There seems to be no shortage of academic horror stories of late (Sexual abuse (1,2), bullying (3,4), pensions (5), department redundancies (6)). Combined with the (apparent) mass-exodus (7) and difficulties in filling positions (8) you’d be forgiven for thinking that academia was facing a reckoning or awakening. The choice is simple. Either we take these problems and use them to build a strong foundation for future change or we remain silent, complicit, and lose the best people from academia.
Stronger together
Academia is at its best when people collaborate, share openly and work towards cool discoveries or teaching the next generation. Let’s not so quickly forget that academia came together, shared work openly during the COVID pandemic (9) and that this behaviour resulted in vaccines in under a year! Even many of our own ranks didn’t think that was possible.
At the broad level, the silence in academia is deafening. Yet there are plenty of amazing people and groups fighting to make things better; whether that is through bravely sharing their own stories (1), creating awesome communities for those leaving academia (10,11), evolving the publishing landscape via preprints (12) or experiments that might just revolutionise the whole academic landscape (13). The one thing that all these examples have in common is that they focus on people. Preprint adoption has increased year-on-year because ASAPbio have focussed on bringing people together and giving them all the tools needed to make local changes. Those local changes then build into larger change. These are the principles we should be coveting in academia but sadly too often do not. But we can each embody this and take agency over our own environments. Change starts with one person after all.
The problem with postdocs? We’re often siloed and isolated not only from our more immediate colleagues but from the wider peer network. We’re conditioned to focus exclusively on being in the lab, not sharing protocols or data and generally only interacting with others when it is to our benefit. Any “community” based work counts for nothing in fellowship or grant applications and it won’t get you a lectureship or promotion. Yet who are the people we most enjoy working with? It’s those who focus on community and creating environments that are more about collaborating and making work a fun place to be every day. What good is the most exciting scientific finding you’ve ever made if you don’t have people to excitedly tell about it?
Science does not normally need to be performed at breakneck speed. The experiment can wait until the morning, nobody is going to miss an end of week report at 6pm on a Friday and that coffee chat might just be the breakthrough you needed. Spending time on community efforts is hugely rewarding (speaking from personal experience) on both a professional and personal level. It is a distinct loss to stay within the lab group and not venture outside.
The problem with UCU
If you’re a lecturer or teaching-focussed staff member then UCU is very much for you and I suggest that you stop reading and go sign up (here’s a link to make it even quicker, but please do come back and finish reading). However, if you’re part of those groups then you’re not the target audience for this piece. I understand this focus, these are more fixed staff members and it’s easier to oppose something when your actions don’t hurt your own output. If a research-focussed staff member strikes then we’re causing significant damage to our own careers whilst inflicting little-no inconvenience on the universities. So why would a postdoc pay every month for a union that primarily doesn’t represent them? I don’t think we should.
To the union! To the revolution!
And the hope that you provide. If we leave our silos and come together, then there is hope for a brighter, better future. (I feel like this is the start of a political speech).
Communities such as the UK & EU postdoc slack (14) are a good start but even these are separate from similar initiatives in the US (15) or Asia. In an ideal world we’d have all these things linked up to better connect the advocates and real academic leaders. These communities provide important networks and support for groups that are not well catered for in academia. Members are given better skills and have a strong support network to deal with issues they face. However, these communities are not going to solely lead to the changes needed. Real strength will only come from a proper union with legal protections and a structure that can instigate positive change at the policy level.
We know unions can lead to improvements in the working conditions for postdocs (16,17). So why haven’t we unionised? It comes back to community and being siloed. The pyramid structure to academic hierarchy does not want postdocs or PhDs (who represent the majority of the research workforce) to take a collective stand. Change isn’t going to come top-down but it can originate with the people and come from a bottom-up effort. This is where communities become essential precursors to unionisation by bringing together like minded people.
There’s a bright future ahead though it is up to us to bring about change. The systems are broken but they are perpetuated by people, by us. The silence in academia is deafening but it doesn’t have to be if we come together, look out for each other and fight for a better culture.
Refs & super people you should be following on Twitter
- Gee, B. & Haridy, Y. Make Me Famous. Medium https://medium.com/@bmgee/make-me-famous-e8cd60def0ee (2022).
- Fox, J. C., December 7, U., 2021 & Comments95, 9:06 p m Share on Facebook Share on TwitterView. Lawsuit alleges MIT professor ‘groomed’ young women, ran ‘sexually charged’ lab — The Boston Globe. BostonGlobe.com https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/12/07/metro/lawsuit-alleges-mit-professor-groomed-young-women-ran-sexually-charged-lab/.
- Langin, K. Academic bullying is too often ignored. Here are some targets’ stories. https://www.science.org/content/article/academic-bullying-too-often-ignored-here-are-some-targets-stories (2021).
- Ziani, Z. Why is Bullying so Frequent in Academia? Diagnostics and Solutions for Bully-Proof Organizations. The Organizational Plumber https://www.theorgplumber.com/posts/bullying-in-academia/ (2021).
- UCU. ‘Seize the moment’ and ‘revoke pension cuts’, vice chancellors told as trustee reveals vast improvement in scheme’s finances. https://www.ucu.org.uk/article/12219/Seize-the-moment-and-revoke-pension-cuts-vice-chancellors-told-as-trustee-reveals-vast-improvement-in-schemes-finances (2022).
- UCU. University of Huddersfield staff vow to fight brutal cuts to arts & humanities. https://www.ucu.org.uk/article/12342/University-of-Huddersfield-staff-vow-to-fight-brutal-cuts-to-arts–humanities (2022).
- Gewin, V. Has the ‘great resignation’ hit academia? Nature 606, 211–213 (2022).
- Langin, K. As professors struggle to recruit postdocs, calls for structural change in academia intensify. https://www.science.org/content/article/professors-struggle-recruit-postdocs-calls-structural-change-academia-intensify (2022).
- Fraser, N. et al. The evolving role of preprints in the dissemination of COVID-19 research and their impact on the science communication landscape. PLOS Biol. 19, e3000959 (2021).
- Life After My Ph.D. (@science_latte) / Twitter. Twitter https://twitter.com/science_latte.
- Alt-Ac Chats (@AltAcChats) / Twitter. Twitter https://twitter.com/AltAcChats.
- Jessica Polka (@jessicapolka) / Twitter. Twitter https://twitter.com/jessicapolka.
- Prachee Avasthi (@PracheeAC) / Twitter. Twitter https://twitter.com/PracheeAC.
- Coates, jonny. UK & EU Pdoc Slack. UK & EU Pdoc Slack https://pdocslack.wordpress.com/.
- Future PI Slack (@FuturePI_Slack) / Twitter. Twitter https://twitter.com/FuturePI_Slack.
- Trager, R. The first ever postdoc union at a private US university has been formed. Chemistry World https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/the-first-ever-postdoc-union-at-a-private-us-university-has-been-formed/4012413.article (2020).
- Benderly, B. L. The New California Postdoc Contract. https://www.science.org/content/article/new-california-postdoc-contract (2010).
Rippling Ideas 