Navigating an academic career: An ECR reflection before, during and post PhD
In this CYGNA collaboration, I highlight that there is a space for everyone to belong, and for academia to be done differently and with care
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I would like to start this post by thanking the founding team for creating CYGNA as a space premised on care, opening up opportunities and doors for many to belong and flourish in their academic careers and the current Lead Team for carrying the torch to new heights. I would like to also thank Susanna Menis for her contagious enthusiasm which enabled this collaboration to see the light.
Since I joined CYGNA in my second year as a doctoral researcher, I got to meet many wonderful colleagues (some of them are my now co-authors!) and have been introduced to plenty of academic opportunities and events. Now after almost five years from joining, and as an early career academic on my first full-time academic job, I felt more confident in sharing some insights to give back to this community. When I saw Susy’s email, I got excited and shared with her my interest in opening up discussions with doctoral researchers and early career academics on navigating academic careers.
The workshop: Navigating an academic career
Targeting postgraduates and early career researchers as main audience, the aim of this online session was to reflect on and share my lived academic experiences of successes and failures, opportunities and challenges in navigating an academic career, starting from a PhD journey up until the very first full-time academic job. While rejecting the ‘one-size-fits all’ principle, the session was divided into three key stages (before, during and after PhD) represented metaphorically (alien, octopus, and doors and ladders) centring around themes on juggling different academic demands in relation to research, publishing, and teaching.
The positive engagement and interest in this collaboration was evident upon its announcement through the mailing list and social media platforms, with more than 50 signing up to 28 attendees not only across different disciplines, places, academic stages, cultures, but also diverse in gender, race and age. Lasting for one hour, it was heartwarming to be part of this collaborative space and see how it was well-received.
Key take aways from this collaboration
- Finding familiarity in difference: When I first discussed this collaboration with Susy, I was aware of our disciplinary difference, and this difference was further reflected in the diverse backgrounds of our audience. However, at the end of the session, when we opened the space for everyone to reflect, there was a comforting sense of shared familiarity through which we connected, notwithstanding intersectional differences.
- There is fun and joy in doing things differently: I always admired feminists and academics who came before me and paved the way to doing academia differently. This has inspired my academic being and becoming and is illuminated through my writing and researching. While fun and exciting, presenting differently comes with anxiety on how it would be received by audience. I was hesitant to structure and present the session the way I did, but it was so rewarding to see the positive engagement and comments at the end of the session. I am now more encouraged to present differently more often!
- Vulnerability is strength: Sharing your story by putting yourself out there makes you more vulnerable, under the gaze of the public eye. Yet, sharing this vulnerability in caring spaces, is power, and when vulnerability is shared collectively, it can be transformative.
Related video
Related pages
- About Cygna - Background on the CYGNA network
- Quick overview - Overview of presentations in our meetings with linked slidedecks
- Meetings - Information about forthcoming CYGNA meetings, and links to prior years
- Membership - Information for and about the Cygna network membership
- Readings and inspirations - Inspirational readings and resources for female academics
- The Cygna charter - Documents our CYGNA charter
- Cygna videos - Repository of introduction videos of our new CYGNA coordination team
- Cygna history - Tracing the history of our network since 2014, includes links to all of our meetings
- Frequently asked questions - Everything you may want to know about the CYGNA network and more
- The SWAN project - Initiated by Christa Sathish and Clarice Santos and implemented by Jacqueline Leon Ribas, this project created two swans reflecting CYGNA’s equal, inclusive, collective identity and the diversity of the network and its members
- Conference meet-ups - Provides brief write-ups of CYGNA conference meet-ups
- 10-year Anniversary event - Programme page for our 10-year anniversary event
- International Women's Day - Our collection of posts for international women's day
- CYG: Teaching & Scholarship Research - Our first CYG = SIG = Special Interest Group
- CYG: Career stage CYGs - Introductory page for our new career stage CYGs
- Cygna Writes - Introductory page for our new CYGNA Writes initiative - Writing in Community, Achieving in Silence
- Cygna Collaborations - Reports on some of the many collaborations our swans have engaged in across the CYGNA network
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Copyright © 2025 Amal Abdellatif. All rights reserved. Page last modified on Sat 10 May 2025 07:44
Dr Amal Abdellatif is Assistant Professor in Organisation Studies at Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University. Amal’s research centres around inequalities at different intersections of difference, otherness and marginalisation, and alternative forms of feminist organising. In exploring these themes, Amal draws upon diverse theoretical constructs and adopts unconventional qualitative methodologies and the use of visual and art-based approaches. Her work is published in top leading academic journals including Journal of Business Ethics, Organization, Gender, Work and Organization, Culture and Organization. She holds board roles in different non-for-profit organisations and is the Social Media Editor at Management Learning Journal, as well as Media and Social Media Section Co-Editor-in-Chief at Culture and Organization Journal.
