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Reconfiguring contract research? Career, work and learning in a changing employment landscape

Reconfiguring contract research? Career, work and learning in a changing employment landscape
Reconfiguring contract research? Career, work and learning in a changing employment landscape
This paper has been developed from research carried out within the ‘Learning as Work’ project, an ESRC funded multi-sector study in the UK (2003 – 2008)i. It discusses some initial findings from case study research which is focusing on the effects of contractual changes on the learning opportunities, working lives and career expectations experienced by contract research staff within Higher Education (HE) in the United Kingdom. The paper draws on a series of in-depth face-to-face interviews carried out with senior managers, contract research staff (CRS), principal investigators and other key staff members across three faculties, spanning both the ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ sciences, in one research intensive university. These are suggesting that it is unhelpful to consider CRS as an homogenous group. Factors relating to the historical relationship between research and career trajectories in contrasting disciplines; the requirements of diverse funding sources; changing expectations regarding ‘work-life balance’; the wider labour market context, as well as the nature of specific departments in terms of management style, priorities and culture, were all relevant to the lived experiences and perceptions of our sample.
Lee, Tracey
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Fuller, Alison
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Bishop, Dan
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Felstead, Alan
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Jewson, Nick
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Kakavelakis, Konstantinos
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Unwin, Lorna
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Lee, Tracey
710b2b1c-5bd4-4951-b757-fe30b7147073
Fuller, Alison
c6b47796-05b5-4548-b67e-2ca2f2010fef
Bishop, Dan
0563e887-d501-43ce-b2f4-9e63a556e1eb
Felstead, Alan
514e6ef7-2443-49aa-883e-706911d9191d
Jewson, Nick
f96f4be3-d026-4140-9c81-265d74aab544
Kakavelakis, Konstantinos
d0a26962-968e-448c-94c0-3a5f2087ad5a
Unwin, Lorna
8203040c-b1e8-4948-bc2e-4bb2db648720

Lee, Tracey, Fuller, Alison, Bishop, Dan, Felstead, Alan, Jewson, Nick, Kakavelakis, Konstantinos and Unwin, Lorna (2006) Reconfiguring contract research? Career, work and learning in a changing employment landscape. SRHE Annual Conference, Beyond Boundaries: New Horizons for Research into Higher Education, Brighton, UK. 12 - 14 Dec 2006. 17 pp .

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

This paper has been developed from research carried out within the ‘Learning as Work’ project, an ESRC funded multi-sector study in the UK (2003 – 2008)i. It discusses some initial findings from case study research which is focusing on the effects of contractual changes on the learning opportunities, working lives and career expectations experienced by contract research staff within Higher Education (HE) in the United Kingdom. The paper draws on a series of in-depth face-to-face interviews carried out with senior managers, contract research staff (CRS), principal investigators and other key staff members across three faculties, spanning both the ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ sciences, in one research intensive university. These are suggesting that it is unhelpful to consider CRS as an homogenous group. Factors relating to the historical relationship between research and career trajectories in contrasting disciplines; the requirements of diverse funding sources; changing expectations regarding ‘work-life balance’; the wider labour market context, as well as the nature of specific departments in terms of management style, priorities and culture, were all relevant to the lived experiences and perceptions of our sample.

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More information

Published date: December 2006
Venue - Dates: SRHE Annual Conference, Beyond Boundaries: New Horizons for Research into Higher Education, Brighton, UK, 2006-12-12 - 2006-12-14

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 63935
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/63935
PURE UUID: fd9978d1-0907-4456-96b1-05268621914c

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Date deposited: 20 Nov 2008
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 11:45

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Contributors

Author: Tracey Lee
Author: Alison Fuller
Author: Dan Bishop
Author: Alan Felstead
Author: Nick Jewson
Author: Konstantinos Kakavelakis
Author: Lorna Unwin

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