So what is life in academic research like? During 2021–2022 I worked as an Anti-Casualisation Officer for the Exeter branch of the University College Union (UCU). By liaising with university management and administration, my role was focused on providing more long-term job security for academic careers and to promote equality across different academic positions. With a decade of research experience behind me, which followed a first career in industry, here I try to give a balanced commentary on the different aspects of academic careers. I hope this page proves useful to anyone considering a career in academic research or for anyone interested to find out more about this job sector. I discuss the career by breaking it down into key categories.

Interest

This is one of the best things about a career in academic research. The work gives the opportunity to explore (with your mentor) a subject that fascinates you. For myself, I also enjoy the creativity that comes with writing, producing images to communicate ideas, publishing your results and teaching. See for more info about my teaching. I feel fortunate to have been a part of a largely positive and constructive endeavour, which is focused on better understanding the natural world.

Work conditions

Good. The work allows you to work largely to your own schedule and you are trusted to work independently for much of the time. Remote working is more common now across all job sectors following the pandemic, however, many research positions in academia are particularly suited to remote working. The degree to which remote working is possible also does depend on the preferences of your supervisor. Not so good is that academic research can be isolating at times, especially in small research teams.

Work-Life balance

This improves as the career progresses, assuming you are able and willing to continue with the career (see Job security). The work-life balance during your PhD can be poor, working long hours on low pay. However, following your PhD the salary increases and the work-life balance improves as you become more experienced and independent. Compared to industry positions requiring similar expertise, salary remains relatively low unless you can become a lecturer. With pressure to publish and secure funding (to support your work), which both can lead to working outside of normal office hours, academic research can be challenging and can be more stressful than certain industry or government jobs. Travelling is common with academic careers, either to take on new research positions as your career progresses, or to attend conferences, so the career is suited to someone who would enjoy that.

Job security

Generally poor. This is one of the key issues that I was helping to try and improve in my role as Anti-Casualisation officer for the UCU. Unfortunately, job security in academia often remains poor and a permenant job is certainly not guaranteed. Worse, whether a researcher can secure a permenant job can be out of their control, and depend largely on the quality of the mentoring and research strategy provided by the mentor, as well as department policies for supporting postdocs. This often has consequences for researchers' social lives, and can lead to mental and physical health issues.