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Don’t listen to the naysayers! If you can’t find a path, make your own, and ask others for support

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Measure everything. When you do something get feedback.

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I am a final year PhD student, looking to be a lecturer and a research group lead in consumer goods Chemistry/Physics. What is the best route to gain and balance postdocs and lectureships?

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Don't start off paralysed at tryingym to write a big, scary, indivisible formal education paper. Pick a cool idea from out there. Tell people about it. Blog, poster, present at a department teaching forum!

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Make a plan for your career, appreciating that it’ll change but having a plan gives you direction. Carve out time for your development and to work on your plan, you will have to sacrifice other tasks but you have to appreciate you can never do everything anyway.

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Everyone’s career is unique. Don’t spend too long worrying about whether your experience fits the criteria. Just make an impactful story from all the things you have done.

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Expose and undermine the false educational promises of GenAI

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Apply for promotion

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Be brave, sometimes it feels like those doors on Takeshi's castle but there might be more easily breakable barriers than you think.

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Be brave, sometimes it feels like those doors on Takeshi's castle but there might be more easily breakable barriers than you think.

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How do you best persuade those in university leadership to change or modify promotions criteria for academics on E tracks e.g. we want them to differentiate reference criteria for E vs ER

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Get involved in as many projects and opportunities as you can. It will help you identify your area of expertise and scholarship

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Make small improvements wherever you can 

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Make small improvements wherever you can 

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Little changes can really make things better for students. Make enough minor changes and these add up to huge improvements.

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Making sure we deliver the best teaching we can

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Keep coming to VICEPHEC and other similar meetings 

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Keep coming to VICEPHEC and other similar meetings 

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Take better care of myself this academic year. I'm not a good educator if I crash and burn.

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The ideas will benefit, the reach can be larger, and the work shared

And working with others can be fun ☺️

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Look at what I need for the next step and make a plan to fill in the gaps

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And take time to celebrate your highlights each year

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How can we convince colleagues in our own department that the work we do is worthwhile? 

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How can we convince colleagues in our own department that the work we do is worthwhile? 

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Seeing many of the same issues being tacked across the sector though VICEPHEC is really reassuring, and gives more confidence we are trying to make changes with good reason. However this is often in the face of vocal colleagues seeing teaching roles to just be there to teach without innovation, and that changes may be seen as pandering to students, unnecessary work, and similar. How have others managed to get colleagues to change their outlook?

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And some more writing.

I’ve run the experiment (with repeats) and no, the papers haven’t written themselves.

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Finding Your Academic Identity Can Be Hard (And That’s Okay)

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Finding Your Academic Identity Can Be Hard (And That’s Okay)

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It’s true when others say there really is no normal, and we’re just another flavour of that.

Yes, navigating UK academia after a STEM DBER PhD can feel somewhat untrodden, and the questions of “Am I a Scientist? Am I an Educationalist? Am I an Anything?!” might sometimes swirl. But, just as you’ve done before, you’ll figure it out.

Don’t give up on what you want, tell as many people you as you can, and remember those who’ve been (and continue to be) the “others who teach” are our greatest allies and friends.

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Find a mentor that aligns with what you're trying to achieve, ask them lots of questions, and action their advice!

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How do you keep the energy up to keep going, keep fighting for whats right for students, while still teaching and managing increasing responsibilities? After ~15 years it feels exhausting, especially after everything during pandemic which increased stress and workload. Any advice?

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We're always being pushed to aspire and go higher. This is perhaps a naive question but... Is it worth it? Are there any hidden downsides to becoming a professor?

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Trust yourself and find people you can trust. Be ethical and be true to your values. Question your motives and privileges, and respect boundaries others set when you seek their time/effort, especially if they are minoritised in some way

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Figure out why you chose this path and what is truly important to you. It will help you make the hard decisions when they come and help say no to things and focus your time when you need to.