Sometimes I reject the idea that I'm an academic.
But, here we are.
- I am still, by the skin of my teeth, a doctoral student which means I am part of an academic institution. I have a PURE account and an Orcid ID. I have access to the private resources of the academic institution (most precious of which is a library log-in). This is the everyday garb of an academic.
- I have peer reviewed publications under my belt. These are the finery of an academic.
- I don't just find things out or do contract research or try to make sense of life. I think about how people live their lives and try to make sense of life. I think about what research means, what counts as 'knowing', what 'quality' means in relation to research. This is the thinking of an academic.
Orcid (my ID is 0000-0002-2608-7170) and Scopus keep a record of my publications, which saves me the trouble. But they miss the one that is most precious to me because it was my first. It is also the only thing published in just my name. And thereby hangs a tale, because it should have been co-authored. But for that tale, you need will need to go and read the review. It is not included in Orcid or Scopus because it was 'just' a book review. So, for those of you who are interested (and so I can find the citation when I need it!), here it is:
(2016) Changing social attitudes toward disability: perspectives from historical, cultural, and educational studies, Disability & Society, 31:5, 718-720, DOI: 10.1080/09687599.2016.1167362
I still need to add a few academic outputs to this blog post that are not on my Orchid profile. Things like a co-presented paper at the Lancaster disability conference, and a co-presented paper at a National Research Methods Festival - both co-authored and co-presented with my colleague Alan Armstrong. Oh, and the co-presented paper at the WISERD conference where we won a prize for the best collaborative paper. That one was with Alan and Dr Sara Louise Wheeler. And then there's the poster, accepted at the National Social Services Conference one year, co-created with Sara and Dr Roger S Slack. You see, as long as I've been reluctant to identify as an academic, I have been dismissive of academic finery. I have not kept track of those trappings that make up an academic profile.
To complete my doctoral studies, I need to own that identity, I need to 'be an academic' at least for now. And that means learning to value and curate my academic outputs. It means creating an academic persona. It means giving myself over to institutional processes and bureaucracies.
It means working on my academic profile.
