Past event
This event has now been postponed. To be kept updated on when this will be reschedule for, please email events@bera.ac.uk.
This one day conference will bring together early career researchers (ECRs), senior academics, ‘third space’ higher education professionals, and doctoral and ECR training and development professionals, in a conversation about what it means to have a (non)academic career in the higher education sector today. We aim to discuss PhD trajectories and their end – or at least temporary – points, and question the idea(l) of a linear ‘progression’ to an academic career, and ideas of success and failure in relation to it.
The problem of secure academic employment for the current and future generations of ECRs remains one to address at an institutional and sector level, and the efforts to help ECRs prepare for an unfavourable job market by focusing on skills and resilience continue to be important. This event, however, will broaden this conversation through additional narratives of academic, non-academic, and third space higher education experiences. A keynote presentation, panel, and group discussions will address realities of contemporary HE environments, shaped by the rising importance of social impact, collaborative and engaged research, and the value of professional knowledge, in academia, to allow for a broader understanding of the ways in which ECRs’ skills and affinities can work with the fluid and flexible job market and not in opposition to a static one.
While of wider significance to a number of stakeholders in and outside of university, the event will be of particular interest to ECRs (doctoral candidates and post-PhD researchers) in the UK and internationally.
Programme
| 09.30 | Registration, tea and coffee |
| 10.00 | Welcome from the organisers Dr Sanja Djerasimovic, University of Exeter; Dr Craig Hammond, Liverpool John Moores University; Dr Oliver Hooper, Loughborough University and Dr Yuwei Xu, University College London |
| 10.15 | Keynote: Academics, researchers, knowledge workers, teachers, and innovators: post-PhD employment today, who holds the keys to it, and why we need to talk about it Dr Sanja Djerasimovic, Impact Research Fellow, University of Exeter |
| 11.00 | Tea and coffee break |
| 11.15 |
Lightning Presentations |
| 12.30 | Lunch |
| 13.30 |
Panel Discussion: Academic and researcher development: stories of success, challenge, and opportunity -Olga Mun, DPhil candidate, University of Oxford |
| 14.15 | Tea and coffee break |
| 14.30 | Breakout Discussions Dr Sanja Djerasimovic, University of Exeter; Dr Craig Hammond, Liverpool John Moores University; Dr Oliver Hooper, Loughborough University and Dr Yuwei Xu, University College London |
| 15.45 | Tea and coffee break |
| 16.00 | Completion of evaluation forms |
| 16.05 | Closing discussion led by organisers and next steps Dr Sanja Djerasimovic, University of Exeter; Dr Craig Hammond, Liverpool John Moores University; Dr Oliver Hooper, Loughborough University and Dr Yuwei Xu, University College London |
| 16.30 | Close of event |
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