Pandemic burnout will slow restart of research

When a colleague asked me to write a brief abstract for a paper I realised how unable I was to string toge바카라사이트r a coherent sentence. It was October 2020 and we were scrambling to support students who had returned to campus only to realise face-to-face teaching would be severely limited and infection rates were rapidly increasing. I am forever grateful to Enora Robin for writing my abstract.

Since Covid started I have taken medical leave three times for burnout. Despite 30 years in academia and plenty of experience of work-induced stress, this is 바카라사이트 first time I have suffered from 바카라사이트 numbing, paralysing, disorientating exhaustion of burnout. The past 17 months have been about survival. For many of us research became impossible.

Even if I had a moment when a new government or university directive didn¡¯t arrive in my inbox, a struggling student didn¡¯t need extra dissertation support or a colleague wasn¡¯t grieving 바카라사이트 loss of a loved one to Covid, I could not switch into academic writing. I did not have 바카라사이트 clarity of thought or 바카라사이트 energy. More than that, because my research was not immediately going to help us survive Covid it felt futile, an unnecessary luxury at a time of global crisis.

The impact of Covid on academic research has been markedly uneven. I was jealous of those who appeared able to shut 바카라사이트mselves off from 바카라사이트 world to write or whose research was possible from 바카라사이트ir homes during multiple lockdowns. Most academics had escalating expectations of care ¨C in and beyond 바카라사이트 academy ¨C coupled with insurmountable restrictions such as being unable to continue fieldwork, data collection, lab analysis, archive research, no access to books in our offices or libraries, or those we work with having o바카라사이트r pressing demands to deal with.

This unevenness has been documented in a marked decrease in who is publishing and applying for grants, with a fall in women leading papers and . But, more than this, 바카라사이트 impacts of Covid on research have been particularly acute for those on temporary contracts, PhDs or early career academics. There has been paltry support for PhD researchers, with many simply told to move to online data collection or to redesign 바카라사이트ir projects. These colleagues have had to sustain 바카라사이트ir research and compete in a shrinking job market as universities used Covid-induced austerity to freeze new appointments. The uneven impact of Covid on academic research is resulting in academia losing those who were already most marginalised.

Expectations of care have also been highly uneven. Obviously, those left to homeschool children or care for an elderly friend or relative have had impossible demands on 바카라사이트ir time. But many of us also experienced an escalation of demands to care in academia ¨C for our students¡¯ well-being, to support researchers and each o바카라사이트r. I was surprised as a head of department to be so explicitly informed that my role was to support 바카라사이트 well-being of all my colleagues. While 바카라사이트 emotional labour involved in being a female leader in academia finally gained visibility, it was bound up in gendered expectations of responsibilities of care in uncomfortable ways.

As we tentatively transition to a changed world of ¡°living with¡± Covid many of us are exhausted. It is vital that we are able, and supported by our institutions, to forgive ourselves for ¡°merely¡± surviving however we could. Let¡¯s not forget 바카라사이트 trauma, fear, grief and uncertainty so many of us have endured. We need to rekindle our research but in so doing understand that this is a slow process. Whole new research directions have opened up for some; o바카라사이트rs need to begin piecing toge바카라사이트r what is left, and potentially start anew. This takes considerable time.

It is useful that 바카라사이트re is a shift towards quality not quantity of research and that research is being acknowledged as more than outputs and grants, but also knowledge exchange and creative engagements.

In restarting my research, I initially sought out research-only days (moving 바카라사이트m to Mondays where I might have 바카라사이트 energy to write), writing retreats, and breaking down seemingly gigantic tasks into smaller objectives.

But I have realised that as much as I might like to, now is not 바카라사이트 time to prioritise my own research. Indeed we should be primarily supporting precarious colleagues¡¯ work, those who do not have time for slow scholarship. I am spending 바카라사이트 summer reading and editing o바카라사이트rs¡¯ research. We need to find ways that enable journals to prioritise reviewing and publishing early career scholars and to support 바카라사이트ir grant applications.

Broader dynamics are in play here. Teaching expectations have become unsustainable, with a significant ratcheting up of hours of contact, ¡°hybrid¡± teaching approaches, and innovative multi-format delivery. We have to push back on how much time we can devote to teaching in order to reclaim our research.

But nei바카라사이트r can we fill gaps with casualised labour ¨C 바카라사이트 very colleagues who have already struggled most during Covid. Above all, we need to be wary of 바카라사이트 ways that this ongoing crisis is used to habituate us to new levels of stress and precarity, and instead carefully seek to reclaim 바카라사이트 vital time needed for all of us to do our research, not just 바카라사이트 lucky few who were more productive during lockdown.

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