SO YOU WANT TO BE AN ACADEMIC?
gem barton
spatialising FUTURES - Research, teaching and practice. Award winning academic: SFHEA, NTF, IFNTF, RSA
I am absolutely delighted to have been commissioned to write an article on academia as a career path for architects and designers. This is an excellent acknowledgement of the role but I'm aware that my experience is just mine, so I'm reaching out for some wider context in order to put forward a balanced piece.
Some conversation starters...
How did you get in? What would you say are the main benefits/drawbacks? Where can/has it taken you? have you faced a lot of competition? What attributes are key to success? Do you practice swell - how do you balance this? How much networking do you need to do? Do you think it is important to have a public profile and if so how do you go about doing that? Is it seen as a valid option by students and graduates? Do you feel valued? How can we encourage more students to consider it as a career path? Is it seen as second rate to practicing? Do you think students interested in academia need/should to plan ahead and if so how? If you could give one piece of advice to someone conserving academia as a career what would it be? Is academia sexy enough?
Please do share your thoughts in the comments or feel free to message/email me. I will post a link to the completed article when published.
Coach - Urbanist - Educator. The Architects Coach est.2021 (thearchitectscoach.com), WithLocals City Guide, urbanist.london est.2017.
9 年Hi gemma I had the pleasure of writing for your inaugural issue of EDGEcondition, and I can briefly describe my own complex relationship with being an 'academic' and practitioner. I started tutoring while I was still at uni in Australia in 1986, and after graduating from architecture (part 2), and after a few subsequent years working on some remarkable projects in Austria, I was asked to teach architecture studio in Australia. I taught from my international experience and qualifications as an architect, alongside practicing, until I accepted a full-time lectureship in architecture. In between teaching on campus through the 90s, I also developed offshore twinning programmes in Malaysia. I struggled to find time for further academic study, but eventually completed a research Masters dissertation on architectural theory, during periods of study leave. In order to pursue a PhD I then moved to Europe. I needed several years to fully migrate, in order to formally qualify as a home student - I could not afford international student fees. I gained valuable additional experience teaching and lecturing alongside completing my PhD, both in the UK and abroad. I had to live cheaply on a stipend, and as a freelance 'academic', I had little job security. I did complete a PGCert, enhancing and formalising my academic teaching experience and skills, and qualifying me for associateship of the Higher Education Academy. I became fully qualified as a university academic, yet that description sits uncomfortably, as it is often associated with the intellectual and financial security of those attached to a university. The professional freedom I now enjoy has many satisfactions, and despite missing the sense institutional security I had once imagined in universities, I am also now better informed and more capable than ever as a teacher, editor and practitioner. I do have to take care, however, to apply my skills gently and patiently to practice. regards, Greg