Season Reflections: Cultivating a Good Academic Life (CAL127, S6, E21)

Geri Fitz: 00:00:05

Welcome to Changing Academic Life.

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I'm Geraldine Fitzpatrick, and this is

a podcast series where academics and

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others share their stories, provide

ideas, and provoke discussions about what

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we can do individually and collectively

to change academic life for the better.

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Welcome.

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I'm so glad you can join me here for

some reflections across the season

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that we are just coming to the end of.

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And this final episode is a little

bit late in coming because I've

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had travels and talks and running

workshops, and so I just didn't

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have the head space to do this.

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So in, uh, trying to walk the talk,

I gave myself some grace and took the

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pressure off to be on a fortnightly cycle.

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And finally getting to this.

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We started this season about 10

months or so ago, and first episode

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was on 4th of September last year,

and we are now well into July 25.

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During that time, we've had 20 episodes.

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Seven of them were me talking or

reflecting on a particular topic, and

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there was also one compilation episode.

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And all the others were

interviews and discussions

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with really interesting people.

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And I just want to remind us all

that everyone is interesting.

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Everyone is has a story to

tell or experiences to share.

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And it's interesting that even though I

don't more systematically plan my guest

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schedule, it's rather more opportunistic.

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It's really amazing to reflect on

the themes that have come out across

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many of the different conversations.

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And that's what I want to do now is

just walk through some of those themes.

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So just to give an overview of what I

think they've been, there's one that's

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been around creating supportive and

inclusive cultures of care in academia.

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And related to that is

the role of good leaders.

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There's another theme that's sort of

reflected in a lot of the career stories

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that we heard about career transitions.

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And I want to reflect on that in

terms of making choices and also

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the importance of reflection in

supporting how we make those choices.

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And there was another theme around

wellbeing, mental health and

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self care that we can reflect on.

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And finally, I want to finish

with the importance of community.

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So to the first theme around

creating supportive and

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inclusive collaborative cultures.

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We heard so much about the importance of

the role that every one of us can play

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and the way that we can all contribute to

the co-creation of supportive, inclusive

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cultures, and I think we heard about

that very strongly from Line and Nicklas

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when they reflected on their particular

research context that got the Danish

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Young Science Academy Prize for research

environment, and they talked really

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compellingly about how we all contribute

to shaping and sustaining these cultures.

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And that key aspects of these

cultures were things like, fostering

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trust and open communication.

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You know, the importance of

psychological safety, the focus on

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really caring about people's long-term

development and how to support that.

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And in the process valuing health

and wellbeing so that science isn't

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done at the cost of wellbeing and what

could be done to support wellbeing

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as part of these environments.

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And we saw these themes

repeated in different people's

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discussions of cultures.

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You know, so most recently Johanna

talked about, their mission at Graz

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around creating or her mission around

creating a fun and kind academia and

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that we can do impactful research

and look after our wellbeing.

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And, and she shared some of the

initiatives they're taking more at

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sort of an organizational systemic

level to promote and support that.

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And we also heard, for example, from

Matt and Oana at Glasgow and Özge at Koč

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Univers University in Turkey about their

every day on the ground initiatives to

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support and create cultures of care.

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Matt and Oana talked about micro actions,

which fits nicely with the ways that we

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don't have to have the grand gestures.

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It, we can all contribute.

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And towards that, the compilation episode

that I did provided lots of examples from

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previous episodes that also pointed to the

productive engagement in creating cultures

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of care and respecting differences

and how we can create a culture where

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learning is encouraged and recognizing

learning is often learning from mistakes.

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And related to this, I also did a solo

episode just to unpack the notion of

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psychological safety a bit more because

it's such a prominent concept and topic

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at the moment, and actually so important

about how do we create environments

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where people can feel that it's okay

to speak up, to have an opinion, to

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contribute without, personal risks.

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And towards this, we also heard about

the really important role that leaders

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can play in setting the direction for

this sort of culture and role modeling

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the sort of behaviors, whether that's

the micro actions of care and connection.

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Matt particularly talked about the

importance of empathy and being

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really intentional in the way that

you show up recognizing the humanity

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of yourself and everyone else.

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So, you know, the way he

sought feedback as well.

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And Özge also talked about initiatives

to create the care and the open

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communication being really important.

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Another interesting theme that emerged

was around, a number of people who were

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reflecting on different career transitions

and whether that was Evan peck making a

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decision to move from one particular type

of university with one particular emphasis

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to a different sort of university.

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Or whether it was people like Vikki and

Tina who both eventually chose to move out

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of academia into different career paths

that still connected them with academia,

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but more in coaching and support roles.

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And also we heard about Johanna who

made different career choices that were

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around trying to protect her wellbeing

and manage her boundaries that took

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her into some different sector work.

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And then again, moving back to quite

a different role than a traditional

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research oriented role in a university.

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And we have Graham who talked about

moving from, PhD to industry, to academia

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and research to, to start up to being

sort of more entrepreneurial and then

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moving on yet again to go back to learn

based on the experiences that he had.

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So all of these career stories

were interesting, weren't they,

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because no one had planned

those paths from the beginning.

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And I think that's something

that's worth reflecting on.

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And through their discussions, we

could also hear the journey of growing

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self-awareness and discovery about

what was really important to people.

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You know, Vikki talked about strengths

and aspirations and Tina talked

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about getting more familiar with

your natural talents and Liam also

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talked about choices that were

really aligned with values and goals.

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Özge talked about the importance

of values, understanding your core

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values as a guide for behaviors,

as did both Evan and Johanna.

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So this theme of getting clearer over time

of what are your values, what's important

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to you, and what are your strengths.

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I also talked about them as superpowers

or in your natural talents because when we

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can operate working with our strengths, we

do our best work, and we are more engaged.

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Excited by the work we

do and do better work.

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And that also connects to

what's the difference we want to

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make, tied up with all of that.

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And we heard that come out as themes,

like what's the difference you

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wanna make was, the difference that.

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Graham talked about, and Evan

talked about in particular, in

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making the choices to move.

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We also heard around how people

navigated the different trade-offs.

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You know, because there's never a clean

choice where everything's perfect, there's

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always losses and gains, isn't there?

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And so I think it was really

interesting hearing about lots

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of people's transitions, the way

they arrived at those choices.

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And as Evan talked about, career

decisions are always deeply personal,

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multifaceted, and take place in a

continually evolving professional

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landscape and an evolving landscape

of your own personal priorities.

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You know, and that trade off,

balancing all of those concerns

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it's is really important.

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And I think tied up with this, if we're

going to have the insights into what

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our strengths are and our values and

what difference do we want to make, we

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also heard across all of these, we could

hear and people being very reflective

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and like Evan talked about a constant

reflection on that negotiation around his

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own personal values and broader impact.

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And that it's a lifelong learning thing.

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And so.

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Towards that, Matt offered a

framework for reflection that he

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gives to students, but could also

be really useful for all of us.

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And for my end of year podcast, I

also offered a framework of questions

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that might support reflection, to help

start to get more insight into what's

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important and who you are at your

best . And part of this reflection

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is, as Vikki talked about, a lot of

self-compassion and, the knowing yourself.

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And she had a lovely way of talking

about being your own best boss.

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People also talked about being

realistic about what you can achieve.

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And then this connects then I think, to

the theme of wellbeing and self care.

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And Johanna, I think was particularly

interesting to hear the way, through

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a process of reflection about what was

important to her, became really clear on

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what were the boundaries that she wanted

to hold, and accepting the trade-offs

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in the choices that she made around what

was needed to protect those boundaries.

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And self-care also figured in lots of

people's discussions, whether it's Matt

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and Oana, or Vikki or Özge or Johanna.

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It was a really common theme

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and mental health also figured, you

know, so Matt and Oana talked about

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depression and burnout and shared

very honestly and vulnerably about

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their experiences there as did Özge.

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So recognizing that we're not alone

with a lot of those struggles.

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And Vikki also talked about

experiencing ADHD type behaviors.

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And managing that as well.

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So I think that that's really

important to think about how do we

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deliberately cultivate practices

of care for ourselves and also

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extending that as care for others.

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And that also is, that brings

in the self-compassion.

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And

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that's not selfish because we need to be

able to bring our best selves to our work,

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to our interactions with our colleagues.

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And so it's so important that we

prioritize our own wellbeing and that,

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we heard about that in terms of the

culture discussions as well, that there

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are things we can do both at like a

bottom up our own everyday practices

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and then what we can do from a top down

in terms of what might be the policies

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and procedures and exemplars that we'd

want to propagate from an organizational

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perspective as well as what we can do

with one another in our interactions

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to promote wellbeing and to make that

a norm that it's okay to care for that.

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And then I think that connects nicely

with the theme of community and the

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critical importance of community.

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We don't do academia alone.

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And we don't need to do it alone.

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And there's lots of discussion across

the episodes about the supports of

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other people and how valuable that was.

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And again, in that sense of top

down, bottom up, we heard from

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Johanna about the initiatives at

Graz to create collaborative peer

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support network, support groups.

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And I had a solo episode after that

that gave an overview of things to

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think about if you wanted to set up

your own peer support group and the

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different types of groups that you

could think about, because we can put

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these in place for ourselves as well.

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And we also heard it from Liam

just about his own reflections.

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The lovely Liam who very sadly passed

away in September last year, who really

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wanted to share with the community

about the importance of thinking about

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what's important and how to balance

between professional ambitions and

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personal wellbeing, and particular

the importance of relationships.

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And I followed that up with a solo

episode, just reflecting on networking

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and how we might reimagine it not as a

strategic career maneuver or something

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that we have to do and something that we

can be really scared of, but as a process

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of how do we build genuine connections

and how do we use those genuine

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connections to have an impact on others

through our everyday micro interactions.

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So coming back, the full circle

culture is created in our local

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environments, in our institutions,

in our professional communities.

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And I always talk about the top down

and the bottom up, and I so believe

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we need actions from all levels.

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And I don't want to downplay the

importance of the structural constraints

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and issues and challenges and that

are actually increasing at the

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moment, which makes me really sad.

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And at the same time, recognize

that there are little moments

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of power and connection that we

have, that we have some power.

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And we have that power to create

connection, to contribute to building good

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cultures, to make some choices and accept

the trade offs that may be entailed.

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And just returning to Liam's call

about being true to ourselves and being

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reflective about how we balance between

our professional ambitions, our personal

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wellbeing, and investing in relationships.

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So I'll finish here and wish

you all a good couple of months.

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For those of us in the Northern

Hemisphere, it's our summer break

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time, and I will be back in the

autumn with some new stories, new

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people, and looking forward to it.

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Take care.

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Be kind to yourself.

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It's okay to take a proper break,

have a proper holiday, and enjoy it.

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You can find the summary notes, a

transcript and related links for this

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podcast on www.changingacademiclife.com.

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You can also subscribe to Changing

Academic Life on iTunes, Spotify.

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And I'm really hoping that we can

widen the conversation about how

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we can do academia differently.

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And you can contribute to this by rating

the podcast and also giving feedback.

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And if something connected with

you, please consider sharing this

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podcast with your colleagues.

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Together we can make change happen.