Coping with casualisation

SUCU Lunchtime workshop: How do researchers and other casualised academics suffer from insecure contracts, and how do we cope with it?

Wed May 7, 1-2pm
TV Lounge, Octagon Centre, Western Bank S10 2TQ.

May 7 is National UCU Anti-casualisation Day and to mark it we are inviting all Sheffield researchers and other casualised academics to bring their lunch and their friends to discuss how casualisation has affected them and how they handle it.

Most of us got into academia on unrealistic expectations of career progression and teaching jobs, but the reality now is that most (5/6) of us will work on a series of casualised contracts well into our 40s, and often our 50s and beyond. Despite this, research is now big, well-funded business (200M/year at Sheffield) and has become a lifetime career for many of us.

How does casualisation affect your family life and productivity? Are you planning to stay “mobile”, and delay or avoid having children? Does this risk destroying your marriage or relationships with your kids, and are you concerned about the increased risks of health problems that are sometimes associated with delayed parenthood? Will your partner follow you around? Does regular redundancy make it harder to concentrate at work? How do we manage to collaborate with our colleagues when we know that we will be competing with them to get on the next grant? Or do you relish the idea of constant change and new places in your career, and want to share your tips on how to thrive as a casualised academic?

Please come along to discuss all this and more. Non-members welcome.