Academics at eaze

  In our October 2020 blog , an analysis of the current situation of academics with respect to workload and the associated unease was unpacked. The blog post ended with a call to action for us academics to share our experiences and challenges as a starting point for working towards possible solutions. By reflecting on these experiences and challenges, we are hoping it will help pave the way for getting out of the cycle of stress and “abuse” as well as find ways to challenge the status quo and the “that’s how it has always worked” mentality. In continuation of the discussion, I will be sharing some of my experiences from 2019 up till date highlighting how the COVID-19 lockdown experience and having to work from home have played a role in my hitherto overburdened schedule.  In 2019, I had not only been honoured to be selected as an Africa Science Leadership Programme (ASLP) fellow, but I also signed up to professionally develop my career through a postgraduate diploma in higher ...

“ Academics generally work within a university, combining research, teaching and administrative duties. Academics are the life-blood of a university, without whom the institution would not exist”        “On a given day, you might have to write a reference for a student; develop teaching materials; read and comment on a PhD  dissertation ; review a journal article and organise a workshop , have an impromptu meeting ,  to name a few !  Yet, when academics talk about their 'real work', they often mean research. 'You have to carve out time and space to think about writing. You must focus on your own research,' says Dr Angelia Wilson, Senior Lecturer in Politics .” University of Manchester .          The role of an academic is  hence  multidimensional and  complex . And while one can argue that all professions have their own features and requirements, an academic  is required to  be a teacher, a researc...