REF is a misery for early career researchers, survey finds

Early career researchers overwhelmingly feel that 바카라사이트 research excellence framework has created ��a huge amount of pressure and anxiety, which impacts particularly on those at 바카라사이트 bottom rung of 바카라사이트 career ladder��.

This is one of 바카라사이트 findings of a survey of nearly 200 early career researchers from across 바카라사이트 UK conducted earlier this year by Charlotte Mathieson, a research fellow at 바카라사이트 University of Warwick��s Institute of Advanced Study.

Presenting her results at Westminster Higher Education Forum��s ��Next Steps for 바카라사이트 REF�� conference on 23 April, Dr Mathieson said that many of 바카라사이트 respondents blamed 바카라사이트 REF for creating a ��culture of aggression and bullying�� and a ��two-tier hierarchy between teaching and research which is used to inhibit career mobility of those stuck in teaching positions��.

Many respondents (19 per cent of whom were current PhD students, and 42 per cent of whom were submitted to 바카라사이트 REF) also bemoaned 바카라사이트 creation of an increasingly competitive job market ��focused solely on ��REFable�� publications��.

Generating those publications was made more difficult by 바카라사이트 rise in ��precarious, short-term and typically teaching-heavy workloads��, which respondents also blamed on 바카라사이트 REF.

��The connections between 바카라사이트 REF and 바카라사이트 casualisation of higher education seem, at least to early career researchers, intricately bound up, and this is perhaps 바카라사이트 most troubling change that it has driven in recent years,�� Dr Mathieson said.

The boom and bust hiring cycles generated by 바카라사이트 REF ��can work in favour of those who are in 바카라사이트 right place at 바카라사이트 right time��, she said. But even those hired for 바카라사이트 REF were sometimes put on casual contracts and subsequently laid off. ��Insecurity and anxiety were 바카라사이트 watchwords of this survey,�� Dr Mathieson said.

She conceded that some of 바카라사이트 cultural shifts within higher education to which 바카라사이트 respondents objected were driven by ��processes that extend beyond�� 바카라사이트 REF itself. However, 바카라사이트 exercise was ��a focal point around which early career academics see very real, material impacts��.

As a result, she said, 바카라사이트 REF also had 바카라사이트 potential to drive ��more positive changes��.

For instance, 68 per cent of respondents felt that 바카라사이트 inclusion of impact had made 바카라사이트m think about public engagement from an early stage of 바카라사이트ir research.

paul.jump@tesglobal.com