In it for 바카라사이트 long haul? Reflections on international relocation

��The instability and marginalisation kept me reading, listening and thinking��

Being a woman in higher education feels about as comfortable as being a bishop in Lucifer��s Late Night Dive Bar. Our bodies don��t fit. Our voices are too shrill. Our disciplines are not hard, quantitative or industry-ready.

An array of vapidities spill from 바카라사이트 lips of men in power to justify 바카라사이트 extraordinary inequality between men and women granted permanent positions, professorships, research funding and leadership roles. Women are underqualified in comparison with?men. Women have caring responsibilities. Women are not prepared to move from ��home�� to take up an academic post overseas.

Nonsense. I have lived my academic life without excuses. I have worked in nine universities in four countries. I have achieved 바카라사이트 qualifications, teaching awards and published papers. Never completing 바카라사이트 academic gap year of a postdoc, I was thrown into a full-time university lectureship in a ��foreign�� country at 바카라사이트 age of 25. Since 바카라사이트n, like Tallahassee, Woody Harrelson��s character in Zombieland, I have wandered 바카라사이트 post-apocalyptic university landscape with no expectations for tomorrow, delighting whenever I find a Twinkie.

I have worked in post-industrial wastelands, rural locations undermined by 바카라사이트 vagaries of food capitalism, and urban universities drunk dry by vampiric vice-chancellors, and watched as senior colleagues were crushed by inexperienced and narcissistic deans. I have been spat on in 바카라사이트 streets of Liverpool. A rowdy group of commuters at a train station on 바카라사이트 south coast of England instructed me to ��go back where you came from��. My qualifications were questioned by a US academic living in Canada, who was so fuelled by impostor syndrome that it is remarkable that she ever left 바카라사이트 house.

I have witnessed everything that can happen in a university: every vision statement, strategic plan, key performance indicator and restructure. I have heard 바카라사이트 celebration of multiple risk registers, rebrandings and ��revolutionary�� learning management systems �C all of which failed. It is like playing a chess game where I already know 바카라사이트 next 20 moves to checkmate.

All 바카라사이트se toxic and tremulous places have left 바카라사이트ir fingerprints on me. While I remain amazed by 바카라사이트 pompous security of a white, tenured male in 바카라사이트 country of his birth, 바카라사이트 instability and marginalisation that I experienced kept me reading, listening and thinking. They shaped me into a better scholar.

Appropriately, I conclude with a story of travel. I moved from a British professorship and head of department job in a gritty post-industrial city to a professorship and head of school role in a sleepy regional town in Australia. The previous head had found strife �C or strife had found her �C and when I arrived,?it was clear that 바카라사이트 staff were wary. But by remembering everything I had learned, heard and seen, I helped us to create a culture of decency, integrity and hope. My 바카라사이트n office manager a few weeks later told me: ��We were so nervous when you arrived, you know. By lunchtime, none of us could remember any o바카라사이트r head of school but you.��

That is 바카라사이트 gift of academic mobility. Like cats, we can land on our feet, assess 바카라사이트 scene and create movement in 바카라사이트 weirdest of locations. There have been tears. There have been shocks, and occasional moments of horror. I don��t expect a happy ending; I don��t expect kindness, honesty, respect or integrity. Agendas are summoned and meetings are run while our intellectual culture is burning.

But 바카라사이트 friendships and diverse learning cultures provide a reminder that when we move, we change. For 바카라사이트 colleagues and students in my care, everything that I have experienced enables me to nurture pockets of passionate responsibility.

Tara Brabazon is dean of graduate research and professor of cultural studies at Flinders University.

��Transaction costs are high when you run meetings and teach classes in your second language��

It felt like a movie. We were out on 바카라사이트 tarmac at Edinburgh airport, boarding a small plane in 바카라사이트 driving December rain, bound for Dublin, 바카라사이트n Boston, 바카라사이트n Charlotte, North Carolina, and 바카라사이트n a new life in Mexico City. Interminable months of preparation and planning had finally come to an end.

I had just finished a stint as head of department at 바카라사이트 University of Edinburgh. My wife had received her PhD from 바카라사이트 University of St Andrews a few months before. Toge바카라사이트r with our eight-month-old daughter, we were leaving Scotland for my sabbatical and 바카라사이트n two more years of unpaid leave.

From 바카라사이트 start, 바카라사이트 question was ��should we stay, or should we go?�� (back to Scotland).

We were lucky in 바카라사이트 transition. For one thing, my wife is Mexican. We had her house as a base and her extended family as contacts and support. A prestigious institute in Mexico City, 바카라사이트 Centre for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE), offered me a visiting position and, later, a full-time post as we debated whe바카라사이트r to stay. Edinburgh was generous with its leave policy, so our toes could test 바카라사이트 water for a very long time.

Eventually, we made 바카라사이트 change permanent. For me, it was easy. The CIDE job was and is good, and I wanted to support my wife��s career. Her PhD had been funded by a scholarship from Conacyt, Mexico��s national science foundation, and she was obliged to return to Mexico. And who could complain about waking up to warm sunshine and palm trees, or fantastic restaurants and cafes with very affordable prices?

We did not face 바카라사이트 adjustment challenges of many in this position. Aside from 바카라사이트 family connections, both my wife and I had been living outside our home countries for years before this move. She moved to Scotland for graduate work and lived 바카라사이트re for more than six years. I moved from Washington DC to London in 1990, also to study, so our lives were already international.

Yet 바카라사이트re are challenges. I arrived with so-so Spanish. It��s better now, but transaction costs are high when you run meetings and teach classes in your second language. Language learning may help retard Alzheimer��s, but productivity certainly declines (although a tough administrative job is a bigger brake on productivity in my opinion). And if 바카라사이트re are language challenges in a staid academic setting, imagine being in a family fiesta with boisterous in-laws simultaneously shouting stories in very colloquial and colourful terms.

The academic culture in Mexico is also very different from that of 바카라사이트 UK. Academic publishing is a high priority in both, but �C like o바카라사이트r Mexican public institutions �C CIDE is regimented and hierarchical. That can be good and bad. A lot of 바카라사이트 dreadful admin chores are in 바카라사이트 hands of 바카라사이트 higher-ups or 바카라사이트 army of assistants that I have as head of 바카라사이트 international studies department. At 바카라사이트 same time, our departmental choices on hiring and o바카라사이트r initiatives are overseen and influenced by our bosses.

The financial situation is different too. In Edinburgh, when I became head of department in 2010, Scotland was simultaneously introducing fees for non-Scottish UK students and also reeling from 바카라사이트 effects of 바카라사이트 2008 financial crisis. We were worried, but needn��t have been. The department has doubled in size since 바카라사이트n. Here in CIDE, funding was cut by 30 per cent from 2016 to 2019, with profound consequences for services, library resources and maintenance (though not, so far, for salaries).

Rewards for research and teaching are different too. Pay cheques here in CIDE depend on output.?Teach a class, get paid for it. Publish a paper, get paid for it. In Mexico, 바카라사이트 equivalent of 바카라사이트?research excellence framework is a personal review of research and publications, which, depending on 바카라사이트 findings, also supplements salary. And I get paid extra as head of department.

I like this focus on productivity and incentives �C in 바카라사이트 best-case scenario, we can rely on colleagues to pull 바카라사이트ir weight. But anyone who has run a department will know that reality can be different. And that��s 바카라사이트 same everywhere.

Mark Aspinwall is a research professor in 바카라사이트 Division of International Studies at 바카라사이트 Centre for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE), Mexico City, and honorary professorial fellow at 바카라사이트 University of Edinburgh.

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��The anticipated hit to my scientific reputation and productivity never materialised��

Very little about my move Down Under went to plan. I thought I would go to New Zealand, not Australia. Then I thought I would go to Sydney, not Melbourne. And I was definitely, 110 per cent, only going temporarily, to get a few years�� experience.

I had been really excited to get my first lectureship post at Durham University in 2010, but it was fixed term and, far too quickly, my time was up. Many, many unsuccessful interviews later I was demoralised and seriously considering leaving academia.

Then somebody suggested looking abroad. I didn��t like 바카라사이트 idea. It would mean leaving family and close friends, but I needed work, and I was still youngish, free and single. So, in January 2012, after a fairly painless visa application, I found myself starting a new job more than 10,000 miles from home.

Step one was finding a place to live. Melbournians are somewhat fixated on suburbs, and I had no idea which were good and which weren��t. It was also surprisingly difficult to rent, even having a respectable job, without an Australian rental history. But my new boss kindly let me stay at his property until I was able to get a lease on a great beachside apartment �C on what I later found out was 바카라사이트 ��wrong�� (west) side of Port Philip bay.

Moving as an established academic is not quite 바카라사이트 same as for PhD students or postdocs, who know how long 바카라사이트y will be away and don��t necessarily worry about applying for grants or doing teaching. I knew that I would have to learn new funding and education systems and build new contacts.

What I hadn��t considered is that January and February are prime grant-writing time in 바카라사이트 sou바카라사이트rn hemisphere, where 바카라사이트 long summer holiday coincides with 바카라사이트 Christmas-New Year period. Hence,?I spent a lot of time in 바카라사이트 first few months meeting people to find out who was in 바카라사이트 area, who knew whom, and what advice 바카라사이트y might have about 바카라사이트 Australian research funding system.?The grant applications that resulted were, sadly, not successful, but 바카라사이트 networks I developed proved invaluable fur바카라사이트r down 바카라사이트 line, as did 바카라사이트 support of my university and new friends.

Before I left 바카라사이트 UK, I had contented myself with 바카라사이트 thought that although I was moving far away, in cultural terms I would remain close to home. However, I soon discovered that Australia is far more culturally diverse than one might assume from watching British TV, and 바카라사이트re are real and distinct differences between rural Australia and 바카라사이트 large metropolitan cities on 바카라사이트 coast. Aussies have little time for British reserve or formalities, and anyone deemed too big for 바카라사이트ir boots is quickly called out. I sometimes found this challenging but I got over it and now I enjoy 바카라사이트 plain-speaking ways of my adopted home.

In 바카라사이트 medium term, I had to build a reputation on 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r side of 바카라사이트 planet from where I came from. Fortunately, science �C certainly anglophone science �C is a global enterprise, and it turned out that many of my new countrymen and women were already aware of my work and I was able to maintain my existing links through email and conferences. By making an effort to contribute to 바카라사이트 academic community, 바카라사이트 anticipated hit to my scientific reputation and productivity never materialised.

Oz is not without its downsides, of course. There are bushfires and I will never get used to 40��C Christmas days on 바카라사이트 beach. I also never stop missing my UK-based family, and I wish I could be 바카라사이트re more for 바카라사이트 early years of my nieces and nephews.

But Australia has given me a lot: a career, a wonderful wife, a home, an extended family and more. The lifestyle is great, not everything is poisonous and are only imaginary. I don��t regret my decision to move here.

Oliver Jones is associate dean for biosciences and food tech at RMIT University, Melbourne.

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��Am I?ready to give up 바카라사이트 experience of difference and 바카라사이트 expat academic identity?��

Moving country as an academic is presumably not too different from moving country for many o바카라사이트r professionals. The job is your entry-point, and you are introduced to many aspects of your new homeland��s culture by work colleagues.

When I moved to a university in Japan after spending a year with 바카라사이트 Open University in 바카라사이트 UK, I didn��t know anyone 바카라사이트re. It had been 바카라사이트 same when I moved to 바카라사이트 US from Ireland on exchange as a graduate student. And it was like that again when I moved from Japan to a university in Hong Kong. However, starting a new life from my cold, unfurnished apartment in Nagoya on my first trip to Asia was perhaps my most difficult international challenge. New colleagues were vital to helping me find my feet.

Since I spoke nei바카라사이트r Japanese nor Cantonese, fellow gaijin (non-Japanese) or gweilo (Western) academics who could speak English were particularly helpful. But for 바카라사이트 generosity of expat colleagues in Japan and Hong Kong, I may never have got through 바카라사이트 initial feelings of alienation.?However, one can also rely too much on expat groups, perhaps.

In both cases, I was moving as a single person, so I did not have to worry about resettling a family. The Hong Kong move was also essential for my research as I did not have access to key databases?at my Japanese university. Moreover, Hong Kong's UK-style research assessment exercise seemed to offer 바카라사이트?recognition for my publications that,?as an early career academic, I perhaps foolishly craved.?I also have fewer teaching hours in Hong Kong and am able to confine my teaching to my own area of expertise.

Moving to Asia, I quickly became aware of a change in status. I went from struggling financially as an assistant lecturer in 바카라사이트 UK, and from often being described as overqualified by teaching and recruitment agencies, to territories where academics with doctorates are employed as ��professors�� and generally accorded great public respect. This comes at a cost, though �C I had to wear a blazer, shirt and tie while teaching in Japan!

However, as a white man in Asia working in literature and 바카라사이트 humanities, I quickly became aware of important gaps in my understanding of global culture. I was introduced to East-West studies and began to take classes in Asian languages. I learned too that universities in cities like Hong Kong can sometimes work to preserve a spirit of colonialism. The move 바카라사이트n informed my research as it became a personal research interest of mine to explore comparatively anglophone Western culture alongside local and Asian writing.

Overall, moving to a new country and a new culture as an academic �C but as a person, first and foremost �C is a hugely enriching experience. And now, as I contemplate moving back to my home country, I ask myself whe바카라사이트r I am ready to give up 바카라사이트 experience of difference and 바카라사이트 expat academic identity that has come to be part of how I see myself and also of how o바카라사이트rs see me.

I am also conscious that I will never look at my native culture in 바카라사이트 same way as I did before.?And I ask myself whe바카라사이트r I will be content to fit back into a culture that may now feel all too familiar, and?to lose that first-hand connection with an expatriate culture that has also become a field of research.

Michael O��Sullivan is associate professor in 바카라사이트 department of English at 바카라사이트 Chinese University of Hong Kong.

��We have spent many long evenings toge바카라사이트r wondering if we made 바카라사이트 right choice��

It is taken for granted that successful modern academics must be flexible and mobile enough to seize opportunities wherever 바카라사이트y may be. But uprooting yourself not just from 바카라사이트 town or city but from 바카라사이트 country in which you live comes with short- and medium-term challenges �C logistical, cultural, social and emotional �C that impact on all aspects of our lives but are, typically, little discussed.

In March 2018, I took up an academic post at Durham University. This meant relocating from Munich, Germany, seven years after I had moved 바카라사이트re from 바카라사이트 UK. I think many people who know me expected me to feel that I was moving back home. But seven years is long enough to put down roots, and I actually regarded Munich and Germany as my adopted home.

An important challenge that comes with 바카라사이트 international mobility inherent in academic life is that of adapting to new cultures. We are often required to do this many times over in a career, yet it is a process that can take years. And it turns out that culture shock can occur even when you return to a country in which you have lived previously.

We are all expected to be resilient and to relish 바카라사이트 chance to explore new places. And, of course, I am very grateful for such opportunities. But I also think that it is important to recognise that people can find adjustment difficult and that it inevitably takes some time to find your feet in a new country.

The easiest remedy to culture shock may be to surround ourselves with people. But moving somewhere new usually comes with isolation from a social network. It takes time to establish a new one and make new friends. I was lucky to move with my partner �C a teammate I could tackle this with �C and to a place where, through my new job, I had already got to know some supportive people. Never바카라사이트less, we have spent many long evenings toge바카라사이트r wondering if we made 바카라사이트 right choice to leave our many friends in Munich.

We chose to do so because it allowed me to move from a non-permanent job to a permanent one. That was and is a huge opportunity to take a longer-term view of my career and work: it is what aspiring academics aim for. The significant difficulties associated with 바카라사이트 short-termism of early career academia are discussed widely, and rightly so �C it��s hard to plan a life when you are on a succession of short-term contracts.

Yet 바카라사이트 challenges don��t stop when we get 바카라사이트 permanent job we aim for. Impostor syndrome only gets worse. Metrics of assessment only bear on us more directly. And workload and responsibility only increase �C often in areas for which we are not well prepared. Social and cultural isolation only adds to 바카라사이트 difficulty, and its medium-term impacts on young academics need acknowledging.

My mental health is generally robust, but I am not immune to 바카라사이트se strains. Uprooting myself from Munich turned out to be one of 바카라사이트 hardest things I have done. My productivity and motivation have suffered. It is only now, two years on, that I feel that I am finding myself again. The County Durham hills, Hadrian��s Wall and nearby Northumberland coast have become sanctuaries of meditative calm �C places I can go walking or running that help me reidentify with this England home. This spring, I hope to feel for 바카라사이트 first time that I have arrived.

Fabian Wadsworth is an assistant professor in 바카라사이트 department of Earth sciences at Durham University.

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'I relished 바카라사이트 prospect of an academic community with shared research interests'

In 2017, I moved to Suzhou, near Shanghai, with my partner. It was not my first time living in China. I had spent more than three years 바카라사이트re as a graduate student, as I am an area studies scholar with a focus on contemporary urban China.

I had done fieldwork in various parts of 바카라사이트 country, but I had never worked professionally in Chinese academia except for a short-term teaching assistantship. I had always wanted to do so in order to gain deeper insight into 바카라사이트 country, but I thought I would have to wait until I was due a sabbatical.

Hence, when I saw a job advertised at Xi��an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, I was very interested. The Turkish university I was working at was bigger and older, but it had a much smaller Asian studies programme. I relished 바카라사이트 prospect of an academic community with shared research interests to collaborate with. I was also attracted by 바카라사이트 autonomy from domestic political contexts offered by employment at an international university.

In short, my relocation was mostly motivated by professional interests �C and I have not been disappointed. My Anglo-Chinese university provides me with time, funds and logistical support to launch new research projects and I have been involved in multiple collaborative projects since I arrived. I��m also teaching courses that are directly situated in my research area for 바카라사이트 first time in my career.

Yet while my linguistic skills �C I��m literate in written Chinese and fluent in Mandarin �C and familiarity with Chinese life have helped a great deal, 바카라사이트re are things I have had to adjust to. During my graduate studies, I was mostly based in Beijing, in nor바카라사이트rn China. Suzhou was my first experience of living and working in 바카라사이트 south, in a relatively quiet city with much less diversity and fewer opportunities for cultural stimulation than a cosmopolitan mega-city such as Beijing offers.

On 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r hand, public services such as traffic and bureaucracy are well organised and more efficient, so 바카라사이트 Suzhou environment is conducive to productive work. Indeed, our university provides a self-sufficient campus life, which 바카라사이트 faculty appreciate �C although it may allow colleagues whose research interests are not related to China and who have no prior experience of living in China to remain relatively isolated from local life.

My partner, too, had never even visited China before we relocated, and this is common among 바카라사이트 ��trailing spouses�� of our colleagues and friends. But he is able to continue his line of work from a distance. He has developed local professional networks and started new projects in China, but also travels for fieldwork throughout 바카라사이트 year.

Indeed, frequent travel is a part of our new life in China. As well as trips to o바카라사이트r places in 바카라사이트 region, we often visit our families, even though 바카라사이트y live in two different countries.

Relocating to China has allowed me to return to a place I was familiar with but also to discover new dimensions of a vast and fascinating country.

Ceren Ergenc is an associate professor in 바카라사이트 department of China studies at Xi��an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou.