Academia

Questions tagged [workplace]

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Questions concerning the academic work environment. Do not use this for employment questions or questions relating to an industry career.

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1answer
152 views

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 ...
1
vote
1answer
106 views

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 ...
9
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3answers
327 views

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 ...
30
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4answers
7k views

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 ...
25
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4answers
7k views

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 ...
13
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1answer
331 views

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 ...
4
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3answers
288 views

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. ...
13
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1answer
345 views

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 ...
10
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3answers
2k views

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 ...
5
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3answers
826 views

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. ...
27
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10answers
11k views

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 ...
15
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2answers
778 views

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 ...
0
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2answers
944 views

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 ...
-2
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1answer
660 views

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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3answers
292 views

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 ...
33
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6answers
4k views

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 ...
19
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4answers
4k views

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 ...
8
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4answers
688 views

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 ...
3
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1answer
201 views

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 ...
1
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0answers
137 views

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 ...
16
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6answers
935 views

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 ...
9
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4answers
2k views

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 ...
76
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5answers
15k views

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 ...
24
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1answer
1k views

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 ...
82
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13answers
13k views

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?" ...
79
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20answers
16k views

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 ...
25
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3answers
1k views

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 ...
27
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2answers
4k views

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 ...
9
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2answers
359 views

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 ...
27
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7answers
4k views

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 ...
25
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10answers
5k views

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 ...
17
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4answers
8k views

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 ...
26
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7answers
6k views

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 ...
6
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3answers
2k views

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 ...
26
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4answers
5k views

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 ...
9
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6answers
3k views

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 "...
5
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4answers
428 views

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 ...
21
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6answers
3k views

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'...
6
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2answers
2k views

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 ...
15
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1answer
446 views

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 ...
7
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1answer
3k views

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 ...
6
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3answers
714 views

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 ...
1
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4answers
2k views

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 ...
-2
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1answer
210 views

Ph.D or not Ph.D? [duplicate]

On october I get a master degrees of computer science. The thesis period is very full but I love it, because I learn every day new knowledge. Now my fear is to finish and get a boring job. Yes, the ...
32
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6answers
2k views

Is open-plan office for academia at all?

Where I did my PhD, typically two PhD students shared an office room. In constrast, where I am working as a postdoc now, about 50 PhDs and postdocs share an open-plan office. I find it difficult to ...
9
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1answer
558 views

I have been pigeonholed, how can I solve it?

I can program, write papers and research. I'm better at research, but due to the lack of programmers I've been assigned programming tasks in my current institution. Additionally, I have little ...
4
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2answers
451 views

how not to burn bridges between two academic jobs?

Last year I have been submitting my CV to different faculties for a lecturing position. Of all the ones that I applied only one was more serious and wanted to keep in touch (institution A), the other ...
3
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2answers
389 views

crossroads between continue working or going to a PhD

Here is my situation, I got a MSc from a renowned university in Europe and I have been working as a lecturer in a non-EU country until now. I am in my mid thirties (upper part =)) and I have came to ...
26
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4answers
6k views

How do you deal with trolling students?

This is inspired by the other question about dealing with stupid questions. The popular answers all seemed to assume that the student really wants to hear an answer. While this is a reasonable ...
67
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10answers
8k views

How to work efficiently under loose supervision during graduate studies?

I work in a very cross-disciplinary field, which has caused me some headache* over the past couple of years, partly due to the fact that my supervisor isn't very knowledgeable regarding the day to day ...

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