Changing Academic Life

Following the conversation with Dr Karen Stroobants on the EU CoARA agreement, I discuss some other top-down initiatives at international and national levels for reforming research assessment. I also share some of my own bottom-up experiences trying to put these principles to work eg in writing references and being part of evaluation panels. It is also my hope that these actions can also have some middle-out influence.

Overview [41:33 mins] - full transcript available:

[00:00:29] Episode introduction

[00:02:10] The 10 Commitments of CoARA

[00:05:02] Other international initiatives

[00:10:34] Netherlands as example of national initiatives

[00:17:20] Some of my 'bottom up' examples

[00:34:18] Middle out strategies

[00:38:35] Wrapping up

Related links:

CoARA: Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment and CoARA Commitments

LERU: League of European Research Universities 

LERU Publication: A Pathway towards Multidimensional Academic Careers 2022

DORA: San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment 2013

Leiden Manifesto for Research Metrics 2015 

The Metric Tide: Review of metrics in research assessment 

Strategy Evaluation Protocol 2021-2027 

Room for Everyone’s Talent 

Related podcasts:

Karen Stroobants on changing research culture and reforming research assessment

Sarah Davies: Part 1 on mobility, precarity and notions of excellence  and part 2 on luck, disrupting excellence, and cultures of care

Tanita Casci and Elizabeth Adams on supporting, rewarding and celebrating a positive collegial research culture 

James Wilsden on metrics and responsible research evaluation 

Keywords:

Academia, CoARA, Diversity, Governance and policy, Research culture, Research Evaluation

In this short episode I reflect on my recurring life lesson about putting unrealistic pressures on myself, in this case to put out a full podcast this week. Especially when the platforms I am using are a work in progress. And accepting that I am also a work in progress. What are your recurring life lessons?

[00:00:29] Geri: Do you ever have any of those life lessons where it seems like the universe needs to serve them up to you again and again and again? Because you're so slow to learn them. And so you need to be reminded about them over and over and over again. Well, this week I've been returned to one of my recurring life lessons that it seems like I still don't learn. Which is about setting up unreal expectations for myself. 

[00:01:02] I made the bold claim in the short intro session to season four. That my aim was to try to release a podcast every week on a Wednesday morning. And so I've already put myself under enormous pressure to do that. Uh, we put out the great conversation with Karen last week Karen Stroobants about reforming research evaluation. And I wanted to follow up that podcast, just responding to some of the issues she raised in terms of my personal experiences. And so I did record something and then I spent ages processing the audio and so on. And doing it quite uncritically because I was just driven by, I had to get it out. I had to get it out. Uh, and then Wednesday came and I miss my 8:00 AM release time and it still wasn't done. And I'm still feeling the pressure last night and it just occurred to me. It has stepping back a little bit. It's actually not very good at all. Despite the huge amount of time and effort that I've put into it, it's really not ready to go out. And it's something that I should take just as a, as a rehearsal . So then I was feeling doubly bad about it. 

[00:02:15] But do you know what? That all just comes from me? I created that. No one else. I know that no one is sitting around at 8:00 AM or 9:00 AM on a Wednesday. Waiting for the podcast to drop. But still I felt the pressure. I felt bad. And I ended up putting a whole lot of misdirected time and inefficient effort. Having bought into that pressure. And that whole unrealistic expectation. 

[00:02:43] So I'm not going to release that podcast. I am still going to get something out this week. So what's my minimal commitment that I can do. And I'm just going to do this short one with yet another confession. About this time, setting up unrealistic expectations. 

[00:03:01] And when you think about it, logically of course they were unrealistic expectations. What on earth was I thinking. Of course, it's going to be hard to do weekly at the moment. Because this whole new podcast set up is a work in progress, literally. We're still getting the new technology platforms in place for the podcast and that that's everything from the recording platform. The platform where I process the audio, do the transcriptions. Um, we're setting up a whole new podcast server. They're all new. At once. And so every aspect of the workflow now is brand new as well. And on top of that, they're really great platforms, but in being great, they're also quite complex. And so there's a huge learning curve, both just in getting to know the software and what each of the platforms can do. As well as how I want to use them and how to make that workflow work. 

[00:04:02] And the other aspect, that's a big work in progress and taking time and effort is the website. And. And also there's a lot of interplay between the new podcast server and the new website that we're trying to work out as well. So that the whole environment I'm trying to work in. Is a work in progress. 

[00:04:21] And I'm clearly a work in progress as well. Because I forgot to allow myself grace for being on a learning curve. And learning curves are always uncomfortable. Aren't they it's. It's uncomfortable feeling like you don't know, not being an expert. Um, and also dealing with the uncertainty of that, and also the inevitable challenges that come up and problems. 

[00:04:46] And it's not just that on top of that, this my whole life situation. These are my last days in my current role before transitioning on. And there's a whole lot to be done practically. And not to mention a whole lot to deal with emotionally and the whole emotional overlay of, um, you know, those interesting aspects to endings and beginnings, you know, the sadness of endings the excitement of new beginnings and. so on., And on top of all of that, we've also had a lot of visitors, both personal visitors and work visitors. So, duh, of course, it's going to be hard to get something out on Wednesday. And that's okay. That it didn't happen. 

[00:05:31] And so this week has been returning to the lesson. My recurring life lesson. That it's okay. That I'm okay. Uh, not to put such high expectations on myself and create my own pressures. To hold the expectation's lightly. To be comfortable with adjusting deadlines and to be comfortable with good enough and recognizing when good enough is good enough. And it's okay to also say that. Say the one that I had tried to prepare for this week. Wasn't good enough. 

[00:06:05] So. This is just a short podcast today. I'll do my best to get something out next week, but I won't put pressure on myself and I'll just accept that. Work on being kind to myself, recognize that we will eventually get all of this new stuff, worked out, that the learning curve will become a little bit easier. The website will be up and running my new life, whatever that's going to have it, that's going to be unfolding. Will happen and we'll get into the rhythm as well, and just try to maintain, more of a detached curiosity to see how it all works out. 

[00:06:45] So thanks for listening to my confession. Uh, maybe this invites you to also reflect on what are your recurring life lessons that the universe needs to present you with again, and again, and again. And hopefully. Maybe you are not as slow as me as at learning those lessons. Have a good week

We need to reform research evaluation because "It's not just which people are we excluding, which profiles are we excluding, which ideas are we excluding, but also whose problems are we not solving" says Dr Karen Stroobants.

Karen is a researcher, policy adviser and consultant on research policy and strategy, with a focus on research culture. Her research background and PhD is in chemistry. She now manages a portfolio of activities, combining roles as (part-time) lead policy advisor on research landscape & economy for the Royal Society of Chemistry in the UK and as freelance consultant, focusing most recently on contributing to the drafting of a European agreement on research assessment reform. 

This agreement on reforming research assessment from CoARA, the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment, is the reason I wanted to speak with Karen. We cover: concerns of current research assessment approaches; the need for both top-down and bottom up buy in to create research culture change and what that change might look like; how we can navigate career choices while the system is still in transition; the importance of reflection for research culture change and embracing a diversity of people ideas and research problems; the core commitments of the CoARA agreement; and the move to more qualitative assessments at both individual and institutional and national levels. We finish with Karen reflecting on her own career choices driven by values and what is important. 

• [00:00:29] Episode introduction
• [00:02:39] Welcome & Introduction
• [00:04:39] Concerns around research system
• [00:13:05] Research culture change needs top-down and bottom-up buy-in
• [00:20:12] Negotiating choices while the system is undergoing transition
• [00:23:25] Importance of reflection for research culture change
• [00:30:21] Diversity of people, ideas and research problems
• [00:34:17] CoARA Agreement on reforming research assessment
• [00:40:04] Signing up to the CoARA agreement
• [00:50:10] Narrative CVs - for inividuals, organisations and national level
• [00:54:02] Other ways of brining a qualitative lens
• [00:56:15] Karen's career path - setting boundaries, choosing values

Related links:

CoARA: Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment https://coara.eu

Prof Frank Miedema, UMC Utrecht, https://www.umcutrecht.nl/en/research/researchers/miedema-frank-f#

Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions MSCA https://marie-sklodowska-curie-action; San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment s.ec.europa.eu

INORMS: International Network of Research Management Societies https://inorms.net

DORA: San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment https://sfdora.org/dora-community-engagement-grants-supporting-academic-assessment-reform/

The Metric Tide: Review of metrics in research assessment https://www.ukri.org/publications/review-of-metrics-in-research-assessment-and-management/

Book:

Caroline Criado Perez, Invisible Women, Vintage Books, 2019

https://carolinecriadoperez.com/book/invisible-women/ 

Related podcasts:

Sarah Davies: Part 1 on mobility, precarity and notions of excellence https://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2023/cal81-sarah-davies-part-1 and part 2 on luck, disrupting excellence, and cultures of care https://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2023/cal82-sarah-davies-part-2

Tanita Casci and Elizabeth Adams on supporting, rewarding and celebrating a positive collegial research culture https://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2021/5/21/tanita-casci-elizabeth-adams

James Wilsden on metrics and responsible research evaluation https://www.changingacademiclife.com/blog/2023/cal77-james-wilsdon-replay

This is a short episode to kick off the new Season of the Changing Academic Life podcast series.

Looking forward to bringing some great conversations coming on a range of topics fro reforming research assessment, burnout and neurodiversity.

A new website will be coming very soon!

You can access all the latest episodes via this link that will connect you to your favourite podcast player. And don’t forget to subscribe if you haven’t already to be sure you don’t miss any episodes!

This is the end of the current season of episodes. I take the opportunity to shortly reflect on the themes we’ve heard - around listening, leadership, wellbeing, peer review, and research excellence and evaluation. I also invite you to share your feedback and suggestions, and I share some of the various transitions happening over the break, all leading up to the next season starting Sept/Oct 2023.

If you missed any episodes from this season, you can find them all on your favourite podcast app where you subscribe to this or go to the Changing Academic Life podcast page.

I’d also really love to hear from you if you have any feedback generally about what works well, what doesn’t work so well with the podcasts for you, any suggestions for future themes or people you’d like me to talk with, or if you’d like to volunteer to help out with a transcription. You can contact me via the contact form here or via my uni account (email on this page).

Full transcript available to download here.

00:27 Introduction and request for feedback and suggestions.

02:03 Walking through common themes of the last 23 episodes of this season

09:26 The transition to a new podcasting server platform and new webpage

12:59 The personal transition post-Sept 2023

14:51 Wrapping up, reminder re feedback, and final thanks

18:59 End

Thanks to Sabrina Burtscher for all the help with transcriptions and wishing her all the best for her PhD. Thanks too to Rafael Vrecar, Katharina Werner and Silke Buchberger who are helping with transcriptions.

Sarah Davies is a Professor of Technosciences, Materiality, & Digital Cultures at the Department of Science and Technology Studies at University of Vienna. Overall her work explores how science and society are co-produced, with the digital and digitisation being key aspects. Of particular interest for our discussions is her current research on the conditions of academic work and knowledge production. 

In Part 2, Sarah Davies shares from both her research and lived experiences on topics like equity and valuing diverse work, care work in academia and who does that work, creating collegial research cultures, and about luck - the trigger for why I wanted to talk to Sarah. She discusses a recent paper she and co-authors published on luck and the situations of research, and how accounting for luck might just be one way of disrupting problematic rhetorics of excellence. This is a continuation of Part 1 of our conversation where she talked about her own career path, touching on issues of mobility, precarity and projectification of research notions of excellence.

“Care for people is very integrated with care for their science…You [can’t] separate the epistemic production, the knowledge production, from caring for people”

“It throws into contrast, this narrative of the heroic, excellent individual researcher, and the complex contexts in which good research is done.”

“You can't do science alone, you can't be this isolated person, you actually need quite some social skills” 

“When we talk about excellence, that is somehow really seen as not including luck […] It's important to take luck seriously.”

03:26 Sarah’s inaugural lecture

06:06 Negotiating contemporary academia, related equity issues & how we can see and value diverse work

08:17 Acknowledging care work and who does that work

11:09 Increasing interest in statements on research cultures

12:38 Having explicit discussions about how we engage together

17:19 The way people speak about luck in academic trajectories & the disruption of the excellence rhetoric

22:15 Toxic behaviors and the care work it requires

25:14 Taking luck seriously & her won experiences of luck

30:00 The importance of people and social skills

31:55 Sarah’s experiences in setting up her own group and learning through doing

37:05 End

Related links:

Sarah’s Inaugural lecture

• Text: https://phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:1622120
• Video: https://vimeo.com/780321785/0ef9327e6b

 Papers:

Davies, Sarah R., and Maja Horst. 2015. ‘Crafting the Group: Care in Research Management’. Social Studies of Science 45 (3): 371–93. 

On ‘research culture' (56 min) - Wellcome seems to be taking the lead here:

Davies, S. R., & Pham, B.-C. (2023). Luck and the ‘situations’ of research. Social Studies of Science, 53(2), 287–299. 

Davies, S.R. &  B-C Pham, Why don't we account for luck in research careers? LSE Blog, 18 April 2023.

Liboiron, Max, Justine Ammendolia, Katharine Winsor, Alex Zahara, Hillary Bradshaw, Jessica Melvin, Charles Mather, et al. 2017. ‘Equity in Author Order: A Feminist Laboratory’s Approach’. Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience 3 (2): 1–17. 

Loveday, Vik. 2017. ‘“Luck, Chance, and Happenstance? Perceptions of Success and Failure amongst Fixed-Term Academic Staff in UK Higher Education”: Luck, Chance, and Happenstance?’ The British Journal of Sociology, September. 

 Lund, Rebecca W. B. 2015. Doing the Ideal Academic - Gender, Excellence and Changing Academia. Aalto University.

Tanita Casci and Elizabeth Glasgow CAL podcast conversation: ‘Tanita Casci and Elizabeth Adams on supporting, rewarding and celebrating a positive collegial research culture’

 Sarah’s collaborators/team members

• Ariadne Avkıran
• Esther Dessewffy
• Fredy Mora Gámez
• Bao-Chau Pham
• Andrea Schikowitz
• Kathleen Gregory
• Nora Ederer
• Elaine Goldberg 

CC BY-SA 4.0 by Geraldine Fitzpatrick and Sarah Davies

Thanks to Jana Herwig and Mario Seidl from the Vienna University Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) Video production suite for use of their podcast recording facilities.

Sarah Davies is a Professor of Technosciences, Materiality, & Digital Cultures at the Department of Science and Technology Studies at University of Vienna. Overall her work explores how science and society are co-produced, with the digital and digitisation being key aspects. Of particular interest is her current research on the conditions of academic work and knowledge production. 

In Part 1 here, we discuss her experiences with academic mobility, touching on issues of cultural differences, precarity, and reflecting on who is able to be mobile or not and with what consequences. This leads to discussions about how we interpret CVs, and she challenges us to re-think internationalization, projectification of research, and notions of excellence. Part 2 is out now too.

“Research always unfolds…also …finding things that I thought were interesting, or people that I wanted to work with, and that was driving some of the choices I made around this mobility.”

[Projectification]: “the shift to a project logic, where you have to design a piece of research that fits into a certain timeframe… it is actually a totally different logic to older imaginations of scholarship … something that unfolded over many years. It was not oriented to packages of funding”

0:05 Welcome to Changing Academic Life & episode introduction

02:58 Sarah introduces her background and her many geographical and disciplinary moves

08:30 The passive voice removing the messiness of the lab

11:02 Move from science communication to science and technology studies

16:30 The red threads through her work

19:00 Coping with the uncertainty of shorter term contracts

23:00 The cultural challenges of the different academic contexts

33:15 Re-thinking how we imagine internationalization and mobility to explore other ways of creating networks

37:38 How we interpret CVs to recognize diverse situations

40:56 Notions of excellence and projectification, re-thinking new funding models and more long-term positions

51:47 End

Sarah’s web page

Example ‘Projectification’ references:

• Felt, Ulrike. 2017. ‘Under the Shadow of Time: Where Indicators and Academic Values Meet’. Engaging Science, Technology, and Society 3 (February): 53. https://doi.org/10.17351/ests2017.109.
• Ylijoki, Oili-Helena. 2014. ‘Conquered by Project Time? Conflicting Temporalities in University Research’. In Universities in the Flux of Time, 108–21. Routledge.

Stuart Reeves’ podcast conversation

CC BY-SA 4.0 by Geraldine Fitzpatrick and Sarah Davies

Thanks to Jana Herwig and Mario Seidl from the Vienna University Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) Video production suite for use of their podcast recording facilities.

Dr Elizabeth Churchill is a Senior Director at Google. We recorded this interview while we were both at a conference, where she was awarded a SIGCHI Lifetime Service Award. In this conversation she shares insights and experiences around building good team cultures, managing diversity, onboarding for global teams, and some management frameworks that she has found useful. She also shares her journey from a psychology background to working in big tech and from research to now delivering technical infrastructures, what she was looking for in moving between companies, and the red threads of her love of people, of being challenged and continually learning.

“In a team, you don't need to know everything. Yes, it's actually a collective.”

Download a full transcript of the conversation here.

0:05 Welcome to Changing Academic Life.

0:30 Intro to the episode

02:18 The joy of in-person conferences

04:09 Elizabeth introduces herself and her current operating systems work

09:12 Team culture and diversity

15:18 Negotiating tensions and conflicts

23:15 Culture of software engineering environments

27:48 Onboarding for a global team

31:37 Frameworks for management of teams

39:35 Her fascination with people that took her from psychology to large scale tech companies

43:08 The pragmatics that led her to industry positions and from industry research to platform

47:39 The motivations around the moves to different companies

53:02 Love of learning and taking on new challenges

56:02 Her Interactions magazine article on imposterism & being comfortable not knowing everything

01:02:11 Final exhortation find your community

01:06:05 End

Elizabeth at LinkedIn, Wikipedia, Twitter

SIGCHI Lifetime service award

CHI2023 conference

[Book] Lee Vinsel & Andrew Russell, 2020, The innovation delusion, Penguin Random House.

[People] Steve Benford, Nottingham Uni

[Team management frameworks:]

Cynefin Framework (Dave Snowden, 1999)

Polarity Management (Barry Johnson, 1996)

[Article] Elizabeth F. Churchill. 2019. Impostor syndrome and burnout: some reflections. interactions 26, 3 (May - June 2019), 20–21.

This is part 2 of my conversation with Dr Marta Cecchinato (Part 1 is here). Marta is an Assistant Professor (Senior Lecturer) in the Computer and Information Sciences Department at Northumbria University. Her research focuses on understanding the complexities of multiple technologies in everyday life and how digital experiences can be shaped to support wellbeing at work and in our personal lives.  

In part 2, we go on to discuss a range of issues from how her wellbeing stance has influenced her leadership of a new group and the Athena Swan EDI initiative in her department, how managers can better support people on parental leave, her own experiences being a first-time mother, and the digital wellbeing strategies that have been most helpful to her.

“I love my job, but it’s a job at the end of the day, and just because I stopped sooner, and I don't work longer hours every day doesn't mean that I love my job less. I'm probably setting a better example. For others as well.”

“There's so much more to life than than just work”

00:30 Preamble

03:00 Setting up her own group and building trust in your relationships

9:11 The transition from a self-acknowledged control freak to a leader.

13:46 Leading the Athena Swan exercise.

17:53 Digital wellbeing, flexible working and EDU issues

20:03 How managers can better support people going on parental leave

25:30 Having her own first child during the pandemic

31:12 The importance of being out in nature.

35:02 The micro-boundary strategies with the biggest impact for her

38:01 Sabbatical plans

41:31 How Marta creates micro moments of rest in her day

44:29 Key strengths

47:11 End

Digital Wellbeing Strategies Handbook (updated Sept 2023)

Marta’s personal website & Northumbria profile

Marta on social media: LinkedIn and Twitter

Aurora leadership programme

Aisling O’Kane CAL podcast Part 1 and Part 2

Advance HE Athena Swan Charter

Oscar Trimboli CAL podcast Part 1 and Part 2

Dr Marta Cecchinato is an Assistant Professor (Senior Lecturer) in the Computer and Information Sciences Department at Northumbria University. Her research focuses on understanding the complexities of dealing with multiple technologies in everyday life and how digital experiences can be shaped to support wellbeing at work and in our personal lives.

In part 1 of our conversation, she talks about her digital wellbeing research, the concept of microboundaries, and strategies for taking more control of these microboundaries. You can also download her Digital Wellbeing Strategies Handbook to find more practical strategies.

“It's not about having that equal balance between work and life. As life changes, your responsibilities change, you need to revise things.”

“The way we use technology is different depending on the roles that we are embodying in that specific moment.”

“Micro boundary strategies help limit the negative impact that might arise from constant micro role transitions throughout the day.”

“Empower people…to make the technology to work for them, rather than working for the technology.”

Overview (times approximate): [Full transcript available here]

00:30 Introductions

02:22 Marta’s psychology background and path to her PhD at UCLIC around work life balance in the digital age

05:37 Language and culture differences in terminology eg no WLB term in Italian

09:47 What made her fall in love with research

13:15 Her PhD research journey to a focus on digital wellbeing

17:10 Her issues with the term WLB

19:20 A digital wellbeing approach, empowering people bottom-up, microboundary strategies & making these accessible via a downloadable booklet

23:20 Red thread of improving life, also through impacting EDI issues

28:15 The definition of microboundary supporting micro-role transitions & practical examples from her own life

32:05 The importance of reflection and colleagues to reflect with

38:05 Broad types of microboundary strategies

38:53 End

Find Marta at:

• Personal website: https://www.cecchinato.me/
• Northumbria profile: https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/our-staff/c/marta-cecchinato/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martaececchinato/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/martacecchinato

Digital Wellbeing Strategies Handbook (updated Sept 2023)

2019 Digital Wellbeing workshop: https://digitalwellbeingworkshop.wordpress.com/

Giulio Jacucci, Uni of Helsinki and Eve Hoggan

Abi Sellen, Microsoft Research

UCLIC UCL Interaction Centre, Anna Cox, UCL and Anna’s CAL podcast

EU Erasmus programme