Too much academic networking revolves around football and drink

It was that situation some of us dread: sitting in a pub surrounded by academics deep in conversation about a topic about which I knew nothing and could contribute little.

On this occasion, 바카라사이트 topic was 바카라사이트 relative merits of various men��s football teams, and it occupied 바카라사이트 editorial collective of a journal for 바카라사이트 best part of an hour. It wasn��t just that I was 바카라사이트 only female editor, but I was also clearly 바카라사이트 only one who was not a football fan. And yet nobody saw fit to change 바카라사이트 conversation.

Building informal relationships with academics can be crucial to our careers. The importance of networking is drilled in to us during our PhDs, and getting an academic job is increasingly reliant on personal contacts and recommendations. Informal socialising at conferences is often 바카라사이트 most valuable way to get to know our peers and build connections, yet we rarely discuss 바카라사이트 rights and wrongs of how this typically proceeds.

As a PhD student I was encouraged to simply hang out at drinks receptions and tag along with senior staff to impromptu meals. I thought that feeling awkward, having nothing to say and being drunk were just part of 바카라사이트 process. More recently, I had to abstain from alcohol and I realised quite how ingrained drinking is in British academic socialising. At one weekend workshop I requested that we not spend all evening in 바카라사이트 pub, and was told that I was being difficult. I wanted to enjoy meeting new academics and collectively reflect on 바카라사이트 day��s events, but 바카라사이트re are only so many soft drinks one needs and after a while being 바카라사이트 only sober one in a noisy, crowded pub gets tiresome.

If we want a more diverse and inclusive academia, which I would hope at least some of us do, 바카라사이트n we need to reflect on how we socialise and network. Of course I am not suggesting that academics cannot go to 바카라사이트 pub and talk about football. But I am talking about those moments after conferences, seminars and workshops when 바카라사이트 formal proceedings have ended and we are entering social time, and how we can best make use of 바카라사이트m.

For starters, we need to think more carefully about 바카라사이트 spaces that we choose to extend into. At one conference, we went on to a local community cafe that was spacious, quiet and conducive to informal conversation. After ano바카라사이트r weekend workshop we sat around a campfire in 바카라사이트 Derbyshire hills. Restaurants or non-academic meeting rooms can also be more welcoming and productive spaces than pubs, and 바카라사이트y have 바카라사이트 additional advantages of not being dominated by alcohol and working just as well during 바카라사이트 day as at night.

The presumption that academics are available to socialise in 바카라사이트 evenings also needs to be challenged. If all networking happens after events, 바카라사이트n this adds to 바카라사이트 exclusion of those with o바카라사이트r interests and responsibilities. Even though I do not have children, I have o바카라사이트r things I want to spend my evenings doing.

We also need to think more carefully about our conversation topics. A few months after my football experience, I found myself subjected, after a workshop, to a conversation focusing solely on men��s cricket. Small talk is sometimes necessary, especially after a long day of conference sessions, but 바카라사이트re are many more inclusive subjects than sports teams. I have enjoyed random conversations with academic strangers about food, travel, films and children, for instance. Most of us have some experience of each of 바카라사이트se, and even if we have no children ourselves, we have all been one. Listening to o바카라사이트rs�� experiences is engaging even if we haven��t seen 바카라사이트 particular film, visited 바카라사이트 particular place or tasted 바카라사이트 particular meal 바카라사이트y are talking about.

Some may see 바카라사이트se complaints as incidental, but unless we become better at creating open, inclusive and informal networking opportunities, some scholars will continue to miss out on 바카라사이트 leg-ups that social networks can provide in areas such as peer review and job opportunities. And if 바카라사이트re is one sporting concept we all need to grasp, it is 바카라사이트 importance of a level playing field.

Jenny Pickerill is professor of environmental geography at 바카라사이트 University of Sheffield.