The Balancing Act

QUT Creative Lab ‘The Artist Researcher At Work’

Professional Development and Publication Series June-July 2018

CRICOS No. 00213J

Date Session Title Session Content

Friday 15th

June, 11am-

12.30pmKG-Z2-306

The Balancing Act

Participants include A/Prof

Bree Hadley (Socially &

Ecologically Engaged

Practice), Dr Sean Maher

(Digital, Screen, Narrative),

and Dr Steph Hutchison

(Experimental Creative

Practice) speaking about

how they achieve research

aims within their overall

academic roles, along with

members of the QUT Creative Lab.

This seminar is targeted at artist-researchers looking to

advance their research profile – as an author of articles,

chapters, books, and competitive grant applications as

well as a creator of artworks and a teacher of art

practices. It will concentrate on the question of how to

establish an effective balance between teaching,

service, practice, and research. It will look at tips and

tactics to assist in establishing the most effective

balance by inviting participants to develop, discuss, and

strategise for success in a game of ‘Scholarly Snakes

and Ladders.’ Topics likely to come up will depend on

the needs of those who choose to attend, but are likely

to include: aligning teaching, practice and research;

making time for research; making links with wider

research communities; securing funding for research;

making the most of hierarchical and peer mentorship

networks; managing expectations; and, work-life balance.

The Balancing Act

CRICOS No. 00213J

The Balancing Act

• How to establish an effective balance between teaching, service, practice, and research

• Tips and tactics to assist in establishing the most effective balance

CRICOS No. 00213J

• 1- Becoming An Academic

• 2- Securing A Position

• 3- Developing Your Niche

• 4- Planning Your Career Pathway

• 5- Finding A Mentor

• 6- Becoming A Tutor Or Teaching Assistant

• 7- Developing Your Teaching

• 8- Building A Research Platform

• 9- Organising A Writing Plan

• 10- Preparing For Publication

• 11- Undertaking Supervisions

• 12- Engaging In Service

• 13- Seminars & Conferences

• 14- Preparing For Continuation & Promotion

• 15- Disseminating Your Research More Widely

• 16- Developing Your Leadership

• 17- Managing The Demands

• 18- Setting Up Your Own Emerging Scholars Forum

CRICOS No. 00213J

Happily ever after? Advice for mid-career academicsGetting a permanent job is only the beginning, not a fairy-tale ending, says Helen De Cruz

Times Higher Education

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/happily-ever-after-advice-mid-career-

academics#survey-answer

March 24, 2016

….

According to several surveys, associate professors are less happy and experience less

career satisfaction compared to people of other tenure-line ranks. The job uncertainty is

finally gone but new doubts creep in: is this it? Here are some points of advice.

In so far as you haven’t been able to before, try to find a better work-life balance…

Cultivate some non-academic activities…

Try to work on things you find enjoyable and are passionate about……

If you are unhappy in your situation, try to move out….

Apply for grants and fellowships…

Engage in peer mentoring, support groups, or seek professional advice…

Say no…

Loyalty to colleagues rather than fealty towards institutions…

Helen De Cruz is senior lecturer in philosophy at Oxford Brookes University. This

post originally appeared on The Philosophers’ Cocoon blog.

CRICOS No. 00213J

Ten Tips to a Successful Academic CareerSociety Of Clinical Psychology

https://www.div12.org/ten-tips-to-a-successful-academic-career/

An early career psychologist, Dr. Kate Wolitzky-Taylor, offers ten tips to a successful academic career:

1. Carve out research time and treat it like any other appointment you wouldn’t cancel…

2. Say yes to all opportunities that will help you to develop as a researcher at first, and then

learn when it’s better to say no…

3. Be flexible…

4. Choose quality over quantity…

5. Run your own studies in graduate school, if possible…

6. If you are interested in clinical outcome research, continue to see patients and/or supervise

graduate student therapy cases….

7. Welcome criticism…

8. Build collaborative relationships that complement your own research interests…

9. Maintain relationships with your mentors and other faculty you admire after you finish your

degree and move into an academic career…

10. Have a clear idea of the lines of research you plan to develop and how you plan to build

your research program, but be open to new directions or ways of thinking about your research

plan….

CRICOS No. 00213J

• aligning teaching, practice and research;

• making time for research;

• making links with wider research communities;

• securing funding for research;

• making the most of hierarchical and peer mentorship networks;

• managing expectations;

• work-life balance;

• and…?

CRICOS No. 00213J

Now…

Strategisefor success in a game of ‘Scholarly Snakes and Ladders’…

CRICOS No. 00213J

• Be proactive in hunting down opportunities

• Be honest about time, energy, effort, productivity

• Consolidate skills so you can work swiftly (incl. professional development)

• Pro-rata time so you can get to everything (i.e. get to the publishing part)

• Compartmentalise so you can leave a ‘clean up on aisle seven’ til tomorrow

• Find a way into a flow state for tasks that need it (i.e. the publishing)

• Do what you can do and don’t waste time worrying if it’ll be good enough

• Start, see where you get, don’t put off starting for fear of not finishing

• Always have multiple irons in the fire (in case a publication falls over)

Balancing ‘mantras’ ↓

CRICOS No. 00213J

The Balancing Act

• Tips to take home…?

• Things to arrange additional advice, professional development, or support on via the Lab…?

CRICOS No. 00213J

Date Session Title Session Content

Friday 15th June,

1.30pm-4.30pmKG-Z2-306+307

‘Shut Up & Write’ Session 1

If there is interest, participants can attend a rerun of the

popular Nuts and Bolts of Publication Writing workshop,

with one of the Creative Lab’s most successful publishing

academics Dr Mark Ryan (Digital, Screen, Narrative),

covering issues such as framing topics for articles,

selecting journals, and establishing a pipeline to produce new articles each year, etc.

These ‘Shut Up & Write’ Sessions are for those who wish to -

Share innovations in teaching in articles, chapters, books

Share insight into arts practice in articles, chapters, books

Share results of Hons, Masters, or PhD project in books, chapters, or articles

Construct a grant application to pursue on a larger scale

Struggle to do this in the time available

Want coaching from arts researchers who have strategies for writing in the context

of their overall academic job

The six sessions will provide about 18-24 hours to construct a draft of an article length

piece of writing, within a community of practice, with a range of researchers at a range of

career stages. Participants will be able to simply sit and write, and/or to seek advice,

support, and coaching on structuring an argument for an article, converting thesis

content into an article, writing sections in a quick, easy, and efficient way, choosing a

publisher, and so forth. At the close of the six weeks, participants should have a solid

draft of an article length piece of writing, and be ready to look at possible outlets for this

piece of writing. As always, QUT Creative Lab will be happy to assist members in identifying suitable publication outlets.

Shut Up & Write