Researching the Researcher: the heart and mind in sub-prime times

Abstract

Our work has been to gather research-stories, that is, the stories of the researcher themselves. We gather stories that situate researchers in their social, political, personal and professional contexts to learn about being a researcher in a University at this particular historical moment. Our stories began with the naive question - 'What is it like to be a researcher in a University right now?' We asked this question of Julie White's 'disposable academics' (2012 p50); short term and casualised staff with insecure teaching or research contracts. We asked White's 'academic infantry' (p48); the mid-career researchers who have felt the labour intensification of recent times. We also asked senior academics, established professors with established research histories and the security (they hope) of a steady track record and a list of external grants. The answers were not simple. They were stories of the pragmatics of managing the new academic scene; maintaining a research passion despite the pressures of new managerialism's focus on certain forms of efficiency, external accountability and monitoring; resolving the apparent losses of autonomy, academic freedom, support, security and academic dignity. We heard emotional and vulnerable stories, stories of personal investment, and emotionally and physically risky and dangerous encounters. We learnt something of the complex business of negotiating personal and professional subjectivities.