Time Poverty and its Impact on Research Culture
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31273/eirj.v11i3.1558Keywords:
academic work, higher education, research culture, survey research, time, writing retreatsAbstract
This article, based on our experience carrying out research culture surveys at our respective universities, discusses how ‘time poverty’ represents a significant challenge to the creation of positive research cultures. Time poverty is a term used to capture the fact that people persistently report having too many things to do and not enough time to do them, and is linked to poorer mental and physical health, as well as low productivity.
We argue that frameworks for defining and discussing research culture tend to be structured around tangible and easily categorised attributes. This can fragment and compartmentalise discussion and action toward discrete issues relating to research, and risks missing deeper structural and systemic issues that underlie them. To tackle time poverty, we will need a more systemic approach, requiring a broad range of solutions relating to the delivery of both research and education, and spanning from sector-wide level responses to individual behaviours. Without tackling time poverty, there is a risk that efforts to improve research culture will be stifled, because underlying issues still pervade and erode the culture, or simply because people don’t have time to engage with or contribute to change. We discuss these issues in relation to some of the findings from our institutional research culture surveys and work we’ve already started in our institutions and suggest some further actions to take.
Funding Acknowledgment
The work at Newcastle University was supported by Research England funding.
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Copyright (c) 2024 Karin Wahl-Jorgensen, Candy Rowe
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