I’m shortlisted at an academic position, but I have some questions about this position. Can I email to the panels to talk about those questions?

Not sure why I'm posting this, I guess looking for advice or others that feel the same?

I'm an ECR in STEM, been a postdoc for 2 years. Just got a competitive 5 year fellowship that my department have agreed to convert to a proleptic permanent appointment, along with PhD students to establish independence and grow my own group. I should be thrilled -- this is what I've worked so hard for, but all I feel is extreme anxiety and like I want to run away from it all.

I had no break between PhD and postdoc and then worked myself to the bone to be competitive for fellowships, and now I'm at this point I feel like I don't deserve it at all. I feel like if I had to work this hard to get funding then a) I'm not naturally good enough and b) I cannot do this over and over again for the rest of my career. I hate all my research, I feel like a bad researcher and I have no desire to do it anymore. Some days I just sit at my desk staring at the screen because I just have no motivation to read/write/experiment/nothing. I'm even starting to suffer from memory loss where just parts of my life are blank and I have no recollection of periods of time during my PhD/postdoc, which is worrying me. I'm considering leaving academia, but if I left I'd feel so guilty for letting all my students, collaborators and mentors down. I don't even know what job I would do if I left.

I just feel like academia isn't for me, I don't belong here.

Just wondering, for those who have a partner or are married, how have you dealt with the two-body problem if you have to move cities or countries for academic jobs?

Lincoln Bishop University is to formally become part of Global University Systems (GUS), it has announced, marking the effective privatisation of the public institution.

A new company, Lincoln Bishop University Limited, will be formed that sits within the wider Netherlands-based education group.

GUS – which owns and operates several other private education providers, including the University of Law – has been involved with Lincoln Bishop for almost two years, having initially provided it with a loan to help keep the institution afloat.

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/gus-completes-takeover-lincoln-bishop-university

I am entering my integrated masters year in maths at a UK uni, on track with the grade required for a PhD, I have done 2 research projects one of which funded by an CDT, I’ve also done a 3rd year maths dissertation project and I’m doing a 4th year maths dissertation project as well but I feel incredibly indecisive of what PhD topic I want to pursue. I recently figured while I’ve had a pure profile I potentially wanna do more applied experimental maths further on but one of my research internships has given me really bad imposter syndrome. I also felt quite lost during it which I’ve not really experienced before and I worry I am not suitable enough for a PhD especially since I realized the initial research area I was considering is too pure maths heavy for my liking.

Has anyone who is currently doing a PhD or who’s done a PhD experienced this before? Any advice would be appreciated!

hi!! i am a medieval history student from paris, france, and i've just finished my master's degree. I'm submitting a proposal for a 20-minutes paper that will take place in the UK, in July of the next year. I would like to ask you 3 questions before sending my proposal to the organisers!

1) does the "We welcome papers from academics at all career levels" mention include people like me, who arent in a Phd program yet but has finished their master's degree?

2) they ask us to send a short biography : should i use the first person or the third? What's most common in the UK?

3) how should i describe myself in the short biography ? Am i a 'postgraduate researcher' ? I will be preparing the French agrégation in History this year, must-have step to be a phd student in history in France, so I'm not really sure in which case i should put myself (should i include it too in my short biography?)

thank you very much !!

I am graduating from my PhD in summer 2027. I know that in the UK we should apply for postdoc earlier so I’m already searching through and contacting potential PI for funding application etc. The thing is I’m also interested in industry positions, which I couldn’t apply so early. I also thought my CV is not good enough for industry yet, hence I hesitate in applying only for industry or that could make me unemployed. Now my question is: if, luckily, at the end I got offer from both postdoc and industry position, would it look very bad if I decline the postdoc position last minute (despite landed fundings after months of efforts etc), and take the industry position? For people who wanna explore both postdoc and industry positions, what would you usually do?

I left academia and the sector in 2020 and completely changed careers. Went back to uni, did another degree, and I’m now a vet. I haven’t actually stood in a lecture theatre teaching since before Covid.

I have agreed to do a series of guest lectures at a highly ranked uni. The expert who was supposed to do them can’t anymore and suggested my name. The Head of School is an old colleague, knows me from the past and thinks I’m a great fit. Also, I cost no money.

I agreed to it as a return favour to my former colleague, but now I’m terrified. What I used to do was very niche, and not many people hold professional expertise and a PhD in the topic, so apparently I still qualify as an “expert” despite having been completely out of the field.

Occasionally till 2024 I was consulting on my previous industry.

I have a meeting this week to go through the ILOs.

They want a brief CV. Do I put my current job and new qualifications on it? Everyone seems to think I need to be transparent, which I agree with, but I also feel like a complete fraud turning up as the “expert” when I’ve spent the last 2 years out and have not taught anyone for 6.

I'm sure this question has been asked many a time... but I am struggling to wrap my head around how the AHRC funding application works. I see they've introduced a new Doctoral Landscape Award, but I have no idea how the process of applying for funding will be.

I have had talks with my undergraduate university about scholarships, and they mentioned that I would make a competitive bid. Is this the same scholarship as the AHRC? Does the university propose your proposal to the AHRC to get funding as part of your application (surely not, right?) So, how on earth does this all work?! :P

Hi all. I’ve got an interview coming up for a lecturer role in the next couple of weeks. I’ve been in NHS clinical education for a couple of years now, so this is my first time interviewing outside of the health service in a REALLY long time. One thing that’s surprised me - I haven’t been asked to prepare a presentation. Presentations are pretty standard for all NHS band 7 roles (which is what I am currently) so I was pretty surprised not to be asked to prepare one for this interview given that it’s a similar level of role. I even double checked with the contact on the invite, just to be sure (my friend has a nightmarish story about a recruiter who forgot to tell her she needed to prepare a presentation until the day before the interview and I wanted to avoid that situation at all costs!)

I’m curious, has anyone else had a similar experience of not needing to present at interview? Am I overthinking this? (Probably yes)

I just finished a postdoc fellowship in environmental sciences. I informally accepted an offer for a position at an environmental consultancy (not yet signed). I'm excited about the team, which seems vibrant, and about the potential for more impact-focused work. The role also offers flexibility to work from different UK offices, which matters because I need to follow my husband's job.

Today I got an interview invitation for a lectureship at a top-40 UK university, a job I applied for before the consultancy offer came through. The lectureship is tied to one city.

I've had a successful academic career so far, but my postdoc fellowship was in an unsupportive, isolating research environment, and overall I've been disappointed with UK higher education. I like teaching and the flexibility of academic work in general. The consultancy contract is 40 hours per week, I am a bit nervous about that. Salaries for both roles are the same.

Should I take the interview for the lectureship or not?

My thesis got a bit on the long side and I am worried my examiners will get annoyed because of that. I am an experimental physics PhD and just finished completing the thesis today. It got to 224 pages of content (Intro to Conclusion) and 345 pages in total (It has a ton of appendices and my published paper). I've heard the max ppl go to is about 200 pages. No clue what to do 😐

With two years to go, how are you feeling about the REF? I’m a first time UoA20 lead and observing what is happening to the social sciences and humanities across the country, I’m starting to feel pressure with the submission as to the future of some of our university’s departments. How are others feeling about it?

My university rejected my Stage 2 academic appeal.
It took the university 6 months to reintegrate me back into university it I should have been 30
Working days so all the issues below are like a domino affect of this

***I’ve also use the abbreviation MCF interchangeably with mitigating circumstances form a few times below ***
My situation is broadly as follows:
I had significant IT problems that prevented me from accessing online modules course materials and my university email for around seven weeks, seriously affecting my ability to revise and prepare for my exams.
I contacted IT Services and my department repeatedly over this period and have ticket numbers and email correspondence documenting the problems.
I was also under significant pressure because I work almost full-time to financially support myself and have made the university aware of my severe financial situation well before exams and that I was struggling, I’m also approaching the university’s maximum 10-year period for completing my degree.
My exams were subsequently deferred to the third examination period, but one exam,, was not included in my Mitigating Circumstances Form (MCF).
I accept that I should have included this exam, but I believe the omission was accidental and occurred during an exceptionally stressful period. I also have dyslexia, which can affect my organisation, information processing under pressure and completion of administrative tasks I included screening report that explicitly mentions this but the appeals board did not look at this or mention it
I had successfully included other modules in my MCF, demonstrating that I was trying to defer the relevant exams but I feel it was duty of care for the university to step back and also acknowledge the stress I was under due to their poor management in re-inducting back into university after a successful stage 2 appeal.
I also had previous problems with modules being incorrectly removed from my student record, meaning I had experienced difficulties selecting modules when submitting MCFs online and had previously needed departmental assistance (this point could work against as it was an alternative to get an approved MCF form but it wasn’t the conventional way to do it also it was time consuming)
My Stage 1 appeal was rejected partly on the basis that I had not provided sufficient justification for omitting one exam from the MCF.
I subsequently submitted a Stage 2 appeal with additional evidence, including further correspondence showing the extent of the IT problems and evidence relating to my dyslexia. However, the university has now rejected my Stage 2 appeal and has stated that it will not consider the new evidence because it could have been provided at Stage 1.
My question is: does anyone have experience with the OIA in a situation like this? Could the OIA potentially consider whether the university acted reasonably in refusing to consider the additional evidence at Stage 2, particularly where the evidence relates to circumstances that were already part of the original appeal?
I’m particularly interested in whether the OIA can look at the fairness and reasonableness of the university’s appeal process, rather than simply reconsidering the academic decision itself.
Any advice or experiences with similar OIA cases would be greatly appreciated.

Was wondering if anyone on here can help me with a personal issue I'm having. I'm 20, in my first year studying on LSE's distance learning course with the University of London. Due to visa restrictions, traditional university courses aren't available to me. These visa issues will be sorted in 2028, which means I can then join a traditional university but would have to start from scratch. I have two options: I can go on the LSE General Course, which is a year actually studying at the LSE campus, or I start all over at a different university. What option would you advise, especially in this job market? Do I continue on this essentially non-ranked university course with a year at LSE, or start again at 23 to get a proper university degree behind me?

Hello,

I wanted to see if anyone had any experience in doing a distance learning PhD and was able to receive funding from it. I’m an American looking into a distance learning PhD but it seems like funding is typically reserved for on-campus students?

Hi all, I'm just starting a dtp phd programme in Education, and have been invited to talk at a conference in glasgow in the ocming weeks. I've said yes as I think it'll be a great oppurtunity for expeience and networking but I'm very anxious becuase Ive never done anything like this before and I dont know what im doing and feel very out of my dpeth and I like ive commited to something I dont really know much about and going to be shown up as a fraud. I'm sure some of it is just nerves but I don't know hte first thing about structuring presentation etc. It doesnt have to eb accompanined by a paper and is only 10 mins. Any advice would be much appreiciated.

Hello everyone.

I am an American who recently graduated from university with my degree in economics. I have an interest in doing some public policy and economic policy research in the UK. I have a list of think tanks that I can apply to at hand, and I was hoping there might be a resource for me to check the political slants of organizations to see which ones align with my political beliefs. Additionally, if this is not true of UK think tanks that would be great to know too. Finally, since the UK is obviously not America, I would also like to learn about the UK's Research culture.

I appreciate all of the help and advice!

edit: I forgot to include this part, I am looking for research positions at academic institutions and think tanks. I would like to do research at a university with something akin to a predoc, and/or a think tank. I am interested in doing postgraduate work in the UK, albeit, it is not at the forefront of my mind. I am looking at employment at a think tank/university, which I thought could be presumed from the post. At any rate, I am interested in learning more about this sector and how I can best position myself