Questions tagged [workplace]
Questions concerning the academic work environment. Do not use this for employment questions or questions relating to an industry career.
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How to stop a colleague from asking for my help in solving a very difficult problem?
Summary: My colleague is asking for my help in solving fundamental problem. They are having troubles on basic level, and I don't have time to guide them through it. How I can politely avoid wasting ...
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0
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2
answers
129
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Is it ok to take the help from others in solving the type of tasks discussed here in long-term working environment?
There are several types of tasks in academia. Some may be simple and some may be complex in nature. Although some tasks are very simple for many, they can be quite complex for me. If those tasks are ...
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16
answers
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Why does this site give different answers about leaving a bad situation compared to Workplace.SE? [closed]
If you take a look at the various questions on Academia Stack Exchange where abusive, rude, or unpleasant situations are presented, I feel there's often a culture of dismissal. Many comments and ...
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votes
1
answer
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Role of small talk in academia
Small talk in the title refer to the small questions or words that are culturally used in preserving and maintaining relations among people.
The normal small talk are as follows
How are you?
How is ...
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3
votes
1
answer
127
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Disagreement over how much IP to put in paper
Apologies if this is not the correct site for this- I work in a research lab that is in a kind of grey zone between academia and industry and I can't tell from the help centre if this would be ...
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0
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Is there position statement on academic research workplace
I wonder if there is any professional research organization (like Society for Neuroscience or National Academy of Science) that released an independent position statement or an opinion piece published ...
1
vote
2
answers
315
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Student comments from meetings frequently overreacted to by senior 'management' [closed]
I've worked at several UK institutions over the past 10 years and one aspect that consistently raises my eyebrows is the reaction to student-staff liaison meetings* from senior members of the team. ...
anon
1
vote
1
answer
198
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Inclusion of a non-contributor co-author [closed]
On the last day before the submission of our paper, a Ph.D. student in my group got her name added on the paper. She did not do anything but reformulate a sentence in our manuscript. I replied to that ...
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1
vote
1
answer
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Employee Recognition
I have recently become part of a group at my (european) university, where we are suppose to come up with suggestions for how the "the good effort" can be appreciated and/or recognized by the ...
- 111
10
votes
3
answers
510
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Aggressive stalling of a publication: how do I publish?
I am unable to advance three papers written while I was a postdoc, even to submission. Two coauthors constantly stall. They send 'additional rounds' of edits, pre-submission, with minor changes, stall ...
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4
answers
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My current PI is telling me that I am a very shy person and he is really pissed off, what I should do?
Today in the lab we had a birthday, I had participated, but not so much as I feel anxious in crowded areas. I felt very shy and that's true, so I withdrew from the party after 15 minutes and wished ...
user103209
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4
answers
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It seems my advisor doesn't trust me, but why?
Even though my advisor is reasonably friendly with me, it feels like he doesn't 'trust me' as much as he trusts the other grad student (let's call him X) in the lab. A few examples:
I joined a lab a ...
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13
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1
answer
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What things can I do as a job market candidate to gauge the internal political culture of a department that is hiring?
I am about to finish my phd and have been frustrated with the toxic politics and culture of my department.
During the job search, what are some specific things I can do to learn about the internal ...
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votes
3
answers
398
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How to deal with political (literal) situations in the workplace?
A few days ago, I went to have lunch with my colleagues (working in the same group). Somehow, the conversation turned towards politics and the "immigrant emergency" that Europe is currently facing.
...
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14
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1
answer
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Academic librarian: workplace characteristics, and comparison to T-T faculty job?
How do the mix of job duties, work environment, and other qualitative factors for academic librarians compare to those for tenure-track faculty? (Some academic librarians are tenure-track faculty, but ...
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3
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I think my PhD thesis has been plagiarised. What are the professional steps to take?
Background: I completed my PhD last Christmas and received it later on in the year.
My supervisor was very absent (there in person, but not at all a mentor)/not very supportive during my PhD. Early ...
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5
votes
3
answers
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Academia's view on body modification
I'm a young undergraduate student currently finishing my next-to-last year as a math bachelor. I plan to apply for a Masters as soon as I finish, and I look forward to a job as an academic researcher.
...
29
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10
answers
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Being Ostracized in Research Group
I currently am a sophomore in a US college. I have been accepted into a semester-long undergraduate research group. Officially, we have a faculty advisor as well as graduate student mentors. In ...
user78868
15
votes
2
answers
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What are the impacts of implementing a hot-desking model for grad student workspace?
The Dean of my faculty recently made the suggestion that we change the graduate student office spaces to a "hot-desking" or "hoteling" model. This is only being suggested for office space, not lab ...
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2
answers
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Motivational Letter for Work placement
I'm an italian student,attendig the university, and I have to apply for a Work placement during this year, in order to complete my path and graduate. I have already found a firm in London and I would ...
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1
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Persistent vandalism of professor's office, weak support from security. What steps to take next? [closed]
For three days in a row, someone has defecated in my office after hours.
I am tenured faculty at a small private school. There is no security camera in the area of my office and security has made ...
3
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3
answers
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Is it common for higher education institutions to offer sabbatical periods for administrative / support staff?
Occurred to me that some office-based private for-profit companies offer the opportunity of sabbatical periods to their staff.
Do most higher education institutions offer sabbatical periods for ...
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6
answers
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Working in an isolated environment
A while ago I got a job as a theoretical interdisciplinary modeler in a purely experimental lab of a different field from my own. It was an experiment for the lab and a big change for myself. It was ...
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4
answers
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Shared office is messy to the point that I can't do any work, how to proceed?
Four months in my postdoc and I feel the mess, up to the point that I can't further do any, any work in my office. Nothing. My passion, bioinformatics, is gone.
An office with 12 students where just ...
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4
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1k
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How to handle Co-author who is not listening the suggestions to improve the paper quality
Assume I am involved with a work and the lead author is writing a paper. However, after every draft version, I see that not all my comments are well addressed in the revised version. I expect that if ...
- 1,161
3
votes
1
answer
246
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Moved to a new city – how to start academically networking?
I have recently moved away from the town and university where I completed my masters degree to another city for personal reasons. Now I work here in academic information services and part of my work ...
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1
vote
0
answers
282
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Can I ask to be assigned to another project, if the ones I'm on seem unsuccessful?
I'm doing my MSc. in Computational Mathematics in Central Europe. Right after finishing my Bachelor's degree I began to work in our National Supercomputing Center, a research institute that is ...
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6
answers
1k
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Is this level of publication politics normal in academia?
I'm currently finishing up a master's thesis in computer science/applied mathematics and have for the last few years been sure of my goals: to pursue a PhD.
The decision to do a PhD or not should ...
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9
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4
answers
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How to handle rude and distracting fellow graduate student who sits in the same office?
In a nutshell, I hate one of my fellow PhD students. I am sitting in the office with that fellow graduate student who frequently interrupts me when I want to focus on my work. He also often is very ...
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Is it okay that my supervisor insists for me to work from my room at night?
I am a female PhD student in the end of my second year, and my supervisor has been acting weird lately. He asks me to run the experiments from my laptop and not from my PC in the lab (it does not ...
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1
answer
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Someone else's PhD student is not getting proper advising on methods. Should I interfere? How?
As in the title, someone else's PhD student is doing things that are clearly wrong in terms of statistical methodology. Because it is a field of social sciences where statistical methodology is not so ...
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13
answers
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How to deal with a nosy fellow graduate student?
There is another graduate student at my school working in the same area as me that is extremely nosy about my work. His curiosity definitely goes beyond the normal amount of "What are you working on?" ...
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How to deal with a colleague who always puts you down?
I am just starting out my PhD which will take 5 years to complete and I am dealing with a person in my own research group who cannot stop putting me down every chance she gets.
In our research ...
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25
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3
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How to efficiently plan holidays in academia?
It is holiday season, so I thought of re-considering my ways of holiday planning.
As a student, holidays in academia are somewhat shaped by the semester breaks and the lecture-free period. Working ...
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2
answers
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Leaving academia for financial reasons - how to communicate the reason of departure in a professional manner?
I recently finished my PhD and continued to work at the same department as assistant professor. Amid lack of funding, and other academic joys, the department went an extra mile to procure my contract ...
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9
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2
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What is my responsibility to my lab after I graduate?
I just finished a research-based Masters program, where nearly my entire degree was funded through sponsored research from a particular lab. In the normal schedule of events I should have had time ...
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7
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Is it possible to work from my parents' home on a postdoc?
I have a postdoc (in mathematics) lasting for less than 8 months. In the UK, at the area of the university, I find it difficult to find accommodation since no one wants to let to me for such a short ...
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10
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How to cope with lab noise?
I have searched a lot and I am surprised that this topic hasn't been discussed yet. I am an M.Sc. Student in Computer Science. Our lab is actually a dry lab in which we need to do a lot of reading of ...
user35129
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4
answers
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What should I do if I think a researcher in my university is intentionally employing incompetent people?
In our university there are a lot of great researchers and a very competent people in general. I've discovered today that one of our researchers is intentionally employing people who are totally ...
- 2,198
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7
answers
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Advisor suggesting my marriage may cause problems in Postdoc position search [closed]
I am currently looking for postdoctoral positions, and am considering applying overseas (in US right now). My advisor has expressed his opinion that I can not be successful in an overseas position ...
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3
answers
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Dealing with intern supervisor who underestimates my abilities
I am an undergraduate student who got into a voluntary internship for a year in my department.
Without going into much detail, I'm a trainee in the lab where programming lessons are held with lots of ...
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4
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Is it acceptable for professors to listen to music using headphones in the workplace when expecting student contact?
In my institution, I see a lot of research students and staff members listen to music using headphones in the workplace. It is a matter of personal preference, and I cannot see a problem in that while ...
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Is there a lack of oversight of how professors interact with students?
Why does there seem to be a lack of oversight when it comes to how professors interact with students?
For example, consider the following questions:
How to deal with an advisor who wants a "...
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votes
4
answers
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Why don't Universities provide staff/post-graduate with stationery?
When I worked in industry,
I had unchecked access to a huge stationery cupboard.
As did hundreds of other employees.
Full of useful things like:
Files, folders, binders
coloured pens, mechanical ...
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21
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6
answers
4k
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How much involvement should my advisor have in deciding my availability and actions for me? [closed]
I worked in the industry for a few years before starting my PhD and learned many do's and don'ts in the workplace for how you guide subordinates to attend meetings and do things you want them to do. I'...
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votes
2
answers
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Independence as a postdoc working with former PhD supervisor
Having recently finished my PhD, I have now secured funding to act as PI on a project.
I continue to work alongside my former PhD supervisor, with the old supervisor listed as a collaborator on the ...
anon
15
votes
1
answer
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What type of workplace accommodations are departments required to make for a mentally unhealthy faculty member?
We have a faculty member in my department who has mental health issues. These issues tend to flare up about three times a year, right at the beginning of the year, in January when grading is due and ...
- 104k
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1
answer
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On the verge of being "fired" from post-doc position, how to act towards supervisor?
I am in month 5 of an extremely unfulfilling post doc position in France. My sole responsibility is debugging 10k+ lines of spaghetti C++ code. I am a mechanical engineer and although I did my PhD ...
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votes
3
answers
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Do academicians routinely face discrimination in industry job searches?
I spent sometime recently at a HR department of a government company (in the utilities) in the US.
I accidentally found a file that listed out interview outcomes for new applications for a technical ...
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4
answers
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How to complain about a Ph.D student to a professor
I am a undergraduate student who also work as the systems administrator in the school. I also do research work under a professor. Recently, I had to work on this professor's lab to upgrade the older ...
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