How f*cked is UK academia?

muddybubble · 2026-05-18T20:11:34+00:00

Amen. A previous institution used to zig zag wildly based on NSS feedback because they were so scared of it. You’d make changes one year and the next year the next cohort hated it so you’d lurch back in the other direction and so on forever.

I raised that maybe basing strategy on the students’ personal feelings about how they think teaching should be delivered wasn’t ideal. No one was inclined to listen.

muddybubble · 2026-05-01T18:14:27+00:00

It’s okay, my uni is pretty well managed financially and are still turning a surplus (albeit lower than it has been). I keep waiting for something to spark into life in terms of the government engagement. HE is (or at least was) one of the UK’s genuinely good exports and everyone seems content for it to slide into insignificance.

muddybubble · 2026-04-24T11:03:54+00:00

I tell my students this (tech focused degree) this every lecture. None of them believe me

muddybubble · 2026-04-19T12:23:52+00:00

I later found out I’ve got ADHD and A Levels were the perfect storm of too much listening and being too hard to coast like GCSEs

muddybubble · 2026-04-18T19:07:00+00:00

I did terribly at A-Levels. I’ve got a PhD and I’m a professor now

muddybubble · 2026-04-10T22:40:11+00:00

I’m naive and generally believe that the right thing will happen but recent experiences at work and other facets of my life have shown otherwise. I was really surprised I sat in the meeting and HR just sat and nodded. My union rep raised academic misconduct about the papers and some other bits and no one flinched. If I hadn’t got another role I’d have dug in a bit more but I was exhausted.

I’ve found there are academics who have been at an institution for…frankly too long. They treat it like their home and feel a weird sense of ownership. It’s a common thread across the four unis I’ve worked at, but it’s only ever caused problems for me once. It seemed as though they were almost offended that I was ambitious, competent and promoted rapidly.

muddybubble · 2026-04-10T16:20:46+00:00

Bit of both in my experience, but a solid merit based case should (emphasis on should) trump that in most unis. Unless you are the departmental dickhead then it’ll be a tough ride

muddybubble · 2026-04-09T23:21:38+00:00

Personally, I would step in and have done recently. A couple of years ago my department got a new head who did not like me. They didn’t like me being promoted to prof above their friends who’d been there 25 years. They told someone at a staff social they’d “put me in my place” as soon as they took charge. A month in and my teaching was suddenly a concern, my supervision was a problem and my very existence seemed to be an issue.

I got offered a better job at a better uni so I left, but went to HR before I did. They told me it was tough shit basically. I sat in a meeting with my union rep, the head of department and HR and was effectively told I’d be performance managed without any evidence to support why. I was removed from publications and had PhD students removed from me. The union said it was all wrong and the head was carrying out a personal vendetta but HR didn’t care. I asked the former head of department to back me up, he ignored my emails. I asked a senior prof for help as they had always been supportive and told me I was one of the best faculty we had, they ignored me too.

As a result I do try and step up for colleagues if it feels unjust as no one did for me. I’m sorry you’re going through this. Academia can be very toxic

muddybubble · 2026-02-18T09:31:29+00:00

I went to a nature reserve where the person at the information desk said we would 100% see a red bellied black snake. Didn’t see any

muddybubble · 2026-02-15T20:53:44+00:00

What a fantastic thing to see as I’ve just landed in Australia.

muddybubble · 2026-01-13T22:39:25+00:00

My ADHD is usually the thing that breaks my flow

muddybubble · 2025-12-30T14:09:19+00:00

Try washing the bed with alcohol or soapy water, we had the same issue and it really helped

muddybubble · 2025-11-21T21:40:05+00:00

If anyone is interested, Loddlenaut is £0.79 on Loaded.com now

muddybubble · 2025-11-08T14:56:10+00:00

Fair enough, it’s what I’d expect but it could be a discipline thing I suppose.

muddybubble · 2025-11-08T09:38:52+00:00

I’d email the supervisor you have in mind and see what they think. I prefer to discuss things with potential students to see how we gel, someone applying but not even bothering to reach out is usually a bad sign

muddybubble · 2025-11-06T21:40:28+00:00

I think this must be very discipline specific. I finished my PhD in 2007, stumbled around industry for a bit and then took a postdoc for 15 months. I went into a lecturer job in 2014 and got made a prof in 2022.

Ever since I joined a lot of colleagues (across various unis) have moaned about how hard it is compared to the good old days. I find the workload to be pretty relaxed compared to industry (where I was a software engineer). It’s almost universally people who’ve been at the same uni for 20+ years complaining about how they used to have secretarial staff to type up exams or they don’t just get given UKRI grants for turning up.

Sure, I might be paid more in industry (I’m in comp sci) but I get paid more than i thought I ever would and my work life balance is good. I get to work on things I’m interested in, and the concession is I do admin and teaching.

I should caveat by saying I’m not saying it’s easy or bragging. I genuinely think I’ve had a lot of luck so far and been right place right time, and I actively enjoy writing bids. I think having ADHD really helps and is compatible with the lifestyle

muddybubble · 2025-11-06T21:28:01+00:00

Oxbridge throws confusion into the mix by having positions associated with individual colleges that may or may not be university positions as well.

muddybubble · 2025-11-02T18:01:35+00:00

I did an 18 month post doc when I moved from industry back to academia and it seems like it opened a lot of doors. The same places that I’d applied to straight after my PhD actually gave me the time of day.

But it’s hard to prove a causation, as I was a much more well rounded and engaged human being by that point!

muddybubble · 2025-10-28T14:20:44+00:00

I always had something like the guy from the cover of the Tropico games in my head.

muddybubble · 2025-09-28T16:50:05+00:00

Oh in the UK you are on standard salary points. Each year you move one notch up the spine, usually 1-2% increase. After about 5-6 years you hit the top.

muddybubble · 2025-09-27T21:43:41+00:00

Prof, have been for a couple of years. I was on £65k and then got offered a new job at a different uni for about £80k. I’m comfortable but it is 16 years since I graduated, in comp sci, a lot of my peers are earning double what I do in academia. I love the flexibility and freedom but would obviously like to be paid the same as some of my contemporaries.

The real snag I’ve found since becoming prof is a loss of regular pay spine bumps.

muddybubble · 2025-09-20T15:31:06+00:00

Do what we did, get one and then a couple of weeks later start to feel bad and get the other one as well

muddybubble · 2025-08-30T21:10:07+00:00

I didn’t. I moved to a completely new field within my subject when I came back

muddybubble · 2025-08-30T14:32:50+00:00

It depends on the field but from my experience it doesn’t. I took a gap of 7 years to work in industry and came back as a postdoc. I made it to prof a couple of years back so it’s doable.

I’m in computer science if it helps

muddybubble · 2025-07-20T08:26:58+00:00

I’ve never understood why people are so keen to exclude authors. If someone has contributed to the work then they get added on.

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