Fixed‐term researchers in the social sciences: passionate investment, yet marginalizing experiences

Abstract

While there are increasing numbers of fixed‐term researchers internationally, their experiences are relatively under‐examined. As a result, I argue their developmental needs are not well understood and rarely addressed. This study – a cross‐case analysis of social science researchers in two universities in the UK – builds on the few existing studies; it confirms earlier findings that conditions have not substantially changed, yet new themes emerged that create a richer representation of researcher experience. The goal of this article is to sensitize us as an academic development community to the needs of these individuals and ways in which we might engage with them.

Keywords:

• researcher
• instability
• passion
• relocation

Acknowledgements

This work has been partially supported by the Higher Education Funding Council of England Centres for Excellence.

Notes

1. One difficulty of representing this group is the varied ways in which they are situated institutionally (e.g., staff in Europe, trainees in North America) and the varied terms that are used to describe them and that they use to describe themselves, (e.g., research fellow, research associate, senior researcher).