A Slightly Scenic Route To An Academic Career by Dr Nicola Gale

A slightly scenic route to an academic career Dr Nicola Gale School of Health and Population Studies University of Birmingham

What I did
BA (Hons) Politics and Sociology, Warwick University
MA Sociological Research in Health Care
Gap year (overland from Beijing to Bangkok)
PhD Sociology (and some teaching)
What to do next?

What I felt
I felt pretty secure at this point – my academic life had fallen into place pretty easily so far.
I’d moved back to London and wanted to stay there.
I’d learnt quite a bit about approaches to life from my research with alternative healthcare practitioners - fear and trust.
Time to put the blinkers on.

What I did
ESRC doctoral fellowship money ran out in September
Gave up my teaching role at Warwick (without any way to make money!)
Moved in with a friend in London

What happened
I got two teaching roles within a week of each other (and within two weeks of sending my resignation letter to Warwick)
Module leader: Principles of Public Health (University of Westminster)
Module leader: Health Policy and Health Promotion (Birkbeck, University of London)

What I felt
Broke!
Exhausted!
Challenged!
That I was in a relationship with my laptop!
… and yet somehow I managed to submit my thesis.

What I felt
After my viva, I’d passed with no corrections so I felt that probably I stood a good chance of getting a post-doc.
To be honest, I just didn’t really know what else to do.
Applied for ESRC PDF and Leverhulme Early Career Fellowships
I didn’t get either of them – and was very…

What I did
Carried on teaching at Westminster and Birkbeck
Got a 3 month RA contract over the summer to do some statistical analysis on patient recorded outcome measures for integrated cancer care
Tried to write some papers (but didn’t managed to devote as much time to it as might have been ideal)

What I did
Did some consultancy work with professional organisation on educational standards in homeopathy
Started working for a small research and knowledge transfer unit at Westminster as a Research Fellow (on an ad hoc basis to begin with)
Then helped run events, plan projects, bring in money

What I learnt - The bad things
That gender has not gone away as an issue in academia
That a culture that does not support its staff (through divide and rule) and try to nurture them at all levels does not produce the best results (i.e. just furthering the careers of PIs and spending as little money as possible)

What I learnt - The practical things
How to write bids and negotiate with different types of funders (not just RCs - KT, enterprise etc,)
How to involve users and what knowledge transfer really means
How to present research to different audiences (policy, professional, academic)
How to manage projects and other people

What I learnt - The other good things
That good support from your line manager/ mentor is powerful when it allows space for you to develop your own individual skills and interests
‘ Networking’ is not as awful as I thought it was – I had a 2 year masterclass (although I still struggle with it!)
That I’m worth a consultancy fee (because I’m an expert in my field – this one took some getting used to!!)
Sometimes if you are struggling upsteam, it is best to swim to shore and try another river!

What I did
At a pre-Xmas catch-up, I moaned to a friend about the fact that I didn’t know if I had a job from month to month and that I wanted something more permanent.
She (when bored at work) sent me some links to jobs… I applied for two of them (one the deadline was the next day)… then forgot about it in the midst of festivities and being busy at work.
Then got an email offering me an interview.
I’m sure that the range of experiences I had in the previous 3 years were essential to securing the position.

The job
Research Fellow/ Lecturer in Medical Sociology
(4 ½ year contract)
Designing and undertaking qualitative research for the NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) programme in Birmingham and Black County. Responsibility for expert qualitative input and advice projects on service redesign, maternity services and prevention of cardiovascular disease.
Supervision of PhD students.
Contributing to College teaching at Masters and undergraduate level in medical sociology and public health/ social policy.
Encouraged to pursue funding for my own research interests (and have just submitted a proposal to the ESRC Standard Grants scheme with my PhD supervisor, Dr Carol Wolkowitz – fingers crossed)

How I feel
Like I’ve finally got a ‘real’ job
A bit displaced (moving to Birmingham) but am buying a flat because they are affordable compared to London (!!) and because I now have a ‘secure’ job
Hopeful that I’m going to learn and develop a lot, be supported in doing that and make a significant contribution to the projects I’m working on – a ‘rewarding’ job
… and like an ‘early career’ academic

Thank you for listening! Nicola Gale [email_address]

A Slightly Scenic Route To An Academic Career by Dr Nicola Gale

by British Sociological Association on Aug 06, 2009

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A Slightly Scenic Route To An Academic Career by Dr Nicola Gale — Presentation Transcript