The path to a career in academia can be widely varied, from building an industrial career that can transfer to teaching and research, to pursuing research following the completion of a PhD. We asked academics from different backgrounds why they chose to be academics and got the following responses:
Dr Melissa Jogie
I am the Institutional Research Culture Lead at the University of Roehampton. In my opinion, becoming an academic is akin to choosing a career of ‘uncertain adventure’. It’s a challenging choice because there are several areas or responsibilities you must consistently succeed at in order to move up through different levels of the career. Many of these responsibilities are largely dependent on skills you have to teach yourself, which are not easily obtained through the process of completing a PhD.
Though you must be open and willing to continuously ride the roller-coaster of knowledge and expertise and this means accepting that just when you think you are coming to grips with one form of understanding which you have likely struggled through you might be challenged once again by new material and have to constantly update your understanding or retether links.
Being an academic is liberating because you get control of your time to work in a manner that best suits your personality coupled with a creative license to pursue knowledge across a variety of disciplines, freedom to use varying methods, and opportunities to collaborate with other academics globally. You can advance your career at your own pace and diversify your interest between teaching, research and leadership.
Dr Kameljit Kalsi
I am a Laboratory inspector at St George’s, University of London. Using my skills in academia, I work in the area of Health and Safety in the labs. I studied for my first degree at University College London (UCL) in Microbiology. As a graduate, I found it difficult getting into a career in science without any work experience. But I didn’t give up, my first job was working as a Technician at Brunel University where I was assisting PhD students with their experiments. This must have been where I caught the bug, that I too can have a career in academia!
After completing my PhD in Biochemistry with the eminent surgeon Sir Magdi Yacoub and also being a mother of two, I moved into a career as a Post-Doc. I have spent the last 20 years working in research. I enjoy planning, being in the lab and presenting my work to other colleagues at conferences. I have travelled worldwide, attended conferences, and made many friends along the way. I moved into health and safety as it’s fascinating being on the other side and influencing safe work practices in the laboratory.
Dr Carlo Harvey
I am an Associate Professor, Director of Future Games and Graphics and research group leader for Graphics and Vision as part of the DMTLab at Birmingham City University. I currently provide course leadership for the BSc and MSci Computer Games Technology degrees.
My path to my current position is a healthy mix of industrial and academic experience. I have worked at the Advanced Imaging Lab at the Kennedy Space Centre with a team implementing High Dynamic Range imagery into their digital imaging pipeline for space launches; for Jaguar Land Rover designing digital testing methodologies for virtual vehicles; for Sound Space Design designing audible spaces for Theatres yet to be built; for Johnson Tiles creating visualizations of ceramics in situ for bathrooms and kitchens and for the NHS implementing Virtual Reality solutions for Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. All this while pursuing an academic path, so the natural question arises, why academia and not just enter industry?
The answer is quite simple, I enjoy the diverse array of work opportunities and garner satisfaction from engaging with stakeholders from many disciplines actively pursuing knowledge transfer into those domains. Academia, as I’m sure is the case with some industrial roles, trusts you with autonomy and gives you the power to innovate. Personally, I find tedium and monotony a recipe for dissatisfaction, so this status quo massively appeals to me.
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