ECR reflections

Part 2

Everything Happens at Once

In academia, one of the hardest thing to explain is that nothing comes in neat blocks. You are never only teaching. You are never only researching. You are never only marking. You are doing all of them, all the time, and never in equal measures that feel comfortable. As I noted yesterday, this is just my thoughts on this, and perhaps not even replicable to others in my HEI, my field or even in the same role.

My promise I make to myself often - I will sit down to work on a journal article … and within an hour I have answered emails from students, reviewed a draft chapter of a dissertation, met with a PhD student, rearranged a lecture, and checked three separate deadlines that all feel equally urgent.

Research, the thing that is supposed to define your career, slips into the edges of the day. Evenings. Weekends. The gaps between other responsibilities that are louder and harder to postpone. There is always the sense that you should be doing more of it, and never quite enough time to do it properly.

The Pressure to Keep Showing Up

It is not just about doing the work. It is about being seen to do it…….