Research targets: the pirate code for academics

Pirates

The Slow Academic

Today I had a short conversation with an early career academic that made me thankful that I decided to start this blog. I enjoyed talking with her – it was our first meeting, and she came across as smart, ambitious and engaging. She is also working at a punishing rate. She told me that six days a week she starts work at 5am and keeps going for 12 hours. She is currently teaching three subjects, has seven funded research projects, and has joined several committees. She has a young son. Her refrain was: It will get better, I just need to make it through this semester. 

Source: Dirk’s Big Bunny Blog

I didn’t ask her about her hobbies. I mentioned that I’d started this blog and work three days a week. I talked a bit about why: because my wellbeing and that of my family comes first, because…

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Academic Stigma

Stigma HE

Scholārise

Picture this: Cinderella has finally made it to the ball. Glitzy gown and all. Now imagine Cinderella isn’t going to the ball, but to university. The glitzy gown is now their shiny A-level or equivalent certificates. After this point, it should all end ‘happily ever after’ for these students.

However as research has pointed out, (see: Reay; Crozier; Thomas) this is rarely the case. Oftentimes for non-traditional students – so first generation, BAME, mature students and those with SEND – the journey into higher education is riddled with confusion and anxiety.

In this post, we will discuss some elements of stigma, the effects it has on students and how institutions have often overlooked this element. It is evident that the UK HE system is considered to be riddled with inequalities. For example, Reay et al. (2005) point out that the lower the socio-economic class a young person is a member…

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Data ‘collection’ and the construction of lore – Part One

Lore

Scholārise

Welcome to Scholārise. For our first post, we begin a short series exploring the potential relationships between lore, learning and data collection. Enjoy!

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Research methodology is often a minefield of varying concepts competing against each other for supremacy in the dojo of academia, perhaps even more so for methods of ‘collecting’ data. Here at Scholārise, we are interested in exploring methods and methodologies that upset the balance of power between students from less advantaged backgrounds and those who would prefer to keep knowledge locked away behind academic paywalls and iron gates. This post will identify one such methodological stance that you might find useful: the construction of ‘lore’.

Okay, so what is lore?

According to the OED (2022), lore as a word finds its origins in archaic languages such as the Old English laar, the Middle English lar or the Latin lār. These older words branch off abroad into…

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Submissions are open for Beir Bua Journal – Visual Poetry.

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