotion criteria, shifting national priorities, and restrictive deliverables that can conflict with participatory principles. Using examples from Katta Spiel on focusing on what you want to do not what is strategic, Mark Reed’s impact principle about purpose, and Stuart Reeves on low-cost research styles, I talk about our choices to play or not play the funding “game,” including reframing proposals, and the risks of taking on less-meaningful projects. I close with reflective questions (summarized in nine steps by Rachel Ratz-Lubashevsky) to identify what “lights you up” and guide decisions.
00:34 Motivating the Relevance of Revisiting this Episode
04:56 Rachel's Summary of the 9 Simple Steps to What Lights You Up
08:28 Introduction and Reflection on Academic Freedom
09:56 Replay from Katta Spiel Part 1
10:40 Mark Reed's principle for engagement and impact
13:23 The Tension Between Personal Values, Identity and Systemic Expectations
15:07 The Reality of Funding Proposals and Strategic Game
16:40 The Impact of Funding Conditions on Research
18:27 The Dilemma of Playing the Funding Game
21:07 Choices for How to Play the Game
27:52 Choosing Not to Play the Game
29:42 Reframing Research Identity and Conclusion
Related Links:
Uni Graz Research Culture Campus Fest report and LinkedIn post about it
Rachel Ratz-Lubashevsky’s LinkedIn post summarising the 9 steps
CAL Podcast episodes I mention:
Christian van Nieuwerburgh, Johanna Stadlbauer, Katta Spiel part 1, Mark Reed and Stuart Reeves part 1
Christian van Nieuwerburgh is Professor of Coaching and Positive Psychology at the Centre for Positive Health Sciences at the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland University of Medicine and Health Sciences, and a practitioner providing coach training and consultancy for the education sector, among other roles. His ‘coach on a motorcycle’ identity is about aligning all parts of his work and life as a “pracademic”.
Universities, he argues, should be joyful, safe, inclusive places where students and staff flourish despite constraints like performance metrics and burnout. He talks about wellbeing as foundational for us to be able to do good work, about how a coaching approach is ideal for setting up learning environments that build autonomy, self-efficacy, and connection, and about the importance of intention. Intention, he says, is central to how we show up because “intention directs attention,” helping others feel seen, valued, and heard. Throughout, he provides lots of practical suggestions for how to check in with our own intentions and choices. We discuss supervision and learning conversations, shifting stances from directive to facilitative and dialogical, optimal matching of support, asking what help is needed, cultivating presence, and using small reflective choices (purpose, calendar/energy audits, recharging activities) to bring joy back to academic work.
00:29 Episode Introduction
03:33 Christian's Student Dream to Academic Reality
05:51 Embracing the Pracademic Coach on a Motorcycle
07:25 Bringing Joy Back to Universities
12:40 Joyful Effort Meaning and Energy
19:29 Wellbeing Beyond the Business Case
23:58 Intention Directs Attention
29:54 Coaching Supervision and a Caring Professor
34:16 Undivided Attention Matters
36:00 Supervisor as Coach
38:34 Beyond the Expert Hat
41:04 Dialogical Career Conversations
48:32 Matching Support to Needs
50:54 From Surviving to Adding Value
53:36 Practicing Presence Daily
57:23 Joyful Effort Closing
58:17 Outro
Related Links:
About Christian:
The ‘Coach on a Motorcycle’. You can also find him via his RCSI web page, Google Scholar page, and on LinkedIn and Instagram.
People Christian mentions:
Prof. Cathia Jenainati, Uni of Gloucestershire
Prof. George Khairallah, American University of Beirut
Dr Paige Williams, Uni of Melbourne
Christian's books and articles:
See https://coachonamotorcycle.com/books/ for all his books
van Nieuwerburgh, Christian and Biswas-Diener, Robert, Radical Listening: The Art of True Connection, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2025.
van Nieuwerburgh, Christian, Radical listening: two big ideas and six core skills that could help you connect more deeply with others, The Conversation, June 2025
https://theconversation.com/radical-listening-two-big-ideas-and-six-core-skills-that-could-help-you-connect-more-deeply-with-others-256289
van Nieuwerburgh, Christian and Williams, Paige (Eds), From Surviving to Thriving: A student’s guide to feeling and doing well at university, Sage Publications, 2022.
van Nieuwerburgh, Christian, An Introduction to Coaching Skills: A Practical Guide, Sage Publications, 2013 (2025 4th Ed).
Lynden J, Gallaghan G, van Nieuwerburgh CJ (2024), "Bringing joy back into higher education: the potential contribution of coaching". International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, Vol. 13 No. 3 pp. 378–393. (PDF available here)
Other articles:
Buckingham, Markus and Goodall, Ashley, Work-Life Balance is a Myth. Do This Instead. Time Magazine, June 6 2019.
Designing Your Intentional Sabbatical: Purpose, boundaries and career sustainability.
This is Part 2 of my conversation with Bethany Wilinski, an associate professor of teacher education at Michigan State University. Building from Part 1, where Bethany described her own sabbatical experience, here the the focus is on how to more intentionally design your sabbatical (also relevant for any leave) by starting with purpose, priorities, and desired feelings rather than a to-do list. Bethany outlines practical boundary management strategies to protect your time amid ongoing responsibilities while on sabbatical. These include clarifying expectations in advance, shifting cognitive load to students, and batching meetings into limited windows. She makes a great case for how we can use sabbaticals as a chance to test systems and carry changes forward: balancing structure versus unscheduled time, normalizing rest and reading as productive, and using sabbatical (and other types of leave) to reset habits around health, work rhythms, and scarcity-driven opportunity-taking. Bethany also also reflects more generally on academia’s lack of positive reinforcement, her sabbatical-planning coaching business, and the need for sustainable career choices and incremental culture change.
0:29 Introduction
03:55 Starting With Purpose and Priorities Before Tasks
07:34 Mapping Obligations And Boundaries, Setting Boundaries
12:31 Reducing Cognitive Load, Taking Control of Scheduling
14:51 Structure Rest And Reading
18:25 Mid Career Reset And Scarcity
22:01 Career Choices In Uncertain Times
24:12 Lessons From Parental Leave
26:22 The To Do List Never Ends
29:35 Validation And Sustainable Culture
35:58 Starting A Coaching Business
39:21 Changing Academia From Within
41:18 Outro
Related Links:
Bethany’s Michigan State Uni webpage
Bethany Wilinski Sabbatical Coaching
Bethany on LinkedIn
Bethany Wilinski is an associate professor of teacher education at Michigan State University and a sabbatical coach. In Part 1 of our conversation, she describes her own sabbatical experience. She talks about how earning tenure in 2022 after the pandemic, young children, and family losses left her burned out and questioning her work’s impact. Initially she planned an “expected” research sabbatical in Tanzania and applied for a competitive yearlong Fulbright, but soon felt unease about starting a major new project and disrupting family life. After seeing a colleague’s Florence sabbatical report, she reframed sabbatical as restoration and family reconnection, chose Bordeaux France for one semester, and returned reenergized and eager to reengage without resuming frenetic pace. She discusses shifting identity beyond career, setting boundaries, pausing before saying yes, focusing on finishing work, and unlearning academia’s hidden curriculum of constant striving.
00:29 Introduction
04:09 Burnout After Tenure and Initial Sabbatical Plans
09:14 Navigating Doubts After Submitting and Expectations
14:03 Post Tenure Pressure
18:18 Slowing Down For Family
24:19 A Different Sabbatical Vision
30:14 Restoration Mindset Shift and Choosing Bordeaux France
33:16 Returning Reenergized
35:59 Identity Beyond Academia
37:52 Boundaries and Saying No
41:26 Essentialism and Finishing
43:19 Hidden Curriculum Unlearning
48:37 Support Systems and Guardrails
52:09 Designing Your Sabbatical
52:33 Outro
Related Links:
Bethany’s Michigan State Uni webpage
Bethany Wilinski Sabbatical Coaching
Bethany on LinkedIn
[Book] Greg McKeown, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, Crown Currency 2014.
What if a corporatisation approach could actually make academic life better? Looking across the episodes so far this year I see three themes: shifting from “I” to “we” by treating research as a team sport; developing a new kind of leadership focused on enabling others through self-awareness, humility, authenticity, kindness, and clear roles; and adopting new ways of working that reduce bureaucratic hierarchies. These point to new ways of working. Drawing on Masud Husain’s 2025 editorial on corporatization and “bullshit jobs”, and Jayne Price’s discussion of holacracy and Corporate Rebels, I remind us, as if we need reminding, of how our current arbitrary and onerous bureaucratic processes take us away from our core work. I then explore what we could learn from holocratic approaches that move from bureaucracy and control to trust and self organised teams, as captured in Corporate Rebels’ eight trends (purpose over metrics, networks of teams, supportive leadership, adaptation, freedom with accountable trust, distributed decisions, transparency, and talents/mastery). I invite us to experiment with being academic rebels exploring new ways of working with new forms of leadership. There might actually be forms of corporatisation that could be useful for our sector.
00:29 Reflecting on Conversations so Far in 2026
02:08 Theme 1: Mindset shift from I to We
02:55 Theme 2: Critical Role of Leadership
05:09 Theme 3: Needing New Ways of Working
07:19 The Rise of Corporatisation and 'Bullshit Jobs' in the Academic Sector
10:17 Learning from New Approaches in the Corporate Sector?
13:31 Exploring the Arbitrariness and Impact of Bureaucracy and Heirarchies
14:13 Example: Different Approaches to Bureaucracy around Teaching
16:39 Example: Different Approaches to Booking Holidays
17:48 Example: Booking Work Related Travel
20:05 Example: Bureaucracy and Control of Funding Bodies
22:39 Example: Bureaucracy, Micromanagement in Professional Organizations
25:15 Better Ways from Holocracy and Coporate Rebels?
29:33 Requires New Forms of Leadership
34:09 Eight Trends in This New Coporate Way
39:16 What Can You Imagine for Your Situation?
Related Links:
Sarah McLusky on diverse careers, purposeful events and effective communication (CAL135, S8E1)
Jayne Price on making work work better (CAL137, S8E2)
Jen Heemstra on Accidental Leadership (CAL 138, S8E3)
Strengths as Superpowers - Replay (CAL123, S6 E17)
Masud Husain, On the responsibilities of intellectuals and the rise of bullshit jobs in universities, Brain, Volume 148, Issue 3, March 2025, Pages 687–688.
Brian Robertson, Holocracy
Corporate Rebels
Diederick Janse & Marco Bogers, Getting Started With Holacracy: Upgrading Your Team's Productivity, 2020, AbeBooks
Prof. Jen Heemstra from Washington University in St. Louis in the US shares her journey from a research-focused bimolecular engineer to accidental leader and now author of the insightful book 'Lab Work to Leadership.' Jen speaks about the challenges faced by academics moving into leadership, recognisning that we are often untrained and unprepared for these roles. She shares insights from her book focusing on self-leadership, leading others, and coaching future leaders. Jen talks about the importance of building trust, creating a positive lab culture, giving and seeking feedback, and the significance of modeling behavior for emerging leaders. Jen also reflects on her personal experiences, including her struggles to get tenure and maintaining a work-life balance.
00:29 Introduction and Welcome
03:09 The Birth of 'Lab Work to Leadership'
05:43 Navigating Academic Challenges
08:29 The Worst Day: Tenure Rejection
12:14 People Showing Up and Getting Tenure
15:49 Embracing Leadership in Academia That We Are Not Trained For
21:26 Building a Collaborative Lab Culture
30:35 The Importance of Self-Leadership and Self-Awareness
33:27 The Role of Coaches and Mentors
35:02 The Importance of Feedback
37:01 Challenges in Giving and Receiving Feedback
38:46 Understanding Individual Needs in a Lab Environment
43:59 Building Trust and Psychological Safety
49:37 Coaching Future Leaders
56:50 Balancing Professional and Personal Life
58:11 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
58:56 Outro
Related Links:
About Jen:
Heemstra Lab at Washington Univ in St. Louis
Jen’s webpage and LinkedIn Profile
Book:
Jen Heemstra, Labwork to leadership: a concise guide to thriving in the science job you weren’t trained for, 2025, Harvard University Press
People:
Troy Champ
Resources:
Edwin Catmull and Amy Wallace, Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration, 2014, Penguin.
Liz Wiseman and Greg McKeown, Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter, 2010, Harper Collins.
Birkman Personality Inventory
Jayne Price is all about making work work better. She is the Transformation Director and Head of Continuous Improvement at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). Jayne discusses her journey to her current role in UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), and the strategies she employs to foster human-centered, purpose-led change in the organization. She emphasizes the importance of leadership that is grounded in trust, accountability, and psychological safety, and the role of experimental and agile approaches in driving systemic transformation. Jayne also shares practical examples, including the implementation of Holacracy and continuous improvement initiatives. The conversation highlights the challenges and successes in transforming our traditionally bureaucratic research culture into a more effective and innovative environment. Jayne offers valuable insights for leaders at all levels and showcases the value of empowering teams to do their best work.
00:29 Introduction to the Episode
03:41 Introducing Jayne and her Career Journey
06:52 Understanding Project versus Program Management
07:59 From Change to Transformation
12:14 Implementing Experiments and Measuring Change
14:10 Challenges in the Academic and Research Sector
19:54 Innovative Approaches to Leadership and Management
27:21 Designing Alternative Promotion Routes
29:21 Challenges to Identity and Developing Leaders
35:50 Moving from 'I' to 'We' as a Leader
37:53 The Mindset to Move to 'We'
40:13 Humility, Vulnerability and Authenticity in Leadership
43:26 Shadow Sides, Blind Spots and Experimenting with Different Approaches
47:31 Starting to See the Benefits
50:53 Creating Workplaces For People to Flourish
53:04 The Holacracy Experiment - Creating Clarity
55:42 Doing Meetings Differently
59:22 Empowerment and Autonomy with Accountability
01:01:47 Corporate Rebels and Other Inspirational Resources
01:06:31 The Critical Importance of Leadership Buy-In
01:08:01 Everyone Can Choose Leadership Behaviours at Any Level
01:09:51 Encouragement for Change Agents
01:11:39 Outro
About Jayne:
Jayne Price https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayne-price71/
UKRI https://www.ukri.org
STFC https://www.ukri.org/councils/stfc/
Related links:
Cynefin framework for making sense of complexity
Corporate Rebels
Diederick Janse and Marc-Peter Pijper from Corporate Rebels supported the Holocracy Trials
GlassFrog: “the cutting-edge self-management platform that empowers teams with clarity and autonomy”
Tuff Leadership Training
Books:
Aaron Dignan, Brave New Work, Portfolio, 2019
Daniel Pink, Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us, Riverhead Books, 2011
Joost Minnaar and Pim de Morree, Corporate Rebels: Make Work More Fun, 2020
Jon Alexander, Citizens: Why the Key to Fixing Everything is All of Us, Simon and Schuster, 2023
Diederick Janse & Marco Bogers, Getting Started With Holacracy: Upgrading Your Team's Productivity, 2020, AbeBooks
Robin Sharma, The Leader Who Had No Title, Free Press, 2010.
Harvard Business Review
Related CAL Podcasts:
Fostering psychological safety in research environments 30 Oct 24
Elizabeth Churchill on creating culture, leading teams, loving challenges - she talks about Cynefin Framework ~6:30 mins
Dr. Sarah McLusky, is an advocate and role model for research-adjacent careers. As an advocate Sarah hosts the 'Research Adjacent' podcast, which showcases career opportunities beyond traditional academic and industry roles. She talks about why started the podcast and also talks about her four main categories of research adjacent roles, emphasising the importance of recognising the many contributors to successful research. As a role model, Sarah shares her own experiences moving into a research adjacent role post-PhD, now working as a freelancer who supports research organisations through events and communications. Some of her key insights are around how to prepare participants for meaningful engagement at events and the value of effective research communication. She encourages us to rethink career possibilities and the significance of culture in research environments.
00:29 Intro to the Episode
02:49 Introducing Sarah McLusky
04:33 The Concept of Research Adjacent
08:00 Research As a Team Sport
12:02 Career Paths Beyond Academia
20:10 Four Main Categories of Research Adjacent Roles
24:22 Sarah McLusky's Journey to a Research Adjacent Role
29:36 Balancing Passion and Pragmatism
33:17 Navigating Freelance Work
34:51 The Importance of Gathering with Purpose
45:54 Supporting the Communication of Great Research
48:49 Final Thoughts and Resources
51:25 Outro
Related Links:
About Sarah and her work
Website https://sarahmclusky.com/
Newsletter https://sarahmclusky.com/gathering-with-purpose
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahmclusky/
Research Adjacent Podcast
https://researchadjacent.com/podcast/
https://pod.link/1663857550
For this last episode of the year I revisit the Long Play (LP) template, inspired by vinyl records, as a way to intentionally reflect on and celebrate this past year and to be more intentional about how we move into our new year. The Ps of the template are personal, people, play, and projects and we use the Ls to reflect across there: what did you land, love, labor on, and learn this past year review, and what do you want to look forward to, let go, let grow, and let be for the next year. You can download a template to create your own personalised reflections and plans, individually or within groups, to help you shape your good academic life.
Overview:
00:29 Setting up the LP
03:34 LP Replay
05:05 Introducing the LP Table Template
08:59 Taking Time to Savour and Celebrate
12:06 Looking forward to the 2026 LP
16:12 Wrapping Up and Summary
19:09 Final Pointers
19:49 Outro
You can download your LP template here. Feel free to tailor it to what works best for you! And I'd love to hear back how you used it and evolved it.
In this very personal solo episode, I share my journey through infertility and the impact it had on my academic and personal life. Inspired by Susan Dray's story, I decided to share our challenges of trying to start a family while managing a career in academia. I discusses the physical and emotional toll of infertility treatments, the loneliness of not sharing my struggles with colleagues, and the moral dilemmas we faced. Mine is just one story, and we can be sure that many of the people we work with are dealing with their own challenges or carrying their own sadnesses so this is a call for more empathy, kindness, and support in academic environments, emphasizing the importance of recognizing the human side of our lives. I conclude with a message of support for those facing similar challenges and a reflection on how my career path, though unintended, brought its own form of fulfillment.
00:29 Introduction: A Personal Journey
01:05 The Inspiration Behind This Episode
03:58 Opening Up About Women's Health Issues
07:23 The Struggles of Infertility
12:15 Navigating the Moral Dilemmas
14:51 Navigating Our Journey
17:43 Navigating Career and Personal Life
22:44 Moving On and Finding New Paths
26:48 Things Coming Together in the Move to London
30:13 Reflecting on an Academic Career Without Children
33:53 Final Reflections
Related Link
CHI Stories @CHI2017: Midwifery, Babies, HCI: “Doktormutter”hood and Sustainable Academic Life
In Part 2 of our conversation, Susan Dray continues to share deep insights about the importance of self-awareness and authenticity, empathy and listening with heart, and dealing with professional discomfort and personal adversity. She discusses her mentoring style, centred around being empathetic and supportive. And she talks about the importance of service and community, as well as the current challenges faced by early career researchers.
Susan also shares deeply personal challenges and losses, and the accompanying emotional journey of accepting and learning from setbacks, the value of honouring people's experiences, and the importance of collaborative support. She reminds us, paraphrased here, that few people understand how special they are, and that what really matters is who you are. Because this is going to mean that what you do is important and makes a difference. Susan has certainly made a difference.
Overview:
00:29 Introduction to Part Two with Susan Dray
02:18 Navigating Discomfort and Deep Learning
05:47 Mentoring and Community Support
08:51 HCI in Africa and Global Recognition
13:28 Supporting Early Career Researchers
19:12 Mentoring and the Joy of Service
22:11 Reflections on Mentoring and Authenticity
26:08 Evolving Roles, Willingness to be a Beginner
29:40 Postscript - Personal Reflections and Adversities
30:55 Lessons from Sailing
32:21 Coping with Loss and Finding Positivity
35:08 Final Reflections on Life and Legacy
36:50 Wrap up
38:27 End
Related Links:
Susan Dray's webpage and LinkedIn profile
The wonderful Dr Susan Dray shares her journey from obtaining a PhD in experimental and physiological psychology at UCLA to becoming a pivotal figure in the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). Susan recounts her transition from academia to industry, including roles at Honeywell and American Express, and her eventual shift to independent consulting. She discusses the evolution of HCI and human factors, the significance of ethnographic studies, and the importance of listening with one's heart in diverse cultural contexts. Susan also reflects on the birth of SIGCHI, organizational challenges, and her expansive international work. Her insights provide a rich, historical perspective on the ongoing interplay between technology, human behavior, and organizational dynamics, and on the contextual and cultural nuances in technology adoption. She also demonstrates the power of curiosity, self reflection and a service mindset.
Overview
00:29 Episode Introduction
02:49 Susan's Background
03:52 Transition from Academia to Industry
05:37 Early Challenges at Honeywell
06:56 Gaithersburg Conference and SIGCHI Formation
10:15 Human Factors and Computing Systems
13:34 Human Technology Impacts at Honeywell
16:40 The Mindset of a Scientist
22:59 Mentorship and Career Advice
26:30 Career Transitions and Reflections
28:06 Early Challenges in Consulting
30:12 Setting Up a Consulting Business
31:59 International Projects and Usability Studies
38:22 Navigating Cultural Differences and Lessons in Challenges
45:24 Innovative Research in Korea and South Africa
49:26 Embracing Discomfort Curiousity and Self Reflection
52:17 Wrap up
Related Links
Susan Dray webpage and LinkedIn
ACM SIGCHI Special Interest Group OnComputer-Human Interaction
Building on the last episode’s topic of meetings, the focus here is on our one-on-one meetings. In his book, 'Glad We Met: The Art and Science of One-to-One Meetings,' Steven Rogelberg discusses how these meetings can be practical, personal, and developmental. We can also think of these as the four Ps of care—process, progress, product, and person. Drawing on insights from Rogelberg’s book, along with some timely recent posts, I draw attention to the role of empathy, authentic communication, and regular, intentional meetings in supporting PhD students, postdocs, and research assistants. Practical tips include setting regular meeting cadences, being attentive and present, and ensuring a respectful and effective meeting environment. These are all skills we can work on to better support the practical, personal and developmental in our 1-1 meetings.
Overview:
00:29 Introduction to Effective Meetings
01:55 The Importance of One-on-One Meetings
03:25 The Four Ps of Care in Meetings
04:14 Practical Aspects of Supervisory Meetings
05:06 Caring for the Person in Meetings
05:35 Skills for Effective Meetings
09:12 Student Contributions to Meetings
11:01 Preparation and Presence in Meetings
12:18 Time Management and Respect in Meetings
13:23 Listening and Asking Good Questions
14:25 The Cadence of Meetings
17:55 Practical Suggestions for Meeting Environments
19:14 Career Conversations and Resources
20:20 Conclusion: The Art, Heart, and Science of Meetings
24:02 End
Related links:
Steven Rogelberg's webpage, LinkedIn profile, and Meeting resources and previous CAL episode on Transforming Academic Meetings
Book: Rogelberg, S. G. (2024). Glad We Met: The Art and Science of 1: 1 Meetings. Oxford University Press.
Recent posts mentioned:
116 - 6 Communication Strategies to Get What You Need From Your PhD Advisor (Without Being Annoying), Emmanuel Tsekleves , PhDtoProf Newsletter1 Oct 2025
A toolkit to foster great career conversations, Rachel Chin and Rachel Herries, Auditorium Blog, 7 Oct 2025
Related Changing Academic Life episodes:
Oscar Trimboli (Part 1) on being better listeners
Oscar Trimboli (Part 2) on how to listen deeply
Michael Bungay Stanier on the power of curiosity and taming the advice monster
RW (solo) Asking good questions, empowering good people
Dr. Steven Rogelberg, an organisational psychologist from the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, draws on his extensive research on workplace meetings to share how we might make acadmic meetings better. We discuss the inefficiencies of academic meetings, with Steven suggesting academics suffer from particularly ineffective meeting practices. He offers practical advice on improving meeting productivity, particularly for Faculty meetings, such as using targeted agendas and smaller group discussions, and stresses the value of bringing scientific rigour to meeting management. He also critiques the hybrid meeting format, advocating instead for fully virtual or in-person meetings. If you are looking for more insights about evidence-based meeting practices, I can highly recommend his books 'The Surprising Science of Meetings' and 'Glad We Met: The Art and Science of One-to-One Meetings' .
Overview:
00:29 Introduction: The Meeting Dilemma
01:42 Introducing Dr. Steven Rogelberg
03:56 The Academic Meeting Problem
09:23 Common Mistakes in Leading Meetings
11:06 Strategies for Effective Meetings
13:12 Having a Meeting About Meetings
14:34 The Importance of Feedback and Audits
15:55 The Faculty Meeting
18:15 Challenges of Large and Hybrid Meetings
19:21 More Inclusive Alternatives to Large Meetings
22:20 Hybrid Meetings and Virtual Meetings
23:54 Final Takeaways and Resources
25:46 Postscript
30:16 End
Related links:
Steven's web page, LinkedIn page and online meeting resources
https://www.stevenrogelberg.com
Steven's books:
Rogelberg, S. G. (2019). The surprising science of meetings: How you can lead your team to peak performance. Oxford University Press.
Rogelberg, S. G. (2024). Glad We Met: The Art and Science of 1: 1 Meetings. Oxford University Press.
And his academic publications, for example the two we mentioned:
Rogelberg, S., Kreamer, L. M., & Gray, J. (2025). Thirty Years of Meeting Science: Lessons Learned and the Road Ahead. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 13.
Rogelberg, S. G., King, E. B., & Alonso, A. (2022). How we can bring IO psychology science and evidence-based practices to the public. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 15(2), 259-272.
And here is a template to help you reflect on your meetings.
Professor Emeritus Deborah Boehm Davis, George Mason University in the US, is one of the pioneers of the CHI conference. Deborah discusses her varied career building from her psychology background and spanning roles in human factors at Bell Labs, NASA, and General Electric. She then talks about her extensive tenure at George Mason University in both faculty and administrative/leadership roles, eventually becoming the dean of a college. Deborah shares reflections on career transitions, the importance of making a difference, effective leadership, the significance of collaborative work, and the challenges and strategies for navigating academic leadership, as well as managing academic responsibilities alongside family life. She also talks about her last industry role at Oculus Research and offers insights into the skills and approaches necessary for effective academic and industry leadership. The conversation also touches on the importance of interdisciplinary work and mentorship in academia.
Overview:
00:00 Introduction
00:29 Deborah Boehm-Davis: Career Overview
03:24 Early Career and Human Factors
04:54 Transition to Academia, Balancing Faculty and Administration Roles
09:38 Reflections on Career and Impact
17:39 Navigating Academic Leadership
25:14 Collaborations, Interdisciplinary Work and Collegiality
28:18 Interdisciplinarity and Being Strategic
32:57 Transitioning to Leadership Roles, Developing Leadership Skills
33:53 Handling Difficult Conversations
36:39 Balancing Decisions and Stakeholder Concerns
40:29 Engaging Faculty and Effective Communication
44:51 Leadership in Industry vs. Academia
46:54 Mentorship and Support Systems
50:24 Proudest Achievements and Work Skills Course
56:28 Reflections on Women in Academia
59:37 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
01:00:46 End
Related links:
Video of a 2024 talk to the Uni of Virginia HFES Student Chapter: “A Career in Human Factors: A Lifetime of Change” [40:51 mins]
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborah-boehm-davis-05b50
Website: https://psychology.gmu.edu/people/dbdavis
In the first episode of season seven, the 10th year the Changing Academic Life podcast, I invite us to reflect on the theme of being intentional about what we want for ourselves at the beginning of this new academic year for many of us in the northern hemisphere, or for any temporal landmark that is relevant for you.
As example and inspiration, Anna Cox from UCL shortly shares her strategies for setting clear priorities, maintaining work-life balance, and managing her remaining 'available time to promise', recognising every yes entails a no to something else. This is a great example of the 'fresh start effect', using the temporal landmark of a new academic year, as talked about by Katy Milkman and colleagues, and reminds us of the importance of creating pauses for reflection.
So how will you be more intentional about your fresh start?
00:34 Introduction
01:27 Starting With Intention
05:28 Anna's Fresh Start
07:05 Thinking About Priorities
09:01 Available Time to Promise
10:56 Creating Pauses to Think
12:20 Re-iterating Anna's Key Questions
16:29 Wrapping Up
17:57 Pointers to Other Related Episodes
19:24 Wrapping up
20:31 End
Related links:
eWorkResearch group at UCL and Anna’s webpage and WLB definition
Dai, H., Milkman, K. L., & Riis, J. (2014). The fresh start effect: Temporal landmarks motivate aspirational behavior. Management Science, 60(10), 2563-2582.
Loleen Berdahl, How to quit promising time and energy you don’t have
See www.changingacademiclife.com for an easy search for the related podcasts: Anna Cox, Marta Cecchinato, Johanna Stadlbauer, Amy Ko, Carmen Neustaedter, Katherine Isbister, Vikki Wright
In this final episode of the 2024-2025 season, I reflect on key themes emerging from the past 20 episodes of 'Changing Academic Life.' These are around creating supportive and inclusive cultures in academia, the role of leadership, career transitions, wellbeing and self-care, and the importance of community. It reminds us to engage in reflection, value our own and others' wellbeing, and contribute to positive changes in academic environments. Cultivating a good academic life for all is a collective effort.
00:00 CAL127 Season reflections
02:44 Supportive cultures
06:35 Career transitions, choices
11:39 Wellbeing & self care
13:56 Community
16:00 Closing
18:29 End
If you are curious about how to set up your own peer support group, inspired by what Johanna Stadlbauer shared about what Uni Graz are doing, then this episode might get you started. I walk through some of the ‘things to think about’ when setting up peer groups such as the group’s purpose, the focus, and who that would involve, also the group size, meeting frequency and commitment, and choosing between structured or informal formats and related roles. I then walk through two examples of more structured formats: action learning sets which take more of a coaching approach, and peer mentoring models that take more of a consulting or advising approach. I also give some examples of more informal peer groups. Regardless of approach, good listening, confidentiality and a commitment to genuine participation are key. I also refer to some resources and links for further reading and more detailed overview of steps, as well as some related podcasts. Whether you're looking for mutual support, expert guidance, or simply a sense of belonging, there's a group format that can work for you. Give it a try!
00:00 CAL126 Exploring Peer Group Support Models
00:29 Introduction
01:36 Purpose
03:03 Focus
05:03 How Many
06:17 How Often
07:45 Format
08:24 Roles
09:44 Critical Ingredients
11:38 Walking Through Some Examples
12:35 Example: Peer Coaching Groups - Action Learning Set
20:39 Example: Peer Mentoring Groups
25:04 Example: Informal Peer Support Groups
28:23 Recap
30:07 Do What Works for You - Suggestions
33:07 Closing Call and Pointers
36:36 End
Related Links
Action Learning Sets guidance by Caroline Doherty via the UK NHS Action Learning Sets page
Action Learning Sets at Uni of St Andrews as example in an academic context
Graz Call for participation in their Collegial Development Programme
Kollegiale Beratung in sechs Phasen (Collegial Advising in 6 Phases)
Descriptive Consultancy with protocol description
Balint Group Method
The No Club book and No Club Guidance
Related Podcasts
Michael Bungay Stanier on the power of curiosity and taming your advice monster
Asking good questions, empowering good people (Solo 'Related Work' episode)
Oscar Trimboli (Part 1) on being better listeners
Oscar Trimboli (Part 2) on how to listen deeply
Johanna Stadlbauer on boundaries, agency and community building
Johanna Stadlbauer is an anthropologist working in researcher development at the University of Graz, recently made Head of Research Careers Campus Graz. Her mission is a more fun and kind academia. Johanna shares the experiences and challenges of her journey from a PhD to quitting a postdoc in anthropology, to doing NGO work part-time, and then coming back to academia for a researcher development role. Her work now is focused on creating a supportive and kind academic environment, with the aim to improve researcher well-being and foster a sense of community. She discusses establishing structures for postdoctoral researchers' support and community, and highlights initiatives like the writing retreat, Fiasco Fest, and peer mentoring, which aim to improve researcher well-being and foster a sense of community. Johanna is a role model for how to navigate a career path and your work role on your own terms. She is really clear on her own boundaries, and what she needs to feed herself and look after her work-life balance. She also reminds us the value of peer support, of telling people their contributions matter, and of taking the time to savour the good. She reminds us of the significance of agency, community support, and the need for transparency and understanding in academia.
00:00 CAL125 Johanna Stadlbauer
03:03 Introduction and Guest Background
03:56 Journey from Anthropology to Research Development
06:18 Postdoc Experience and Challenges
07:42 Deciding to Quit the PostDoc
12:05 Transition to NGO Work
15:57 Finding Balance and Setting Boundaries
19:47 Messaging in Academia
23:35 Permanent Contract and Current Role
29:27 Towards a Fun and Kind Academia and Experiences of Power Abuse
31:26 Finding Solutions and Positive Structures
33:31 Balancing Critique and Support in Academia
35:58 Empowering Postdocs and Addressing Structural Issues
40:12 The Importance of Community, Peer Support and Mentoring
49:39 Promoting Good Working Environments for Researcher Wellbeing
52:03 Personal Reflections and Final Thoughts
56:53 End
Related Links
Johanna's web page (English version)
Head of Research Careers Campus Graz
Researcher Development in Graz Blog
LinkedIn pages for Johanna, the PostDoc Office, and Research Careers Campus Graz
The Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA)
Max Planck PhD Net
Balint Group Method
Tina Persson shares her journey from chemistry and nearly 20 years in academia, to recruiting and then career coaching. Tina discusses the challenges she faced in academia, including struggles with energy-draining tasks and political landscapes, and how she pivoted to a career in recruitment and coaching. She emphasizes the importance of understanding natural talents, emotional intelligence, and honest communication in career development. The conversation covers valuable tips for professors on recruiting and supporting early-career researchers, the impact of AI on career skills, and the cultural differences in career transitions. Tina also highlights the significance of lifelong learning and being open to unseen opportunities, offering practical advice for academics, those seeking an academic position, and those considering a career pivot.
Overview:
00:29 Episode Introduction
03:02 Introducing Tina and her Academic Journey
10:18 Transition to Industry
12:24 Becoming a PhD Recruiter
15:25 Coaching and Career Development
25:24 Recruitment Tips for Professors
36:00 Startup Mentality in Academia
38:43 Evaluating Candidates Beyond Technical Skills
40:35 Innovative Interview Techniques
43:09 Filtering Candidates Efficiently
50:57 Cultural Differences in Recruitment
52:50 The Role of AI in Recruitment
54:25 Human-Centric Skills in Academia
01:00:13 Building a Supportive Academic Culture
01:03:23 The Importance of Career Pivoting
01:05:52 Conclusion and Contact Information
Related links
Related to Tina:
About Tina and her LinkedIn profile and Passage2Pro
PhD Career Stories Podcast and upcoming book
People: Sarah Blackford , Fritz Eckstein
Holland’s Theory of Career Choice
This is a replay of an episode about our strengths as our superpowers and it is a useful precursor to the next podcast discussion where my guest will talk about them as natural talents. This replay episode was triggered by two interactions that made me think more about the importance of knowing our own unique superpowers (as Aaron Quigley discussed), ie our strengths, and also our kryptonite (thanks Lewis Chuang), and how this can help us work out what is our good academic life. And to recognise that we can all have different superpowers. Before getting to the replay I also report on some lovely feedback from the episodes with Graham McAllister.
00:29 Introduction
01:39 Update from episodes with Graham McAllister
05:21 Replay - Strengths as Superpowers
06:49 Kyrptonite and Superpowers
08:19 What are your superpowers?
14:29 Other notes about strengths as superpowers
17:21 Summary and pointer to ways to explore strengths
19:25 Additional Pointers
22:05 Outro
Related Links:
The twitter thread started by Lewis Chuang
Aaron Quigley podcast conversation
Mike Twidale podcast conversation
VIA Character Strengths Survey
Strengthscope Strengths assessment tools
Related Work:
Michelle McQuaid, 2014, Ten Reasons to Focus on Your Strengths No matter what your job description says, Psychology Today.
Jeremy Sutton, 2021, Cultivating Strengths at Work: 10+ Examples and Ideas, PositivePsychology.com.
Ryan M. Niemiec, 2020,Coronavirus Coping: 6 Ways Your Strengths Will Help You Turn to your best qualities for prevention, safety, and health. Psychology Today.
”Writing is thinking, I love thinking, I love working on problems, I love thinking through the problems…. So the whole writing thing is a thinking thing.” says Graham McAllister in this final part of our conversation. His foray into writing a book on Games Usability after he sold his company was also a foray into exploring the process of writing, asking himself questions like "How do you write a book? What's my voice? How do I write? What fits in with my life?”
Graham unpacks his experiences about the art and craft of writing that worked for him in answer to these questions. He starts with reflections on publishing challenges in academia and his commitment to making knowledge freely accessible. He also talks about the process of discovering his writing voice, the iterative writing process, setting up a writing routine and setting achievable goals. Graham also reflects on the broader implications of his work within academia and industry, the pursuit of clear communication for your audience, and his future aspirations in writing and consulting. The conversation highlights themes of personal growth, the importance of thoughtful work-life integration, and the impact of past mentors and opportunities.
Overview
00:00 Introduction
02:50 Introduction to the Book Writing Journey
03:28 The Philosophy of Free Knowledge
04:51 The Writing Process and Idea Generation
07:12 Structuring and Refining the Book
10:08 Finding Your Voice and Writing Routine
11:51 Future Writing Projects and Reflections
20:09 Balancing Work and Personal Fulfillment
26:04 Final Reflections and Gratitude
Related Links:
Graham’s Home page and LinkedIn Profile and his books
CAL120 Part 1 episode with Graham on his previous career pivots
CAL121 Part 2 episode with Graham on team vision alignment
In this second part of my conversation with Graham McAllister, we explore Graham's next pivot to studying organizational psychology at the London School of Economics. After selling his startup, Graham decided to do an MSc to help him answer what he now saw as the core problem in game development teams and that was lack of a unified vision. He shares his insights into shared mental models, vision alignment, shared values, diversity in hiring, and building resilient teams. He also discusses how these principles can be applied to other creative and research collaborations. Keep an eye out for the final episode in this series with Graham where he shares practical tips on the art and practice of writing.
Overview:
00:00 Intro
00:29 Episode Introduction
02:30 The Turning Point: Leaving the Company and Writing a Book
04:54 Discovering Organizational Psychology
05:44 The Journey to London School of Economics
07:16 The All-Consuming Feeling of Vision
11:07 The Importance of Education and Luck
16:26 Reflections on Lifelong Learning
19:22 Applying Mental Models Beyond Games
20:42 Understanding Alignment and Values in Organizations
23:39 Rethinking Hiring Practices and Leadership
26:46 Setting a Vision and Mission
29:01 Building a Mental Model
32:19 Operationalizing Shared Values
36:26 Detecting and Addressing Cultural Beliefs
38:15 Preview of Part 3 on Writing
40:38 End
Related Links:
Graham’s Home page and LinkedIn Profile
CAL120 Part 1 episode with Graham on his previous career pivots
Kotter’s Change Model https://www.kotterinc.com/methodology/8-steps/
Edgar Schein’s three layer of organizational culture - see various
discussions:
- https://psychsafety.com/psychological-safety-edgar-scheins-three-layers-of-organisational-culture/
- https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/5-enduring-management-ideas-mit-sloans-edgar-schein
- https://www.managementstudyguide.com/sigma/edgar-schein-model.htm
- Original 1983 paper
Graham McAllister reflects on his various career pivots, starting with a PhD in computer graphics in Belfast, transitioning through roles in academia and industry and then forming and later selling his games usability start-up. In the process Graham provides a masterclass on how to navigate and negotiate career pivots, how to articulate clear problems and solutions. The conversation highlights the value of bridging practical and theoretical domains, the role of luck and other people, and the need for continuous learning, reflection and adaptation in your career journey while being very clear about the strengths and passions that underpin this.
Overview:
00:00 Episode Introduction
03:01 Welcoming Graham
03:43 Early Career and PhD Journey
04:49 Transition to Industry
06:01 Straddling Academia and Industry
07:54 Return to Academia and Music Technology
13:34 Influence of Gary Marsden
17:41 Joining University of Sussex
21:18 Starting a Spin-Out Company
21:52 Balancing Academia and Startup
25:24 Challenges and Reflections
31:37 Academic vs. Industry Conferences
32:32 Critical Thinking in Video Game Development
33:28 Startup Challenges and Team Building
34:32 Marketing Through Education
40:56 Leadership Reflections and Authenticity
48:35 Selling the Company and Moving Forward
56:20 End
Related Links:
Graham’s Home page
and LinkedIn page
People he mentions: Ricardo Climent and Gary Marsden
This is Part 2 of my discussion with Matthew Barr and Oana Andrei who work together in the Education and Practice Section in the School of Computing Science at the University of Glasgow. Oana and Matt each share their personal experiences with mental health challenges. Oana shares her journey from postdoctoral research to becoming a lecturer, highlighting how she dealt with burnout by taking up Taekwondo. Matthew discusses his long-term management of depression and the importance of normalizing such conversations in academic settings. We also talk about their learning, teaching and scholarship career paths, the significance of reflective practice and how it has been integrated into their teaching methods. They also discuss their commitment to inclusion and diversity in education, alongside their passion for teaching and the innovative graduate apprenticeship degree program they have implemented that widens access by enabling work-based learning and student support. The episode offers valuable insights into the importance of personal wellbeing, the role of supportive workplace environments, and what a teaching-focussed path can involve.
Overview
00:29 Episode Introduction
02:00 Picking up on the question about mental health
02:46 Oana Shares Her Experiences With Burnout
08:05 Matt Shares His Experiences With Depression
12:45 Choosing Teaching Focussed Career Paths
16:36 Oana Moving From Research To Teaching Track
19:06 Promotion Criteria in a Learning, Teaching and Scholarship Track
24:14 Apprenticeship Degree Program
31:50 Doing a Master in Education
34:39 A Framework for Reflection
38:52 Wrapping Up
39:18 Revisiting Belonging
44:09 Thanks For The Podcast
46:27 End
Related Links
Oana Andrei, Lecturer (Ass Prof) Uni of Glasgow webpage and LinkedIn profile
Matthew Barr (Senior Lecturer) Uni of Glasgow webpage and LinkedIn profile
The reflective writing resources Matt mentioned:
- Manchester’s Academic Phrasebank: http://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/
- The guidance here on Portsmouth’s website: https://myport.port.ac.uk/study-skills/written-assignments/reflective-writing-introduction
Their paper on how the apprenticeship degree program might widen access to HE:
- M. Barr, O. Andrei and M. Kallia, "Widening Access to Higher Education through Degree-level Apprenticeships in Software Engineering," 2023 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE), College Station, TX, USA, 2023, pp. 1-8, doi: 10.1109/FIE58773.2023.10343199.
This is part 1 of my discussion with Matthew Barr and Oana Andrei who work together in the Education and Practice Section in the School of computing science at the University of Glasgow. It was the experiences of Matt as head of Section that led Oana to suggest he would be good to talk to. Together they share their experiences of what makes for good academic leadership and change, including the psychological safety and sense of belonging of members, the impact of everyday micro-interactions, and fostering a supportive environment. Matt discusses his approach in leadership, such as seeking feedback for self-improvement and actively supporting staff promotions. Oana also shares her perspective on the importance of belonging and mentorship in academic settings and the experience of good leadership. Their insights provide a meaningful look at how we can transform academic work culture for the better.
Overview:
00:29 Episode Introduction
01:52 Welcome
02:28 Oana's Journey and Career
03:46 Matt's Journey and Career
06:13 Leadership and Management Insights
10:00 Creating a Supportive Work Environment
13:29 Supporting Promotion for a Learning, Teaching and Scholarship Track
21:23 Micro Actions That Can Make All The Difference
25:16 Being a Role Model in How We Handle Bad Days
28:45 Learning From Experience What Not To Do
36:44 Taking Care For Belonging
41:20 Linking to Part 2
43:14 End
Related Links
Oana Andrei, Lecturer (Ass Prof) Uni of Glasgow webpage and LinkedIn profile
Matthew Barr (Senior Lecturer) Uni of Glasgow webpage and LinkedIn profile
Role modelling paper mentioned by Matt:
- Virginia Grande, Päivi Kinnunen, Anne-Kathrin Peters, Matthew Barr, Åsa Cajander, Mats Daniels, Amari N. Lewis, Mihaela Sabin, Matilde Sánchez-Peña, and Neena Thota. 2022. Role Modeling as a Computing Educator in Higher Education: A Focus on Care, Emotions and Professional Competencies. In Proceedings of the 2022 Working Group Reports on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiCSE-WGR '22). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 37–63. https://doi.org/10.1145/3571785.3574122
In this episode the tables are turned and I'm being interviewed by Nutan Limaye who hosts the ‘Life of a Researcher’ podcast. Nutan is an Assoc. Professor at the IT University Copenhagen. We met when she was a participant in one of our residential academic leadership development courses in 2024.
We talk about my unconventional career path starting in social work, moving into nursing and midwifery, then finding myself in computer science and human-computer interaction, and now doing more leadership and academic development work. As with many career stories, serendipity figures a lot, along with a strong people-centred red thread that weaves through all the various turns.
Nutan also asks about how the academic leadership development courses came about, and how we facilitate learning experiences on hard topics like challenging conversations. And we talk about themes that have arisen in the podcast. Along the way we also touch on interdisciplinarity, and academic mobility and what is home. This is a slightly edited conversation from the version she released end of June 2024, shared with her permission.
I'm releasing this now as a complement to my careers article in the Feb 25 edition of Communications of the ACM
Overview
00:29 Introduction
02:41 Nutan's Introduction to the Podcast
05:09 An Unconventional Career Path
07:34 Transition to Computer Science
11:08 Shaping Interests around People-Centred Perspectives
14:21 How Research Evolved as Technology Evolved
17:14 Reflections on Changing Paths
23:12 The Challenges of Interdisciplinary Research
28:03 Supervision Serendipity
34:21 Leadership and People-Centred Academia
42:21 Designing Learning Experiences about Challenging People and Conversations
48:23 Insights from the Session
50:06 Motivation and Themes of the Changing Academic Life Podcast
55:41 Academic Mobility and the Concept of Home
01:05:13 Non-Rapid Fire Questions and Reflections
01:14:11 Outro
01:15:00 End
Related Links:
Nutan Limaye
Life of a Researcher podcast and episode A conversation with Geraldine Fitzpatrick
Nutan’s LinkedIn profile
My CACM article:
Geraldine Fitzpatrick, Fit for People, Fit for Purpose: Designing Tech that Matters, CACM, Feb 2025 Issue, Vol. 68No. 2, Page 7.
Other CAL Episodes mentioned:
Sarah Davies - two parts:
- On mobility, precarity and notions of excellence
- On luck, disrupting excellence, and cultures of care
Neha Kumar: On choices, authenticity and the power of the collective
Karen Stroobants: On changing research culture and reforming research assessment
Vikki Wright is the director of PhD Life Coach and offers professional coaching and training for PhD students and academics. She also hosts the PhD Life Coach podcast. Up until 2022 though Vikki was a full professor of Higher Education at the University of Birmingham in the UK, with a research background Sport and Exercise Sciences, then shifting to more of a teaching focus.
Vikki shares her interesting journey from full professor to becoming a life coach. The conversation covers her career transitions, dealing with ADHD, the importance of self-awareness, along with self-compassion, curiosity and having realistic ambitions. She also shares role-based time blocking as an approach for effective self-management. These practical tools and mindset changes can be useful for us all to help us take more control of our lives and careers. Vikki also offers insights into her programs and coaching approaches for PhD students and academics.
Overview
00:00 Intro
00:29 Episode Introduction
03:10 Guest Introduction
03:27 Academic Journey and Career Transitions
03:56 Challenges in Research and Shift to Teaching
07:29 The Teaching Path to Full Professor...and Pandemic Reflections
11:27 Discovering Coaching and Personal Growth
17:37 Understanding ADHD and Coaching Transformation
26:35 Balancing Ambitions and Realistic Goals
30:58 Self Understanding and Being Her Own Best Boss
37:25 Recognising and Addressing Student Challenges
41:24 The Role of Self-Understanding in Supervision
45:31 Self-Compassion
49:37 Curiosity
51:35 Balancing Ambition and Realism
01:00:04 Role-Based Time Blocking
01:09:52 Final Thoughts and Resources
01:11:36 Outro
01:12.24 End
Related Links
More about Vikki’s offerings:
‘The PhD Life Coach’ podcast
‘Be your own best boss’ course
Vikki’s podcast episode on ‘How to use role based time blocking’
The PhD Lifecoach ‘The Membership’ - sign up Jan 2025
Vikki's LinkedIn page
People:
Dr Alex Conner
Other podcasts:
‘I have ADHD’ podcast, Kristen Carder
The Life Coach School, Brooke Castillo
As we leave 2024 and embark on the new year, I want to share the reflective template I used for myself, playing with the LP (long play) record concept. I introduce the table structure of the personal, people, play, and projects (Ps) categories, paired with reflective components like land, love, labor, and learn (Ls) for the past year review, and look forward, let go, let grow, and let be (Ls) for the next year. I share some illustrative examples from my own reflections of 2024, including milestones, achievements, and lessons learned. And I share some of the feedback from you that helps make the work of this podcast worthwhile – thank you! I hope this encourage you too to reflect on your LP last year, celebrate your accomplishments, and be more intentional on how you approach the coming year.
You can download the LP template here.
00:29 Episode Introduction
02:29 Introducing the LP Table Template
06:27 Reflecting on my 2024 Landings
16:10 What I Loved and What Feels Like Labour
19:13 What I Learned
23:21 Taking Time to Savour and Celebrate
25:06 Celebrating Feedback on the Podcast
31:42 Looking forward to the 2025 LP
36:44 Wrapping Up and Summary
39:48 Final Pointers
41:01 Outro
41:50 End
Related Links
Past Episodes:
Remembering Volkmar Pipek - on being curious, being you
Liam Bannon (Part 1) on a career outside the box – April 2024
Liam Bannon (Part 2) on values & what matters – Sept 2024
On research identity, meaningful work and funding (solo) - Jan 2024
RW9 Progress and praise – July 2021
Other links:
Linked In Post by Rachel Ratz-Lubashevsky on the research identity episode
HCI Group, TU Wien
Online Academic Leadership Development course – Spring 2025, early bird deadline 2 March 2025
To explore more of my offerings: geraldinefitzpatrick.com
Evan Peck returns to discuss his career evolution since our last conversation in 2017. The focus is on his initial choice to join a liberal arts college post-PhD, emphasizing the balance between teaching and research, how his research evolved, and on his career goals then. Evan then talks through his move to the University of Colorado Boulder, detailing his motivations and the strategic thinking behind the transition. He reflects on the impact of his work in responsible computing and data visualization and the importance he places on aligning career choices with personal values and goals. Evan also discussed the nuances of working in different academic environments and how he continues to prioritize student mentorship and educational impact.
Overview
00:00 Intro
03:21 Welcome Back, Evan!
04:33 The Appeal of Liberal Arts Colleges
06:26 Making Academic Paths Visible
09:31 Balancing Teaching and Research
13:21 Shifting Research Interests
22:40 The Move to Colorado
24:40 Integrating Ethics in Computing and Wanting More External Impact
33:50 Reflecting on Post-Tenure Decisions
37:16 Exploring New Opportunities
40:46 The Unexpected Offer
43:34 Transitioning to a Research Institution
47:26 Adapting to a Larger Institution
53:18 Balancing Work and Family
54:30 Reflecting on Career Choices
01:00:16 Final Thoughts and Advice
01:03:05 End
Related Links:
Evan's CU Boulder web page and his personal web page and LinkedIn profile
2017 podcast episode with Evan and his blog post
Özge Subaşı is the Director of Futurewell: CoCreation and Wellbeing Group in the Media and Visual Arts Department at Koç University in Turkey. In this episode, Özge shares a journey from industrial design to interaction design, with a focus on diversity, inclusion, and justice. The work with visually impaired children and older people significantly influenced Özge's transition into human-centered design. Özge's story reflects a life of multiple relocations—whether moving schools as a child, transitioning disciplines, or navigating new countries and cultures. Özge describes “always coming from somewhere and not being in the system.”
The episode emphasizes the importance of holding true to core values, such as listening without prejudgment, fostering open communication, and caring for both the individual and the community. Özge's practical examples illustrate how these values influence research and teaching choices, as well as navigating trade-offs, particularly while completing an evaluation document. The discussion also addresses challenges with Özge's depression during the academic journey and strategies for maintaining personal wellbeing. Additionally, the episode highlights some difficulties faced by academics in Türkiye, including engaging with the international community and managing issues related to travel and visas.
Özge's commitment to personal values, to trying different ways of being an academic researcher, and to fostering an empathetic and inclusive work culture is really inspiring.
Overview
00:00 Intro
00:29 Episode Introduction
03:37 Introduction and Background
04:39 Early Career and Education
08:10 Transition to Interaction Design
11:50 Values and Philosophy
14:15 Challenges in Academia
18:07 Building a Collaborative Culture
26:37 Balancing Academic Expectations
34:42 Navigating Academic Trade-offs
36:04 Embracing Personal Values
38:36 Prioritizing Mental Health
42:26 Building Supportive Environments
47:00 Challenges in Academia
53:45 International Collaboration and Travel
01:02:22 Concluding Thoughts
01:04:36 End
Related Links:
Futurewell: CoCreation and Wellbeing Group, Media and Visual Arts Department, Koç University
Özge’s LinkedIn page
Özge on Instagram @allthefooldays (personal page on food & family) and @sozges on X
Continuing our culture theme, I revisit past podcast conversations that explore how to foster positive research environments and cultures. We hear from people such as Elizabeth Adams, Tanita Casci, Jolanta Burke, Janet Reed, Alex Taylor, Kia Hook, and Lindsay Oades, who share their experiences and insights on creating a sense of belonging and collegiality within academic settings. Their stories emphasize recognizing individual strengths, promoting transparency, celebrating achievements, and the importance of supportive management practices for bringing out the best in people. Hopefully you will take away practical ideas and inspiration, and recognise the importance of both micro-actions and collective efforts in creating supportive, transparent, and inclusive cultures.
00:00 Intro
00:29 Episode introduction - fostering good cultures
03:48 Glasgow Uni's Research Culture Awards
07:51 Jolanta Burke on positive organisations
09:53 Janet Read on flexibility and supporting people with young families
11:47 Janet Read on know your team
12:32 Janet Read on bringing out the best in people
16:14 Alex Taylor on the power of the collective
22:25 Kia Höök on Fika
25:50 Lindsay Oades on autonomy, rationales and leeting people they are valued
29:58 Wrapping up
33:18 Outro
34:05 Repeating what Lindsay said
Related Links
Past episodes used in this curated episode:
Tanita Casci and Elizabeth Adams on supporting, rewarding and celebrating a positive collegial research culture (from May 2021)
Jolanta Burke on burnout, harmonious passion, positive workplaces & helping others (from Nov 2017)
Janet Read on charm bracelets, finish tape & the work to be a complete academic (from May 2018)
Alex Taylor on research at the boundaries, moving from industry to academia, the labour of academia & the power of the collective (from July 2019)
Kia Höök on challenges of success & value of slowing down and re-connecting (from Feb 2017)
Lindsay Oades on academic wellbeing, connecting to strengths, meaning and purpose, and not taking the system too seriously (from Sept 2018)
And others you can search for on Changing Academic Life who also talk about culture (among many others): Sarah Davies (part 2), Mark Reed, Karen Stroobants, Elizabeth Churchill.
Continuing the theme of great research environments, I explore how to contribute to creating great research cultures with a focus on the concept of psychological safety. I contrast the prize winning example we heard about in the last episode with examples of experiences with poor research environments. This leads to a discussion of the value of psychological safety as defined by Amy Edmondson, and others for enabling creativity, collaboration, and innovation. Psychological safety is about creating conditions where people feel safe speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns and mistakes and that foster a learning culture. I discuss practical strategies for leaders through their everyday interactions for fostering such an environment and enabling innovation, collaboration and personal growth and wellbeing. And I finish up with an invitation for all of us to reflect on our role in cultivating a supportive and inclusive academic culture.
00:00 Intro
00:29 Introduction to Creating Great Research Cultures
00:52 Recap of Prize-Winning Research Environment
02:38 Understanding Psychological Safety
03:40 Examples of Poor Research Environments
10:37 Defining Psychological Safety
12:21 Historical Context of Psychological Safety
15:42 Research on Psychological Safety
21:31 Psychological safety as key factor in Google's great teams
23:03 Leadership and Psychological Safety
24:15 Role Modeling and Self-Awareness
26:46 Fostering Belonging, Inclusion and Learning
29:18 Co-Creating Research Culture through our Actions
31:20 Conclusion and Reflection
Related links:
Previous podcast episode with Line, Nicklas, and Nina on Danis Young Academy prize research environments
Amy Edmondson web page
Amy C. Edmondson and Shike Lei, Psychological Safety: The History, Renaissance, and Future of an Interpersonal Construct. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior. Vol 1:23-43, 2014.
Amy C. Edmondson. The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth. Wiley. 2019.
Pat Thomson, Blog article - Felling like an imposter?
Pat Thomson, feeling like an imposter?
Google’s Project Aristotle
Royal Society, Research Culture Embedding inclusive excellence: Insights on the future culture of research. (Tom Welton quote on culture p6)
What are the ingredients for creating a supportive, inclusive research culture? Nina Molin Høyland-Kroghsbo from the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences , Microbial Ecology and Biotechnology at the University of Copenhagen discusses the Research Environment Prize established three years ago by the Danish Young Academy to promote and celebrate good research environments, as experienced by early career researchers in those environments.
We are joined here by the 2024 prize winners, PhD students Line Maj Sternbergand Nicklas Stott Venzel who nominated their Research Unit in Psychology of Sport, Excellence and Health at the University of Southern Denmark. They share what makes their environment great, and how the group translates their research on what makes a great sports environment into what makes a great research environment. In particular, they talk about encouragement for taking initiative, a focus on long-term development, open communication, psychological safety, promoting mental health, and a sense of belonging, as key factors. Nina also reflects on the common themes that the awarding panel has seen across over a hundred nominations, such as belonging, collaboration, creative practices, and celebrating both successes and failures.
Overview:
00:34 Episode Introduction
03:26 Meet the guests
06:44 The Danish Young Academy and the Research Environment Prize
11:51 Line and Nicklas on applying sports research to academia
18:38 Building trust and open communication
22:34 Support for long term development and wellbeing
25:55 Psychological safety in research
26:55 Creative methods for sensitive topics
29:56 Common themes from nominated research environments
34:47 More examples of good practices
38:41 Having clear values
44:03 Learning from failures, celebrating successes
45:56 Value of good research culture for scientific integrity
49:51 Wrapping up, final thoughts
53:48 End
Related links:
SDU Prize announcement
Prize announcement by the Young Academy on LinkedIn
LinkedIn profiles for Nina and Line
In this solo episode (S6 E3) I invite us to rethink the concept of networking within academia, inspired by what the late Liam Bannon shared with us in our recent conversation and the evident relational impact he had on people. I encourage us, myself included, to view networking as being about the other person, not about us, and see it as an opportunity for forming meaningful impactful social connections.
I offer some practical ideas for making networking about giving and helping others, based on the value of generosity, curiosity, and everyday interactions. In the end our real impact and success in academia are measured by the quality of relationships and the human connections we build, not by the titles or metrics we collect.
Overview
00:00 Introduction to Changing Academic Life
00:29 The Challenges of Networking
01:33 Rethinking Networking: Social Connections
01:48 Tribute to Liam Bannon
02:43 Personal Relations in Academic Careers
03:44 The Importance of Human Connections
10:16 Networking for Others
10:50 Practical Networking Strategies
17:17 Maintaining Connections
21:38 Conclusion and Call to Action
22:58 End
Related links:
Recent episode with Liam Bannon
Gopinaath Kannabiran
Adam Grant, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Update 22 Sept 2024: It is with deep sadness that I share Liam passed away this morning. May we honour his memory and his generosity in sharing his reflections by always reminding ourselves about what and who is really important.
Liam Bannon is a Professor Emeritus and founder and director of the Interaction Design Centre at the University of Limerick in Ireland. In April 2024 I released a conversation with Liam Bannon recorded in 2017 about his career, ending with a hint about some health issues.
This is a follow up conversation with Liam from Sept 2024 where he shares his profound reflections on life, health, and academia, amid dealing with terminal cancer. Recorded from his hospital bed, Liam shares his journey since his 2015 stage-four lung cancer diagnosis and subsequent health challenges, including a brain tumour. Emphasising the importance of appreciating life, paying attention to how and with whom we spend it, and maintaining meaningful relationships, Liam offers invaluable insights on managing career pressures, the costs of neglecting personal connections, and the significance of staying true to one's values. Despite audio quality issues, this deeply personal and reflective conversation is a poignant reminder to reassess our priorities and strive for a life balanced between professional aspirations and personal well-being, and prioritising relationships.
Here is a pdf file of the transcript. There is also a transcript embedded with the audio that you can follow along with.
Overview:
00:29 Episode introduction
07:25 Liam’s health journey
12:11 Reflections on professional connections & relationships
21:22 Being reflective about
25:37 Contributions & tradeoffs
31:04 Asking what do you want to do with your life
33:48 Prioritising people & relationships
38:50 Taking stock, taking holidays, being true to yourself
44:32 Wrapping up
46:16 End
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Introducing the new season of Changing Academic Life.
Reflecting on my recent transitions. And thanks to the HCI group for support.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
In this short solo episode a share a simple yet powerful technique, S.T.O.P., for taking a purposeful pause throughout your every day. Stop, Take a breath, Observe, Proceed.
00:29 Motivating STOP
01:50 What is STOP
04:37 Using STOP
11:19 Towards making STOP a habit
13:58 End
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Volkmar Pipek was a highly influential researcher from Uni of Siegen who sadly passed away in Jan 2024 after a long illness. This short episode draws from a written interview he gave to Mateusz Dolata on the occasion of his 2023 EUSSET-ISSI Lifetime Achievement Award. I read an extract where he shares his advice about becoming and being a researcher: Be curious. Be who you are. Be curious who you are. Wise advice for all of us.
Read the full interview with Volkmar Pipek
Interview conducted by Mateusz Dolata, University of Zurich
Text accompanying the EUSSET-ISSI Lifetime Achievement Award 2023 to Volkmar Pipek
EUSSET: European Society for Socially Embedded Technologies
ISSI: Institute for Social Informatics
Volkmar Pipek, University of Siegen and Volkmar’s publications
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Liam Bannon is a Professor Emeritus and founder and director of the Interaction Design Centre at the University of Limerick in Ireland.
Liam has been a hugely influential thinker writer and researcher since the 1980s, along with various collaborators, in shaping work around technology and design.
Recorded in-person in 2017, he reflects on his interdisciplinary journey and contributions, covering areas such as AI, HCI, CSCW, human-centered design, and collaboration. Liam’s experiences exemplify the challenges and rewards of crafting a unique academic career largely outside the box, grounded in interdisciplinary collaboration and a commitment to improving human-technology interactions, while also highlighting the importance of personal fulfilment and being able to think broadly.
Related Links:
Liam at the Interaction Design Centre, Uni of Limerick
Some of the people & papers he mentions:
George Miller
Zenon Pylyshyn, (1973). What the mind's eye tells the mind's brain: A critique of mental imagery. Psychological Bulletin, 80(1), 1–24.
H. Rudy Ramsey and Michael E Attwood (1979) Human Factors in Computer Systems: A Review of the Literature, Technical Report SAI-79-111DEN
James Jenkins, Uni of Minnesota
Don Norman, Human Centered Design, UCSD. See also https://jnd.org
Kjeld Schmidt
Lucy Suchman
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
Susanne Bødker, Aarhus Uni; see also our 2023 podcast conversation
Mike Cooley, Engineer Lucas Aerospace
Terry Winograd and Fernando Flores, Understanding Computers and Cognition, A New Foundation for Design, 1987, Addison-Wesley.
Bannon, L. & Bødker, S. (1991) Beyond the Interface: Encountering Artifacts in Use. Book Chapter in J.M. Carroll (Ed.) (1991) Designing Interaction: Psychology at the Human-Computer Interface, pp.227-253. (New York: Cambridge University Press) (See also an earlier version)
Bud Mehan, UCSD
Pelle Ehn, Morten Kyng and Participatory Design e.g., see this paper
Rank Xerox Cambridge EuroPARC e.g., see overview articles 'What is EuroPARC?' and 'Rank Xerox Cambridge EuroPARC'
Liam J. Bannon (2006) Forgetting as a feature, not a bug: the duality of memory and implications for ubiquitous computing, CoDesign, 2:1, 3-15
Liam J. Bannon (2012) Interactions
Schmidt, K., Bannon, L., Four characters in search of a context
Schmidt, K., Bannon, L. Taking CSCW seriously. Comput Supported Coop Work 1, 7–40 (1992).
The Google Scholar listing of all of Liam’s publications
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Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Jean Paul is a senior scientist at the Medical University of Innsbruck. In part 2 of our conversation, Jean discusses her experience leading an impact-led transcdisciplinary research project focused on supporting families with mental health issues. She highlights the challenges of stakeholder engagement, distributed team management, and transdisciplinary research. Jean emphasizes the importance of community engagement, virtual team collaboration, and fostering diversity in academia. She also reflects on the skills she brings to this role and the importance of investing in the team set up from the very beginning.
Overview
[00:29] Introducing Part 2
[02:23] Recap from Part 1
[07:27] Working with stakeholders
[13:35] Leading a distributed international interdisciplinay project team
[14:59] Learning leadership from diverse experiences
[18:25] The transferrable skills – listening and learning
[20:04] Supporting diverse career paths
[25:16] Insights for parents in academia
[29:22] Leadership, organisational design and virtual team management
[34:33] Making virtual collaboration work
[39:08] Future directions and reflections
[41:57] End
Related links:
Ludwig Boltzmann Institute/Gesellschaft
The sandpit-funded project – The Village Project
The Healthy Minds project
Dr Ghislaine Caulat – consultant on virtual leadership development
Simon Martin – consultant for their organisational design in a transdisciplinary project with stakeholder involvement
Project Design principles:
The design principles that came out of the oganisational design workshops:
- Effectively coordinate and involve a wide (but manageable!) network of stakeholders
- Be clear on expectations, results and deliverables within the team
- Keep momentum, trust and energy going across the project timeline for the core team and wider stakeholders
- Make sure that the perspectives of people with lived experience are heard clearly throughout the project (capturing the voices of people impacted by perinatal mental illness and those who are treating and working with the affected person and their families)
- Enact high ethical standards in our research (especially when listening to personal stories of mental illness and challenges)
- Demonstrate the value of interdisciplinary research partnerships with stakeholders, and challenge the landscape of traditional research and methods
- Effectively lobby and influence (local and national policy makers), and raise awareness in society / politics through making our topics and results visible.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Jean Paul is a Senior Scientist at the Medical University of Innsbruck in Austria. Jean discusses her involvement in a unique research funding process called a sandpit or an ideas factory. Having then taken on the leadership of the project, she provides insights into the challenges and benefits of transdisciplinary research, stakeholder engagement, and arguing for their impact-focused approach. Jean also shares her academic background in social science, health and genomics research work in Australia.
Overview:
[00:29] Introduction
[03:03] Jean's PhD, Post-Doc Journey & Backup Plan
[11:23] From Australia to Austria: Applying for research funding sandpit
[18:00] The Sandpit Experience
[27:47] Getting Funded, Becoming a Team
[32:08] Leading the Project and Ongoing Project Support
[40:20] Transdisciplinary Research
[48:29] Wrapping up Part 1
[49:36] More on Jean's PhD and Post Doc Projects
[56:40] Final Wrapping Up
[57:47] End
Related links:
Ludwig Boltzmann Institute/Gesellschaft
The sandpit-funded project – The Village Project
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
This episode is an edited extract from a ‘Beyond Phrenology’ podcast episode where Dr Madhur Mangalam chatted with me about the impacts of research funding challenges on academic culture and individual well-being. The conversation addresses the need for a shift towards more supportive and diverse cultures, the complexities of academic career paths, and the importance of leadership, mentorship and job crafting. We also discuss the implications of international academic norms on individual career choices.
Overview:
[00:00:43] Research Funding Challenges and the Unsustainability of Current Models
[00:04:57] Promoting Emotional Intelligence and Leadership in Academia
[00:15:14] Navigating Career Paths Across Contexts
[00:24:38] On Privileged Positions and Playing the Game
[00:29:02] Wrapping up
[00:30:53] End
Related Links:
Madhur Mangalam, University of Nebraska at Omaha
BeyondPhrenology (YouTube)
BeyondPhrenology (Spotify)
Daniel Goleman – Emotional Intelligence
CAL99 episode: On research identity, meaningful work and funding
TEDx talk from 2016: The craziness of research funding. It costs us all.
Online Academic Leadership Development Course – sign up by March 7 2024!
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
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Taking this time to celebrate CAL100 – the 100th episode for the Changing Academic Life podcast series (actually 109th episode if we count the nine related work episodes) and thanks to all the people who have been part of making it happen.
To update and correct the information about Dr Paddy Barrett who inspired this podcast:
His original podcast was called 'The Doctor Paradox'. He is a preventive cardiologist not an anaesthetist as I stated. And he is now working in Ireland not the US!
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Triggered by a comment from Katta Spiel in an earlier podcast, in this solo episode I explore the tensions between the autonomy and freedom we have to shape our research identities and do meaningful work, and the systemic constraints from funding and promotion opportunities. The tensions particularly arise when research interests don’t align well with institutional expectations or funding trends. I explore various ways to navigate these tensions, such as, adjusting research focus to align with strategic priorities, reframing research proposals while keeping the core agenda unchanged, or continuing passion projects outside of formal funded frameworks. I also reflect on potential trade-offs and the importance of maintaining personal connection and motivation in our research work. At the end I suggest some strategies for self-reflection and staying in tune with what 'lights you up' as a researcher.
This episode also connects with prior podcast guests Mark Reed and Stuart Reeves.
Overview:
00:29 Introduction and Reflection on Academic Freedom
01:54 Replay from Katta Spiel Part 1
02:37 Mark Reed's principle for engagement and impact
05:22 The Tension Between Personal Values, Identity and Systemic Expectations
07:05 The Reality of Funding Proposals and Strategic Game
08:40 The Impact of Funding Conditions on Research
10:27 The Dilemma of Playing the Funding Game
13:08 Choices for How to Play the Game
19:59 Choosing Not to Play the Game
21:54 Reframing Research Identity
26:55 End
Related links:
Katta podcast Part 1 episode
Mark Reed podcast episode
Stuart Reeves podcast episode
Mark Reed, What is good practice engagement and impact? Dec 5 2023
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Dr Katta Spiel is an Assistant Professor at TU Wien, a recent ERC Starting Grant recipient, and a good colleague of mine. In part two of our conversation, Katta discusses being neurodivergent, and experiences with ADHD, and being an activist for change with an example of how gender is dealt with in research, and about 'epistemic plurality and the importance of making space for different ways of being and knowing. They conclude by advocating for respectful curiosity about individual experiences and allowing others space to perform their best work. They also argue for a lab culture where personal needs can be discussed and respected, suggesting this encourages more open dialogue and a supportive environment.
This conversation picks up from Part one where Katta shared their experiences on topics like career uncertainty, proposal rejections, coming out as queer, chronic health issues, being successful, and notions of normativity.
Overview:
[00:00:00] Introduction
[00:01:56] Personal Journey with Neurodivergence
[00:06:42] Strategies for Navigating Neurodivergence
[00:10:05] Dealing with a world not made for Neurodivergence
[00:15:39] Creating a Supportive Environment for Neurodivergence
[00:20:12] The Intersection of Neurodivergence and Activism
[00:26:19] Embracing different ways of being and knowing
[00:33:27] Final Thoughts on Neurodivergence and Inclusivity
[00:35:44] My final reflections
[00:38:06] End
Related links:
Katta's personal web page, TU Wien web page, LinkedIn page, and announcement about their ERC Starting Grant
Gender paper: Katta Spiel, Oliver L. Haimson, and Danielle Lottridge. 2019. How to do better with gender on surveys: a guide for HCI researchers. interactions 26, 4 (July-August 2019), 62–65. https://doi.org/10.1145/3338283
Hanne de Jaegher https://hannedejaegher.net
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
In this short episode I reflect on the podcast season so far and on my own year of transitions. And I offer some prompt questions to help us reflect on what we have achieved and learnt this past year and encourage us to take some time to savour and celebrate it.
Overview:
00:05 Introduction
01:32 Podcast highlights
05:50 Transitioning to a new phase
7:35 Reflection prompts
10:17 Gratitude & looking forward
13:26 End
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Dr Katta Spiel is an Assistant Professor at TU Wien, a recent ERC Starting Grant recipient, and a good colleague of mine.
In the first part of this two-part conversation Katta shares their experiences on a range of topics like career uncertainty, rejection of proposals, coming out as queer, having a formal gender change, dealing with chronic health issues, and being successful in receiving a prestigious research council grant. Dr. Spiel's struggles and successes reflect their unyielding effort to change academic life for the better. An emphasis is also placed on the importance of authenticity and uncompromised approach when applying for grants. Part two of the conversation with Katta will delve deeper into the topic of neurodivergence and their ADHD experiences.
Overview:
0:00 Introduction
02:42 Navigating Identity and Academia
07:06 Exploring Alternative Career Paths
09:37 The Journey to Recognition and Success
10:34 Challenges and Triumphs in Grant Applications
23:07 Understanding the Difference Between Access and Accessibility
25:48 Personal Journey of Gender Identity and Health
33:58 Experiences with Chronic Health Issues
38:10 The Impact of Body Shape on Medical Treatment
40:16 The Role of Technology in Access and Inclusion
43:23 End
Related Links:
Katta's personal web page, TU Wien web page, LinkedIn page, and announcement about their ERC Starting Grant
People: Raja Kushalnager, Christian Vogler , Abraham Glasser
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
There were some technical hiccups in Part 2 of my conversation with Irina Shklovski, making the original audio I released very choppy (a lesson in not relying on smart tools!). I’ve uploaded new audio version that is much easier to listen to and doesn't chop off words. So this is an encouragement to you to listen to this now as it is such an important raw honest conversation and Irina shares so many useful ideas about coming back from burnout and learning to be enough, do enough. I include a clip from that conversation as a teaser.
Overview:
00:00 Intro
00:29 Addressing Technical Issues on Irina Part 2
01:52 Revisiting Irina's Conversation
02:35 Snippet from Irina's Conversation
04:13 Encouragement to Listen to Part Two
04:30 Outro
05:25 End
Episode: Irina Shklovski Part 2
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
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In this short episode I pick on the notion of self-compassion from the discussion with Mark Reed last week, and go back to Kristin Neff’s work and other related self-compassion researcher to unpack the three components of self-compassion and some practices for cultivating self-compassion and also point to some of the research evidence base for the benefits of self-compassion. I also share my own experience in needing to apply self-compassion this week.
Overview:
00:29 Introduction
01:27 Replaying Mark Reed on self-compassion
02:26 An overview of self-compassion
06:37 Examples of self-compassion practices
08:24 My self-compassion experience
11:25 Example research evidence base
17:45 Back to Mark
20:24 End
For atranscript to follow automatically with the audio: https://share.descript.com/view/JxbMM1C5ZIZ
Related Links:
The podcast conversation with Mark Reed
Kristin Neff’s Self-Compassion web page
Neff, K., Hsieh, Y. & Dejitterat, K. Self-compassion, Achievement Goals, and Coping with Academic Failure. Self and Identity, 4, 263-287, 2005. DOI: 10.1080/13576500444000317
Zessin, U., Dickhäuser, O. & Garbade, S. The Relationship Between Self-Compassion and Well-Being: A Meta-Analysis. Health and Well-Being, 7(3), 340-364 2015
Ewert, C., Vater, A. & Schröder-Abé, M. Self-Compassion and Coping: a Meta-Analysis. Mindfulness 12, 1063–1077 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-020-01563-8
Lee, K.J., Lee, S.M. The role of self-compassion in the academic stress model. Curr Psychol41, 3195–3204 (2022).https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-00843-9
Dreisoerner, A., Klaic, A., van Dick, R. et al. Self-Compassion as a Means to Improve Job-Related Well-Being in Academia. J Happiness Stud 24, 409–428 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-022-00602-6
Phillips WJ, Hine DW. Self-compassion, physical health, and health behaviour: a meta-analysis. Health Psychol Rev. 2021 Mar;15(1):113-139. Doi:10.1080/17437199.2019.1705872. Epub 2019 Dec 22. PMID: 31842689.
Neff, K. Self-Compassion: Theory, Method, Research, and Intervention. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 2023. 74:193–218.
Acknowledgement: Episode artwork image of person hugging themselves: Photo by Hala Al-Asadi on Unsplash
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Professor Mark Reed is an academic, author, podcaster, consultant, trainer, policy advisor among his many roles. His research area is on ecosystem markets and environmental governance, and he studies how researchers can generate and share their knowledge so they can change the world. Reflecting both of these strands, he is both an academic, co-directing a research Centre at Scotland’s Rural College, and he is the founder of Fast Track Impact, a training and coaching company, and he hosts The Fast Track Impact podcast. He also has a host of other roles you can read about on his web page.
We discuss the concept of 'impact' in academia, the challenges of mental health and burnout amongst academics, and the importance of self-compassion, self-reflection and self-care. Driven by a desire to make a difference, Mark intertwines his academic inquiries with a commitment to environmental stewardship and decolonizing research. He also talks about his commitment to empowering colleagues, managing postdocs efficiently, and his take on the biases and limitations within the academic system.
Overview
00:05 Introduction
00:30 Meet Professor Mark Reed: A Multi-faceted Academic
01:18 The Importance of Self-Reflection in Academia
01:56 Mark's Personal Struggles and the Importance of Self-Compassion
02:07 The Role of Purpose and Values in Mark's Work
02:56 Mark's Journey as an Academic and Policy Advisor
07:23 The Challenges and Biases in the Academic System
08:32 Building a Compassionate Culture in Academia
11:33 Decolonizing Research and Influencing Policy
27:11 The Role of Empathy and Love in Research
32:13 The Importance of Self-Care and Work-Life Balance in Academia
48:05 Creating a Purposeful Workplace and Leading from the Bottom Up
51:24 Conclusion: The Impact of Love and Empathy in Academia
52:56 End
Listen here for a version to follow the transcript linked directly to the audio
Related Links
Mark's research web page & Fast Track Impact page
Mark’s books: https://www.fasttrackimpact.com/books#impact-culture
- The Research Impact Handbook 2nd Ed 2018
- The Productive Researcher 2017
- Impact Culture 2022
Mark’s ‘The Fast Track Impact’ podcast series
Mark Reed & Hanna Rudman, Re-thinking research impact: voice, context and power at the interface of science, policy and practice, 18, Sustainability Science, 967-981, 2023.
Richard Watermeyer's 2019 book: Competitive Accountability in Academic Life: The Struggle for Social Impact and Public Legitimacy
Dr Kristin Neff, Uni of Austen Texas on self compassion
Prof Michelle Pinard, Uni of Aberdeen
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
In this very short 7mins episode, I talk about choosing to go to the park instead of doing a longer episode as I had planned - making good enough choices and honouring other areas of my life.
I also point to related older podcasts that talked about issues around burnout, obsessive vs harmonious passion, self care, planning:
Jolanta Burke on burnout, harmonious passion, positive workplaces & helping others (from 2017)
Anna Cox on family, work & strategies for making the changes we want (from 2017)
Amy Ko on being reflectively self-aware, deliberately structured, & amazingly productive (also from 2017)
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Professor Irina Shklovski, University of Copenhagen, continues her powerful story about her academic burn-out experiences, returning to work and learning the dance of how to be enough and do enough. She discusses the push-and-pull between professional expectations and personal health, the value of reflection and self-awareness, how to establish work boundaries, and the crucial role of support from colleagues. We also touch on university funding, neoliberal culture in academia, and the importance of nurturing a balanced lifestyle which includes non-work related activities. The conversation ends with a call for change in academia, highlighting the need to redefine standards for success and manage the increasing pressures in academic cultures.
Overview:
[00:29] Episode introduction & recap Part 1
[04:53] Trying to plan
[06:29] Saying no and yes
[14:44] Value of professional help
[22:57] Tracking work
[32:10] Making time for rest
[40:24] Culture/structure influences
[49:39] Supporting students in what is enough
[54:46] Wrapping up
[59:04] End
Listen here for a version to follow the transcript linked directly to the audio
Related Links:
Pernille Bjørn
Kasper Hornbæk
Ridiculous Software
Toggle Track
Haruki Murakami, What I talk about when I talk about running
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Professor Irina Shklovski, University of Copenhagen, has a powerful story to tell about her burn-out experiences. In Part 1 she talks about how she got there, having an amazingly supportive department and colleagues, and how her body tells her when to stop. Implicated in this are issues such as being across two departments, defining her scholarship, starting a new uni during COVID, the downside of getting grants and what it’s like getting to the point of not being able to function and having to ask for help.
Apologies for missing music - trying to get that sorted!
Overview:
[00:29] Episode introduction
[01:58] Navigating two departments…during COVID
[10:32] Deciding for CS, being uncomfortable, having impact
[24:25] Journey to burnout
[29:35] Making the call for help
[38:45] How her body tells her when to stop
[42:32] Wrapping up
[45:17] End
Click here for a walk-through transcript
Related Links
- Gender studies (TEMAG) - Linköping University
- Irina Shklovski, Uni of Copenhagen web page
- Kasper Hornbæck
- Pernille Bjørn
- Bob Kraut, Carnegie Mellon Uni, HCI Institute
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
In this short solo episode, I reflect back on recent conversations around academic mobility, discuss some benefits, and also point to an EU initiative to improve support for mobility across sectors, countries and disciplines. I also discuss some of the costs and issues around mobility, and in particular pensions, something we don’t often think about. In sharing my experiences with a complicated pension situation because of my international and sector mobility, I encourage everyone to think about this now.
Overview:
[00:29] Episode introduction, revisiting mobility form past episodes
[02:16] EU initiative towards better mobility support, mobility benefits
[04:47] Shadow sides of mobility
[06:12] Pension challenges with mobility
[08:12] My mobility and pension story
[15:08] Encouraging people to think more about pensions
[16:50] RESAVER pension fund
[19:24] End
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Professor Susanne Bødker is a professor of Human Computer Interaction at Aarhus University in Denmark. She reflects on 40 years at Aarhus University (AU) touching on issues including mobility, changes over time, hiring practices, creating collegial culture, being active in university politics, transitioning to retirement, being a single parent, among many others. You’ll hear a strongly held set of values around participation and human connections. Susanne is one of the most respected and impactful HCI researchers yet you’ll also hear her humility. Thank you Susanne for a career well served and that will hopefully continue in some ways as you explore your new opportunities.
Apologies for missing music - trying to get that sorted!
Overview
0:05 Welcome to Changing Academic Life.
[00:00:29] Episode introduction
[00:02:21] Susanne introduces herself and her PhD times
[00:14:36] Reflecting on 40 years in Aarhus
[00:21:31] The collegial social culture at Aarhus
[00:25:29] Hiring people for fit
[00:30:18] The value of mobility
[00:38:06] The big changes over time
[00:40:49] Being involved in university politics
[00:47:39] Transitioning to retirement
[00:54:39] How she sees her legacy
[01:00:05] Being a single parent
[01:04:52] Wrapping up
01:07:21 End
Related links:
Susanne Bødker, Google Scholar profile
Her published thesis: Susanne Bødker, Through the Interface: A Human Activity Approach to User Interface Design, Routledge, 1990
Austrian Academy of Sciences Lecture, 21 Sept 2023, “How do we understand tools, and why is that important for contemporary human-computer interaction?"
Morten Kyng, Kristen Nygaard, Kim Halskov, Joan Greenbaum
Winograd, Terry and Flores, Fernando, Understanding Computers and Cognition: A New Foundation for Design, Intellect Books, 1986.
Dreyfus, Stuart E. and Dreyfus, Hubert L. (1986). Mind over Machine. New York, NY: Free Press.
Utopia project & Participatory IT (PIT) Centre
Keywords:
Academia, Career paths, Research culture, Retirement, Values
Click here to subscribe via the player of your choice.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Following the conversation with Dr Karen Stroobants on the EU CoARA agreement, I discuss some other top-down initiatives at international and national levels for reforming research assessment. I also share some of my own bottom-up experiences trying to put these principles to work eg in writing references and being part of evaluation panels. It is also my hope that these actions can also have some middle-out influence.
Overview [41:33 mins] - full transcript available:
[00:00:29] Episode introduction
[00:02:10] The 10 Commitments of CoARA
[00:05:02] Other international initiatives
[00:10:34] Netherlands as example of national initiatives
[00:17:20] Some of my 'bottom up' examples
[00:34:18] Middle out strategies
[00:38:35] Wrapping up
Related links:
CoARA: Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment and CoARA Commitments
LERU: League of European Research Universities
LERU Publication: A Pathway towards Multidimensional Academic Careers 2022
DORA: San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment 2013
Leiden Manifesto for Research Metrics 2015
The Metric Tide: Review of metrics in research assessment
Strategy Evaluation Protocol 2021-2027
Room for Everyone’s Talent
Related podcasts:
Karen Stroobants on changing research culture and reforming research assessment
Sarah Davies: Part 1 on mobility, precarity and notions of excellence and part 2 on luck, disrupting excellence, and cultures of care
Tanita Casci and Elizabeth Adams on supporting, rewarding and celebrating a positive collegial research culture
James Wilsden on metrics and responsible research evaluation
Keywords:
Academia, CoARA, Diversity, Governance and policy, Research culture, Research Evaluation
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
In this short episode I reflect on my recurring life lesson about putting unrealistic pressures on myself, in this case to put out a full podcast this week. Especially when the platforms I am using are a work in progress. And accepting that I am also a work in progress. What are your recurring life lessons?
Transcript [08:03 mins][00:00:29] Geri: Do you ever have any of those life lessons where it seems like the universe needs to serve them up to you again and again and again? Because you're so slow to learn them. And so you need to be reminded about them over and over and over again. Well, this week I've been returned to one of my recurring life lessons that it seems like I still don't learn. Which is about setting up unreal expectations for myself.
[00:01:02] I made the bold claim in the short intro session to season four. That my aim was to try to release a podcast every week on a Wednesday morning. And so I've already put myself under enormous pressure to do that. Uh, we put out the great conversation with Karen last week Karen Stroobants about reforming research evaluation. And I wanted to follow up that podcast, just responding to some of the issues she raised in terms of my personal experiences. And so I did record something and then I spent ages processing the audio and so on. And doing it quite uncritically because I was just driven by, I had to get it out. I had to get it out. Uh, and then Wednesday came and I miss my 8:00 AM release time and it still wasn't done. And I'm still feeling the pressure last night and it just occurred to me. It has stepping back a little bit. It's actually not very good at all. Despite the huge amount of time and effort that I've put into it, it's really not ready to go out. And it's something that I should take just as a, as a rehearsal . So then I was feeling doubly bad about it.
[00:02:15] But do you know what? That all just comes from me? I created that. No one else. I know that no one is sitting around at 8:00 AM or 9:00 AM on a Wednesday. Waiting for the podcast to drop. But still I felt the pressure. I felt bad. And I ended up putting a whole lot of misdirected time and inefficient effort. Having bought into that pressure. And that whole unrealistic expectation.
[00:02:43] So I'm not going to release that podcast. I am still going to get something out this week. So what's my minimal commitment that I can do. And I'm just going to do this short one with yet another confession. About this time, setting up unrealistic expectations.
[00:03:01] And when you think about it, logically of course they were unrealistic expectations. What on earth was I thinking. Of course, it's going to be hard to do weekly at the moment. Because this whole new podcast set up is a work in progress, literally. We're still getting the new technology platforms in place for the podcast and that that's everything from the recording platform. The platform where I process the audio, do the transcriptions. Um, we're setting up a whole new podcast server. They're all new. At once. And so every aspect of the workflow now is brand new as well. And on top of that, they're really great platforms, but in being great, they're also quite complex. And so there's a huge learning curve, both just in getting to know the software and what each of the platforms can do. As well as how I want to use them and how to make that workflow work.
[00:04:02] And the other aspect, that's a big work in progress and taking time and effort is the website. And. And also there's a lot of interplay between the new podcast server and the new website that we're trying to work out as well. So that the whole environment I'm trying to work in. Is a work in progress.
[00:04:21] And I'm clearly a work in progress as well. Because I forgot to allow myself grace for being on a learning curve. And learning curves are always uncomfortable. Aren't they it's. It's uncomfortable feeling like you don't know, not being an expert. Um, and also dealing with the uncertainty of that, and also the inevitable challenges that come up and problems.
[00:04:46] And it's not just that on top of that, this my whole life situation. These are my last days in my current role before transitioning on. And there's a whole lot to be done practically. And not to mention a whole lot to deal with emotionally and the whole emotional overlay of, um, you know, those interesting aspects to endings and beginnings, you know, the sadness of endings the excitement of new beginnings and. so on., And on top of all of that, we've also had a lot of visitors, both personal visitors and work visitors. So, duh, of course, it's going to be hard to get something out on Wednesday. And that's okay. That it didn't happen.
[00:05:31] And so this week has been returning to the lesson. My recurring life lesson. That it's okay. That I'm okay. Uh, not to put such high expectations on myself and create my own pressures. To hold the expectation's lightly. To be comfortable with adjusting deadlines and to be comfortable with good enough and recognizing when good enough is good enough. And it's okay to also say that. Say the one that I had tried to prepare for this week. Wasn't good enough.
[00:06:05] So. This is just a short podcast today. I'll do my best to get something out next week, but I won't put pressure on myself and I'll just accept that. Work on being kind to myself, recognize that we will eventually get all of this new stuff, worked out, that the learning curve will become a little bit easier. The website will be up and running my new life, whatever that's going to have it, that's going to be unfolding. Will happen and we'll get into the rhythm as well, and just try to maintain, more of a detached curiosity to see how it all works out.
[00:06:45] So thanks for listening to my confession. Uh, maybe this invites you to also reflect on what are your recurring life lessons that the universe needs to present you with again, and again, and again. And hopefully. Maybe you are not as slow as me as at learning those lessons. Have a good week
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
We need to reform research evaluation because "It's not just which people are we excluding, which profiles are we excluding, which ideas are we excluding, but also whose problems are we not solving" says Dr Karen Stroobants.
Karen is a researcher, policy adviser and consultant on research policy and strategy, with a focus on research culture. Her research background and PhD is in chemistry. She now manages a portfolio of activities, combining roles as (part-time) lead policy advisor on research landscape & economy for the Royal Society of Chemistry in the UK and as freelance consultant, focusing most recently on contributing to the drafting of a European agreement on research assessment reform.
This agreement on reforming research assessment from CoARA, the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment, is the reason I wanted to speak with Karen. We cover: concerns of current research assessment approaches; the need for both top-down and bottom up buy in to create research culture change and what that change might look like; how we can navigate career choices while the system is still in transition; the importance of reflection for research culture change and embracing a diversity of people ideas and research problems; the core commitments of the CoARA agreement; and the move to more qualitative assessments at both individual and institutional and national levels. We finish with Karen reflecting on her own career choices driven by values and what is important.
- [00:00:29] Episode introduction
- [00:02:39] Welcome & Introduction
- [00:04:39] Concerns around research system
- [00:13:05] Research culture change needs top-down and bottom-up buy-in
- [00:20:12] Negotiating choices while the system is undergoing transition
- [00:23:25] Importance of reflection for research culture change
- [00:30:21] Diversity of people, ideas and research problems
- [00:34:17] CoARA Agreement on reforming research assessment
- [00:40:04] Signing up to the CoARA agreement
- [00:50:10] Narrative CVs - for inividuals, organisations and national level
- [00:54:02] Other ways of brining a qualitative lens
- [00:56:15] Karen's career path - setting boundaries, choosing values
Related links:
CoARA: Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment https://coara.eu
Prof Frank Miedema, UMC Utrecht, https://www.umcutrecht.nl/en/research/researchers/miedema-frank-f#
Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions MSCA https://marie-sklodowska-curie-action; San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment s.ec.europa.eu
INORMS: International Network of Research Management Societies https://inorms.net
DORA: San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment https://sfdora.org/dora-community-engagement-grants-supporting-academic-assessment-reform/
The Metric Tide: Review of metrics in research assessment https://www.ukri.org/publications/review-of-metrics-in-research-assessment-and-management/
Book:
Caroline Criado Perez, Invisible Women, Vintage Books, 2019
This is a short episode to kick off Season 4 of the Changing Academic Life podcast series.
Looking forward to bringing some great conversations coming on a range of topics fro reforming research assessment, burnout and neurodiversity.
A new website will be coming very soon!
You can access all the latest episodes via this link that will connect you to your favourite podcast player. And don’t forget to subscribe if you haven’t already to be sure you don’t miss any episodes!
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
End of season wrap. I review some of the themes from the last season include listening, leadership, wellbeing, peer review, and research excellence. I also invite feedback and you can go to the https://www.changingacademiclife.com/contact page to share your feedback and suggestions. And I share some transitions happening over the break before coming back in Sept/Oct 2023.
See https://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2023/cal83-eflections-transitions for a time-stamped overview, transcript and related links.
Prof Sarah Davies (STS Dept, Uni of Vienna) researches conditions on academic work and knowledge production. In Part 2 we discuss her research on issues such as equity and valuing diverse work, care work in academia, creating collegial research cultures, and luck in research, and how accounting for luck might be one way of disrupting problematic rhetorics of excellence.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2023/cal82-sarah-davies-part-2 for a time-stamped overview of the conversation, transcript and related links.
In Part 1, Sarah Davies (STS, Vienna Uni) discusses her experiences with academic mobility, touching on issues of cultural differences, precarity, and reflecting on who is able to be mobile or not and with what consequences. This leads to discussions about how we interpret CVs, and she challenges us to re-think internationalization and notions of excellence.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2023/cal81-sarah-davies-part-1 for a time-stamped overview of the conversation, transcript and related links.
Dr Elizabeth Churchill, Snr Director at Google, shares experiences on building team cultures, managing diversity, onboarding global teams, and useful management frameworks. She also shares her journey from psychology to working in big tech and now at the infrastructure level, what she was looking for in moving between companies, and her love of people, of being challenged and continually learning.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2023/ cal80-elizabeth-churchill for a time-stamped overview of the conversation, transcript and related links.
The areas Marta Cecchinato discusses include: her leadership of a new group, leading her department’s Athena Swan EDI initiative, supporting people on parental leave, her own experiences being a first-time mother, and the digital wellbeing strategies that have been most helpful to her.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2023/cal79-marta-cecchinato-part-2 for a time-stamped overview of the conversation, transcript and related links.
In part 1 of our conversation, Marta talks about her digital wellbeing research, the concept of microboundaries, and strategies for taking more control of these microboundaries. You can also download her booklet to find more practical strategies.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2023/cal78-marta-cecchinato-part1 for a time-stamped overview of the conversation, transcript and related links.
James Wilsdon has been involved in many policy initiatives around research evaluation. Of particular interest here, he chaired a review of the role of metrics in the management of the UK’s research system, resulting in the 2015 report, The Metric Tide. Connecting to our recent episodes on review practices, we start here at about 19mins into the original recording exploring what is the purpose of research evaluation.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2023/cal77-james-wilsdon-replay for a time-stamped transcript and related links.
I found this a powerful conversation with Heike Winschiers-Theophilus on global south research, reviewer bias, abstract vs lived diversity, & pluriversality.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2023/ cal76-heike-winschiers-theophilus for a time-stamped overview of the conversation, transcript and related links.
In this episode, Edward Lee discusses the culture of rejection, in CS especially, the problems with peer reviewing, the nature of conferences, and how we might approach reviewing differently and start to change the culture around publications, acceptance rates and evaluations without losing quality standards.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2023/cal75-edward-lee for a time-stamped overview of the conversation, transcript and related links.
This short reflection follows on from the last episode, a replay of my 2017 conversation with Gloria Mark. I make a confession here that comes from my reviewing hall of shame about when I was a reviewer of one of the key papers leading to hew new book, a paper authored by Victor González and Gloria Mark. And how I (very wrongly!) argued for rejection. Luckily good colleagues saved me from myself and the paper was accepted but I use this as an example to urge us to be more reflective about our biases and position this also against the broader challenges around reviewing in our increasingly hypercompetitive publication culture.
For overview, transcript and related links go to http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2023/cal74-review-hall-of-shame
This is a replay of the 2017 conversation with Gloria Mark in honour of her publishing her book called ‘Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity’, that includes some of the research she talks about here. You’ll hear Gloria talk about her experiences as chair of a major conference, how she moved from a Fine Arts background, painting murals on buildings, to a PhD in cognitive science and to studying the relationship between media use, attention and stress.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2023/cal73-gloria-mark-replay for a time-stamped overview of the conversation, transcript and related links.
Austen Rainer and I discuss the Academic Leadership Development courses we co-facilitate for Informatics Europe: how these courses came about, the similarities and differences between the online and residential versions of the course and the broad topic areas we cover. Join us for Spring (online) or June (residential).
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2023/cal72-leadership-development for a time-stamped overview of the conversation, transcript and related links.
At the end of 2022, I reflect on some of themes of the conversations in this season around: the power of good listening, the different ways of doing leadership and being leader, and how we can all step up and be part of making a difference.
Full transcript and related links at http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2022/12/30/end-of-2022-reflections
The continuing conversation with Dr Aisling O’Kane (Part 2) where she reflects on her experiences stepping into an acting head of department role as a relatively junior faculty member and her radical participatory decision making approach as well as lessons learnt.
See www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2022/12/15/aisling-okane-part-2 for a time-stamped overview of the conversation, transcript and related links.
Dr Aisling O’Kane shares her industry to academia story that takes her around the world, moving from engineering and human factors, to beer, margarine and nuclear risk assessment, and now to safety critical healthcare devices in complex settings. Along the way, she also talks about mobility, family, two-body challenges and COVID impacts. Look out also for Part 2 coming soon.
See www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2022/12/8/aisling-okane-part-1 for a time-stamped overview of the conversation, transcript and related links.
Stuart Reeves is an Associate Professor at Nottingham University in the UK. In Part 1, he reflected on the complexities of universities and the structural/managerial issues that contribute to this. In Part 2 here, Stuart goes on to describe his journey from protesting about pensions on the picket line to becoming an academic member of the university Senate and his experiences of trying to effect change in university governance. It is hopefully inspiring to someone not just see challenges but commit to being part of the change to meet these challenges.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/ 2022/12/1/stuart-reeves-part-2 for a time-stamped overview of the conversation, transcript and related links.
Dr. Stuart Reeves is a in the Mixed Reality Lab and Horizon Research Institute at Nottingham University in the UK. This conversation is in two parts. In Part 1 of our conversation, he reflected on the complexities of universities and the structural/managerial issues that contribute to this. In Part 2 here, Stuart goes on to describe his journey from protesting about pensions on the picket line to becoming an academic member of the university Senate and his experiences of trying to effect change in university governance. As you will understand, he necessarily has to be circumspect about the specific details he shares but nonetheless there is much to be inspired by hearing someone not just see challenges but commit to being part of the change to meet these challenges.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2022/11/23/stuart-reeves-part-1 for a time-stamped overview of the conversation, transcript and related links
This is Part 2 of my conversation with Dr Darragh McCashin, an Assistant Professor in the School of Psychology at Dublin City University, and member of the Core Group for the EU COST Network on Researcher Mental Health Observatory, called ReMO. In Part 1 of this conversation, he reflected on his experiences as a PhD student and starting a lecturer position during COVID times. Here we pick up on the challenges around researcher mental health, focusing in particular on imposter phenomenon, what it is, how it is experienced, and multi-level strategies for dealing with it.
See www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2022/11/10/darragh-mccashin-part2 for a time-stamped overview of the conversation, transcript and related links.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/start for transcript and related links.
Episode in overview:
00:30 Preamble
02:07 Darragh introduces himself
08:07 How he manifests interdisciplinary thinking
09:35 His men in rural Ireland study for a Movember project
14:43 Experiences of taking on his first lecturer position in the middle of a pandemic
20:13 What he loves about his job
22:38 What he is afraid of – the imposter.
25:39 The recognition from audiences when he talks about the pressures of academia and the imposter
30:01 My reflections at the end
32:46 End
In Part 2 of our conversation, Dr Julie Kientz shares her experiences around getting tenure and finding a more focused path post-tenure. And she talks about how she came to be Head of Department and immediately had to deal with the COVID pandemic and racial justice reckoning. She’s a role model for how to do leadership from a place of humility and care, working to her strengths, amplifying impact and being comfortable with being uncomfortable.
See www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2022/10/11/julie-kientz-part-2 for a time-stamped overview of the conversation, transcript and related links.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2022/9/21/julie-kientz-part-1 for a time-stamped overview of the conversation, transcript and related links.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2022/9/15/oscar-trimboli-part-2 for a time-stamped overview of the conversation, transcript and related links.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2022/9/7/oscar-trimboli-part-1 for a time-stamped overview of the conversation, transcript and related links.
A short preamble to kick start the new 2022 season of Changing Academic Life podcast. See www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2022/8/31/reconnecting-2022 - for a transcript and related links.
How do you recognize your own progress and do you ever stop to praise yourself for it? In this short podcast I replay part of a previous conversation with Katherine Isbister who talks about working 8-5 M-F, being productive and praising yourself. I connect this to another conversation I had this week about challenges recognizing progress, as well as research around self-compassion and savoring.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2021/7/23/rw9-progress-and-praise for a time-stamped transcript and related work links.
This short related-work podcast follows up on the last conversation with Michael Bungay-Stanier, to present the seven coaching-like questions from his book ‘The Coaching Habit’ for helping us to stay curious longer, jump to advice a little more slowly. I also reflect on my experiences trying to apply this in my academic life where I see it as one of our most powerful tools to help empower and develop good people.
Michael Bungay-Stanier is an internationally renowned author, company founder and thought leader in coaching. Michael is the founder of Box of Crayons, a learning and development company that helps organizations move from advice-driven to curiosity-led. He's the author of 6 books, the best known of which is The Coaching Habit which has sold close to a million copies and has thousands of 5-star reviews. His latest book The Advice Trap, focuses on what it takes to tame your Advice Monster. We start off the conversation reflecting on his career choices and discussing the differences between academia and industry. He then discusses what it means to be more coach-like in our work - staying curious a little longer, asking good questions, and being slower to jump to advice – as well as how to recognise our different advice monsters. We finish off with some questions posed by participants on a recent academic leadership development course.
Overview (times approximate):
00:28 Preamble
04:07 Bio
07:26 Career choices, meaning and impact
11:41 Academia
16:45 Staying curious longer
18:05 Advice challenges
23:26 Getting practical
32:22 Advice monsters & their prizes and punishments
42:51 Responding to questions
51:32 Wrap up
53:55 End
See www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2021/6/10/michael-bungay-stanier for a time-stamped overview of the conversation, transcript and related links
Dr Tanita Casci, Head of Research Policy, and Dr. Elizabeth Adams, Workstream Lead – Research Culture, at the University of Glasgow, talk about creating a positive collegial research culture as the vehicle for doing good research, along with practical strategies for how they support, reward and celebrate good practice.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2021/5/21/tanita-casci-elizabeth-adams for a time-stamped overview of the conversation, transcript and related links.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2021/5/7/jeremy-birnholtz for a time-stamped overview of the conversation, a transcript and related links
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2021/4/30/cal-56-neha-kumar for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2021/4/23/rw7-job-crafting for a time-stamped transcript and related work links.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2021/4/11/rw6-superpowers for a time-stamped transcript and related work links.
See www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2021/3/19/john-tang
for a time-stamped overview of the conversation, transcript and related links.
See www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2021/3/10/aaron-quigley for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links. As broad overview here:
02:00 Career path from degree in Computer Science to Head of School at UNSW
16:00 Making choices, strategic hindsight and foresight, and getting the right advice
22:55 The importance of silent warriors and service roles and his secret power of caring about getting things done and not caring about who gets the credit
34:15 His secret power of listening
37:55 Moving into his new role as Head of School
44:45 His secret power of talking
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2021/2/25/rw5-sweetspot for a time-stamped transcript and related work links.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2021/2/16/austen-rainer for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2021/2/11/rw4-excellence for a time-stamped transcript and related work links.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog-rw/2021/2/3/rw3-appreciate for a time-stamped transcript and related work links.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog-rw/2021/1/16/from-adapting-to-growing for a time-stamped overview of the content and related links.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog-rw/2021/1/7/year-of-being-bold for a time-stamped overview of the content and related links.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2020/8/28/eunice-sari for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2020/5/26/anirudha-joshi for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2020/5/22/covid-musings-from-australia for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2020/2/10/pejman-mirza-babaei-part2 for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2020/1/26/pejman-mirza-babaei for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links.
For related links see http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2020/1/6/reflections-on-2019
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2019/10/5/rosa-arriaga for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2019/7/24/alex-taylor for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2019/6/14/tom-erickson for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2019/4/23/jen-mankoff for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2019/3/31/moshe-vardi for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2019/3/19/moshe-vardi-part1 for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2019/2/2/jofish-kaye for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/ 2018/12/8/katie-siek for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2018/11/11/leysia-palen for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2018/10/12/mike-twidale for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2018/9/7/lindsay-oades for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2018/2018/8/8/jan-gulliksen for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/ 2018/7/11/rowena-murray for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/ 2018/6/18/kirsten-ellis for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links.
Janet Read is a Professor in Child Computer Interaction at the University of Central Lancashire in the UK. Janet’s path to academia was via maths teaching, and then falling into a PhD after she had a family. Our discussions are wide ranging and throughout she is incredibly thoughtful, reflective and proactive in how she goes about unentangling processes and challenges. Because this ends up being a long conversation, I’ve added some notes on the web about the high level topics and talk about it two parts. In the first part, up to about the hour, she explores her own journey learning how to do research, how to supervise students, and how to support good learning experiences. She has some really interesting things to say about today’s university process-driven culture and argues that we need to do much better at understanding students and how to better support the learning experience, not equating attendance with learning. In the second part, she talks about being a complete academic, that one of the challenges is that no-one really knows what an academic actually does. She talks about how she deals with the demands on her time, the potential costs of being too efficient, being proactive and looking after your own needs, creating a collaborative group culture, wishing for encouraging and supportive leadership and saying ‘well done’. See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/ 2018/ 5/17/janet-read for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links.
Kylie Ball is a Professor in the in the Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, Faculty of Health at Deakin University in Australia. She is also Head of early- and mid-career researcher (EMCR) development and publishes a very impactful blog targeted to EMCRs called The Happy Academic. We have a wide-ranging discussion about the EMCR support initiatives she has put in place, including workshops, mentoring programs and virtual resources, as well as the blog which she talks about as a form of virtual mentorship that can have a wider reach. We explore her own strategies for physical and mental wellbeing and how to form good habits. Themes throughout are around how much there is that we can actually take control of and make choices about, and we get a good sense of how to create a kinder and more supportive culture within our faculties. See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/ 2018/4/18/kylie-ball for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links
Carman Neustaedter is an Associate Professor in the School of Interactive Arts and Technology at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada and is also Director of the Connections Lab (cLab) research group. He talks about the importance for him of taking time to reconnect with his identity and values, and building in regular time for reflection, both on the bigger issues of where he is going and also on day to day work like writing challenges. He also discusses feeling overwhelmed and deciding to track his work time over a whole year, which led to surprising findings about how he actually spent his time and how he worked fewer hours than he thought he did. He also touches on issues around handling reviewer critique, managing his email inbox and how he structures time and prioritises family. A thread through a couple of stories is also the importance of being able to take on the perspective of others, whether these are the critical reviewers or colleagues. See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/ 2018/3/6/carman-neustaedter for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links.
James Wilsdon is a Professor of Research Policy in the Department of Politics and Director of Impact and Engagement for the Faculty of Social Sciences, and Associate Director in the Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures at the University of Sheffield in the UK. He has been involved in many policy and think tank initiatives. Of particular interest here, he chaired an independent review of the role of metrics in the management of the UK's research system, publishing a final report in 2015 called The Metric Tide. More recently he has chaired an expert panel on Next Generation Metrics for the European Commission. In this conversation we talk about his experiences working in both policy think tanks and in academia, about the increasing focus on research impact for academics and how the UK has created some culture change in this direction. He also discusses issues around metric-based systems of assessments for academics and calls on us not to indulge processes of evaluation that we know empirically are bad science. See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/ 2018/ 2/1/james-wilsdon for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links.
Luigina Ciolfi is a Professor of Human Centred Computing at Sheffield Hallam University (UK). A common theme of the conversation is her passion for giving back. We talk about peer service organising a conference, and about her early career experiences as a junior faculty with responsibilities for a program, and what sorts of training and support were or could have been useful for her. In giving back now to junior faculty, she also talks about recent training experiences to take a coaching/mentoring approach and the value of this. We then talk about some of her recent research studying how nomadic workers and how work-life balance plays out for them and how there is no one strategy that suits everyone. She reflects on her own strategies here and also on the challenges of working in a different country to your families. See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2018/1/16/lui-ciolfi for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links.
As with the end on 2016, this is a short podcast (18:58) where I reflect on the year that has been. I also add my call to increasing compassion and kindness in the workplace and discuss the benefits of doing this and various options for how to play it out. I would also love to hear your feedback and ideas for what and who you want to hear about in future podcasts.
Michael Muller is a researcher at IBM Research in Cambridge MA. We cover a lot in this conversation, Michael reflects on his long PhD process in cognitive science, long in part because of chronic diseases that he still deals with. He talks about the decision to move to industry and his experiences working in various industry positions since then, including interpreting participatory design methods for a North American industry context, finding out he wasn’t suited to management, and loving the work he is doing now. A theme across many of the stories is the tension arising from navigating organisational demands and his own deeply held values, and throughout you can hear his deep care for people.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/ 2017/12/6/michael-muller for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links.
Jolanta Burke is a Positive Psychologist, who works as a Senior Lecturer and Associate Leader of the MAPPCP programme at University of East London and also has her own consultancy business. She shares how she dealt with burn-out during her PhD, having to find a place of harmonious rather than obsessive passion, and how this influences her work supervising students now. She also shares her experiences working in business contexts as a consultant, in creating positive workplaces and how we could better do this in academia. And she shares her passion for making a better world through communicating our research to people and helping people. See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/ 2017/11/11/jolanta-burke for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links.
Evan Peck is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Bucknell University in the US. Evan has a passion for teaching and also wants to do good research but when he was looking around for a faculty position, he decided he didn’t want to trade off family life and life quality to do it all, as he considered he might have to at a top-rated school. He also wasn’t sure about industry where he could have better life quality but would miss teaching. He is now an evangelist for Liberal Arts Colleges, like Bucknell, as a middle way for PhD students to include when considering career options. Evan talks about his decision processes getting there and his current experiences as a new faculty in establishing work to include teaching, research and time for family. He also has a great blog post written on this topic.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/ 2017/8/9/evan-peck for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links.
Scott Robertson comes from a psychology and cognitive science background and is now a Professor in the Information and Computer Sciences Department at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Scott shares the experiences of being rejected for tenure twice and how he dealt with that. His story is one of perseverance and courage, doing what you care about, and the importance of mentors and being part of a community. He is now in a tenured position and enjoying the freedom to follow his mission around civic engagement and to get back to acting.
See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/ 2017/ 7/27/scott-robertson for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links.
Margaret Burnett is a professor of Computer Science in the School of EECS at Oregon State University. She is a pioneer woman in computer science whose work has been honoured with numerous awards, including ACM Distinguished Scientist. Her passion is to change the world by designing more gender-inclusive software. In this conversation, she shares experiences being the first woman software developer at Proctor & Gamble Ivorydale in the 1970s, and creating two start-ups as well as a women’s business network in the 1980s. She also talks about her work in academia, in particular about her GenderMag project, as well as practical experiences including mentoring and management using dove-tailing strategies as well as managing family life by drawing fences. She also tries to do one thing every day to make the world a better place. An inspirational person in so many ways! See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/ 2017/7/5/margaret-burnett for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links.
For more information and related links see http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2017/6/18/amy-ko
Gloria Mark is a Professor in the Department of Informatics at the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences at University of California Irvine. Gloria talks about her experiences as chair of a major conference, not just the work but also the rewards. She talks about how she moved from a Fine Arts background, painting murals on buildings, to a PhD in cognitive science and now studying the relationship between media use, attention and stress, but still being able to be creative in work. She also reflects honestly on her own struggles to manage her screen time and stress but above all she reminds us of the importance of fun and fulfillment in work. See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/ 2017/6/6/gloria-mark for a time-stamped overview of the conversation and related links.
Chris Frauenberger is a post-doctoral researcher and principle investigator at Technical University Vienna. Chris shares his experiences navigating various post-doc positions, taking parental leave, negotiating with his partner about family-career choices, dealing with an uncertain future, and being strategic about trying to build up a CV and visibility to maximize the chance of getting a permanent position. He also reflects on what happens if this doesn’t happen and the importance of having multiple dreams to choose from. See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/ 2017/3/31/chris-frauenberger for more information and related links.
Ali Black is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland Australia. Ali tells stories of courage and care and connection, stories that grew out of painful interactions with ‘the academic machine’ and feeling like failure. She talks about creating a different way of engaging in academia, one that is based on intentionality and meaning, on connecting to what is important, on being and becoming, and on creating a more caring and collaborative culture. An important step in this was reaching out to colleagues and forming a women’s writing group to write together and to explore their versions of slow scholarship. See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/ 2017/3/20/ali-black for more information and related links.
Anna Cox is a Reader and Deputy Director at the UCL Interaction Centre (UCLIC). Anna shares her early career experiences, the challenge of lecturing a large class, and how she and her partner created flexible work practices to manage family and work. She also talks about the research studies she and her students have been doing on ‘work life balance’, including the ways in which people are different, and strategies such as creating microboundaries and frictions to help us take more control of our work. You can find summary notes and related links including the questionnaires she mentions at http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2017/3/5/anna-cox
Kia Höök is a professor in Interaction Design at KTH in Stockholm Sweden, director of the Mobile Life Centre and an ACM Distinguished Scientist. We talk about her early research career, and her experiences securing a large amount of research funding with some colleagues then co-leading a large research centre, building a culture, and managing relationships with industry partners. She also talks about how her year-long sabbatical gave her time and space to reflect on the challenges of success and to reconnect to what is important, to re-set her own rules and to re-think how she wants to engage as an academic. Summary index: 01:57 research background; 11:27 shaping and running a research centre; 40:34 the sabbatical experience
Cliff Lampe is an associate professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan. He also plays numerous key service roles in the HCI and CSCW peer communities. He talks about faculty meetings and peer service being joyful, the importance of social capital and relationships, how he decides what to say yes/no to, how he manages his work. He also talks about concerns around the production of busyness, the push for quantity not quality, and the increasing community burden of peer review. He challenges to think about new models and to play our role in making academia work. If nothing else, he will change the way you think about faculty meetings and peer service. See http://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2017/1/20/cliff-lampe for more detailed notes.
This is a very short reflection [07:55 mins] from me on 2016 and the wonderful diverse stories we have heard. And looking forward to 2017 as we continue to explore together how to create a better academic life. For all 2016 podcasts go to www.changingacademiclife.com.
Lone Malmborg is an Associate Professor and heads the Interaction Design Research Group and the People and Computational Things Section at the IT University of Copenhagen in Denmark. She talks here about what is happening in Denmark and ITU around performance measures for academics. She reflects on the impacts of what gets counted and how counts get benchmarked and what this means then for things like publication strategies and stress levels. She also shares strategies that she has tried out in her own section to turn individual counts into cooperative activities, as well as her personal strategies. For summary and related links go to http://www.changingacademiclife.com
Ben Kraal has quite a different story to tell from the other people in the podcast series so far. After 9 years on limited university contracts, Ben Kraal decided to move to industry as a user experience consultant. He talks about his experiences in academia, the challenges of being legible, how he made the decision to leave and what his home and work life is now like.
Tom discusses his career choices, what drives his research, dealing with insecurities and rejections, funding models, metrics, and being part of a two-academic family
Saul discusses his experiences picking and supervising students, strategically building a research lab and community, taking control of our own work-life balance, publication strategies, remote working, and moving into retirement.
Yunan Chen, Ass Prof at UC Irvine, talks about moving from China to a PhD at the intersection of medical informatics and human computer interaction in the US. She also speaks out about her pre and post tenure experiences, being part of a long distance relationship, and the struggles negotiating academia and becoming a new mother.
Marcus Foth on sabbatical, creating a research niche at the intersection of disciplines, publishing in diverse venues, setting up a new lab and of chairing conferences.
Katherine Isbister from the Center for Games and Playable Media at University of California, Santa Cruz, on finding your fit, being productive and praising yourself.
Prof Rafael Calvo from the Positive Computing Lab at the University of Sydney in Australia talks about his varied career, his work on positive computing and his own mental health and well being strategies
Dr Mary Czerwinski, principal researcher & research manager at Microsoft Research, on managing people, managing stress, and the work to do good work
ProfJon Whittle from School of Computing and Communications at Lancaster University talks about making career shifts, changing strategies when proposals get rejected, making multi disciplinary work work, creating balance, and leading by example.
Prof Judy Olson, Bren Professor of Information and Computer Sciences in the Informatics Department at UC Irvine, reflects back on her career, on changes she has seen particularly the increasing expectations of hiring committees, on common issues people deal with, on blooming where you are planted, on dealing with imposter syndrome, on the value of good colleagues/collaborators and on her work plans after retirement later this year.
