Jess Harris – författare

‘Making It’ as a Contract Researcher examines the contemporary experience of research employment in universities from the perspective of a significant yet often invisible group: temporary or contract researchers, who make up a substantial, and ever-growing, proportion of the academic research workforce. A critical, pragmatic and international account of the contemporary research career, this book explores the question of what it means to ‘make it’ as a contract researcher in academia, and how individuals and organisations in higher education might seek to do things differently.

Providing the reader with practical and realistic strategies for improving the experience of being a contract researcher and achieving and sustaining an academic research career, this book guides the reader on a range of topics, including:

Using a combination of current research, interviews and reflective writing, the book is written specifically for and by contract researchers in academia, offering unique and extremely valuable advice for all new and current contract researchers, including PhD students, early career researchers, and any party interested in pursuing a research career in academia.

The ‘Insider Guides to Success in Academia’ offers support and practical advice to doctoral students and early-career researchers. Covering the topics that really matter, but which often get overlooked, this indispensable series provides practical and realistic guidance to address many of the needs and challenges of trying to operate, and remain, in academia.

These neat pocket guides fill specific and significant gaps in current literature. Each book offers insider perspectives on the often implicit rules of the game – the things you need to know but usually aren’t told by institutional postgraduate support, researcher development units, or supervisors – and will address a practical topic that is key to career progression. They are essential reading for doctoral students, early-career researchers, supervisors, mentors, or anyone looking to launch or maintain their career in academia.

‘Making It’ as a Contract Researcher examines the contemporary experience of research employment in universities from the perspective of a significant yet often invisible group: temporary or contract researchers, who make up a substantial, and ever-growing, proportion of the academic research workforce. A critical, pragmatic and international account of the contemporary research career, this book explores the question of what it means to ‘make it’ as a contract researcher in academia, and how individuals and organisations in higher education might seek to do things differently.

Providing the reader with practical and realistic strategies for improving the experience of being a contract researcher and achieving and sustaining an academic research career, this book guides the reader on a range of topics, including:

Using a combination of current research, interviews and reflective writing, the book is written specifically for and by contract researchers in academia, offering unique and extremely valuable advice for all new and current contract researchers, including PhD students, early career researchers, and any party interested in pursuing a research career in academia.

The ‘Insider Guides to Success in Academia’ offers support and practical advice to doctoral students and early-career researchers. Covering the topics that really matter, but which often get overlooked, this indispensable series provides practical and realistic guidance to address many of the needs and challenges of trying to operate, and remain, in academia.

These neat pocket guides fill specific and significant gaps in current literature. Each book offers insider perspectives on the often implicit rules of the game – the things you need to know but usually aren’t told by institutional postgraduate support, researcher development units, or supervisors – and will address a practical topic that is key to career progression. They are essential reading for doctoral students, early-career researchers, supervisors, mentors, or anyone looking to launch or maintain their career in academia.

Working towards equity of access to higher education remains a fundamental issue of social justice. Despite substantial efforts to redress historical exclusions via a wealth of government and institutional policies, longstanding enrolment patterns persist and new forms of inequality have emerged in a deeply stratified system.

Community Matters: The Complex Links Between Community and Young People’s Aspirations for Higher Education offers a new lens on equity of access. The policy focus, nationally and globally, on widening participation for under-represented target groups too readily treats such groups as if they have a singular voice, a singular history, and a singular set of concerns. Drawing on the perspectives of Australian school students, their parents/carers, teachers, and a vast array of residents from seven diverse communities, this book uses the lens of ‘community’ to reframe inequitable access. It does so by recognising the complex social and cultural forces at play locally that shape how young people form and articulate their post-school futures.

In light of unprecedented challenges facing the higher education sector, this book interrogates dominant understandings of ‘widening participation’ and ‘aspiration,’ and offers timely insights about the broader economic, social, and cultural backdrop of aspiration formation. It is a valuable resource for academics and students interested in the sociology of higher education and for practitioners working at the forefront of equity policy and practice.

Working towards equity of access to higher education remains a fundamental issue of social justice. Despite substantial efforts to redress historical exclusions via a wealth of government and institutional policies, longstanding enrolment patterns persist and new forms of inequality have emerged in a deeply stratified system.

Community Matters: The Complex Links Between Community and Young People’s Aspirations for Higher Education offers a new lens on equity of access. The policy focus, nationally and globally, on widening participation for under-represented target groups too readily treats such groups as if they have a singular voice, a singular history, and a singular set of concerns. Drawing on the perspectives of Australian school students, their parents/carers, teachers, and a vast array of residents from seven diverse communities, this book uses the lens of ‘community’ to reframe inequitable access. It does so by recognising the complex social and cultural forces at play locally that shape how young people form and articulate their post-school futures.

In light of unprecedented challenges facing the higher education sector, this book interrogates dominant understandings of ‘widening participation’ and ‘aspiration,’ and offers timely insights about the broader economic, social, and cultural backdrop of aspiration formation. It is a valuable resource for academics and students interested in the sociology of higher education and for practitioners working at the forefront of equity policy and practice.

This book examines a range of ethical complexities associated with precarious work across educational sectors internationally.

Our aim is to examine the experiences of the increasing reliance on casual and temporary employment in education settings for all educators. This volume brings together academic chapters, focused on the affective, ethical and practical challenges faced by all educators working in highly casualised contexts, while working to provide quality education for all students. These chapters are complemented by reflections from a variety of educators and educational leaders, who have navigated ethical dilemmas related to precarious employment across sectors from early childhood to higher education.

When viewed together, the chapters and reflections highlight the impacts of neoliberal market-driven policies on the education sector and work to present a series of possible ‘pathways forward’ for education workers navigating this precarious terrain.

This book examines a range of ethical complexities associated with precarious work across educational sectors internationally.

Our aim is to examine the experiences of the increasing reliance on casual and temporary employment in education settings for all educators. This volume brings together academic chapters, focused on the affective, ethical and practical challenges faced by all educators working in highly casualised contexts, while working to provide quality education for all students. These chapters are complemented by reflections from a variety of educators and educational leaders, who have navigated ethical dilemmas related to precarious employment across sectors from early childhood to higher education.

When viewed together, the chapters and reflections highlight the impacts of neoliberal market-driven policies on the education sector and work to present a series of possible ‘pathways forward’ for education workers navigating this precarious terrain.

Around the world, countries are searching for ways of making their schools more effective for all children and young people. This book offers a new way of thinking about how to address this challenge. It sees improvement as requiring a collective effort that involves contributions from all members of a school community. Crucial to this is the idea of ethical leadership.

Promoting Equity in Schools is written by a team of academic researchers who had a most unusual opportunity to work with a network of schools over three years, experimenting to find more effective ways of including hard to reach learners. Bringing together practitioner knowledge and ideas from research carried out from a variety of perspectives, the authors provide rich accounts of what happened when the schools attempted to become more inclusive and fairer. In so doing, they throw light on the challenges this presents for school leaders.

The accounts presented in the book are located in Queensland, Australia, where the school system faces significant difficulties in relation to equity that resonate with similar difficulties around the world. These difficulties relate to policies that emphasize high-stakes testing and school choice, which tend to promote increased segregation, to the particular disadvantage of young people from low income and minority backgrounds. The arguments presented suggest that even where worrying policies are in place, with leadership driven by a commitment to equity, schools can still find space to develop more equitable ways of working.