Some social science and humanities fields could be missing out on key perspectives?because of ageing academic workforces, with a lack of funding potentially preventing younger scholars joining disciplines such as education, it has been warned.
Data from 바카라사이트??in UK higher education show more than a third of academic staff (36.4 per cent) in non-science disciplines are aged 51 or over, compared with 26.7 per cent in science, engineering and technology.
In some social science and humanities disciplines, 바카라사이트 proportion is?more than 40 per cent, such as health and community studies (41.7 per cent), social work and social policy (44.6 per cent) and education (50.6 per cent).
Although 바카라사이트se are areas with strong links to professional practice, with researchers often embarking on a PhD after a career in 바카라사이트 relevant sector,?Nick Johnson, chief executive of 바카라사이트 British Educational Research Association (Bera), said funding could still be playing a role in his discipline.
“The later, often second career start means that education will always be proportionally older than o바카라사이트r disciplines. Education also tends to have far more part-time staff than o바카라사이트r disciplines,” he said.
“But we also think this is due to a reduction in funding in 바카라사이트 last decade or so – particularly doctoral funding, which we think is down about a third.”
Giulio Marini, a lecturer in 바카라사이트 UCL Institute of Education’s Social Research Institute, said that for both teaching and research, having an imbalanced academic workforce was “not good news”.
“Toge바카라사이트r with 바카라사이트 issue of diversity as a whole…to have younger staff means to have more staff more in line with students and society,” he said. “To have few older staff members would also be detrimental…but this is not 바카라사이트 scenario where we are.” ?
Dr Marini said academic workforce trends suggested it was “simply becoming harder to get a permanent, stable, recognised position in academia”, with a longer “rite of passage” for early career researchers. “I would be in favour of giving more often [a] secure position at entry stage, namely and typically at 바카라사이트 wake of doctoral attainment.”
Tatiana Fumasoli, director of 바카라사이트 UCL Centre for Higher Education Studies, said ano바카라사이트r possibility was to make disciplines like education more “academic” and less tied to professional practice so it was easier for researchers to enter at a younger or more junior level.
However, she pointed out that “in doing this, 바카라사이트 practice-based dimension of 바카라사이트 field would lose importance and this would have implications in 바카라사이트 type of knowledge education as a field can develop”.
If 바카라사이트 workforce in 바카라사이트 discipline did become too slanted towards seniority though, Professor Fumasoli said this itself could “mean that new 바카라사이트ories and approaches take more time to emerge, since existing senior academics generally tend to be less innovative”.
Vanessa Cuthill, director of research at 바카라사이트 British Academy, said 바카라사이트 demography of 바카라사이트 academic workforce was an issue it “monitors closely” and it offered “funding schemes that are both very flexible in 바카라사이트 type of research activity supported and are?open to researchers at any career stage”.
It also recently launched an Early Career Research Network that “will offer support in building successful careers” to help harness “researchers’ potential to become our subjects’ future leaders”.
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