http://vitae.ac.uk/researchers/197201/Senior-researchers-and-the-Researchers-Survival-Guide.html Feed for Senior researchers and the Researchers' Survival Guide. en-gb http://vitae.ac.uk 24-Feb-2010 14:57:00 http://vitae.ac.uk/researchers/197201/Senior-researchers-and-the-Researchers-Survival-Guide.html Hi Sarah, A group of us have tried to lobby and campaign at a departmental level and I have also tried talking to my UCU rep to try to raise these issues to a national level. The anti-casualisation campaign is a great step forwards in terms of dealing with short-term contracts, but we also need a national campaign to change the perception of researchers as transient hired help. Ideally, our employers need to provide us with an equivalent career development route to that offered to academics and independently funded research fellows. We are currently offered transferable skills training courses etc to satisfy the Roberts agenda, but we are rarely given real career opportunities at our own institutions. The consequence of current funding squeezes is that few University departments can afford to grow their academic staff numbers. Restrictions on eligibility to apply for highly competitive fellowships (which appear biased towards favoured institutions/subjects), long turn-around times for decisions, restrictions on eligibility to apply for responsive mode grants etc., mean that in the UK -- career researchers face very tough challenges just retaining their jobs. http://vitae.ac.uk/researchers/197201/Senior-researchers-and-the-Researchers-Survival-Guide.html http://vitae.ac.uk/researchers/197201/Senior-researchers-and-the-Researchers-Survival-Guide.html Mashhuda, these are really key points and I think your final two paragraphs really highlight the challenges of having a viable research career. These are big issues which, to me, need to be tackled at the top - ie at the level of overarching university and research council policy. Time for a campaigning and lobbying body that will act at this level? http://vitae.ac.uk/researchers/197201/Senior-researchers-and-the-Researchers-Survival-Guide.html