Please find below the details of the conference announcement for the
Academic Identities in Crisis? September 4th - 6th September 2008 at
University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), Preston Campus. 

 
Conference Website - www.uclan.ac.uk/host/academic-crisis/


Please find Conference booking/registration form on the website 

 
This interdisciplinary conference will break new ground by exploring
questions of identity as they relate to teaching, research, moves
between disciplines or even professions, career and lifecourse
transitions and public and private identities.  Stuart Hall talks of the
'suturing' process of constructing our identities out of fragments
(1996), and we begin from the position that our identities are fragile
and constantly shifting.  However, there may well be some common and
recurrent features, and we invite colleagues from all subject areas and
roles, both inside and outside universities, to join us in mapping some
of our identities and possibly finding synergies. 

 
 Keynote Speakers 

Professor Laurie Taylor 

Professor Heidi Macpherson (De Montfort University) 

Professor Paul Trowler (University of Lancaster) 

Professor Gina Wisker (University of Brighton) 

Questions to consider include:

 How is your research and/or teaching identity structured? Is it literal
or symbolic? What metaphors do you use to explain and analyse your
practice?

 What is the relationship between you and your research topic/teaching
area? What models do you use for understanding your academic work?

 How do you negotiate the interface between the ivory tower and the
marketplace? How do you get your research 'out there'? How do you
construct and negotiate a 'public' identity?

 How do the texts, objects, people and places you research reflect
and/or shape your identity?

 Can you map changes in your identity through transformations in your
teaching/research, especially from postgraduate to lecturer/researcher
or from lecturer/research to professor? What about mapping changes in
your identity if you have moved from one discipline to another or one
role to another? How can interdisciplinarity be managed? How/Have you
managed to transfer your identity into the public arena?

 How do you manage the academic identities of others, either through
line management or staff

development roles?

 Have changes in your life prompted transformations in your
research/teaching? How can we or how do we 'enjoy' these identities?

 Is there a conflict between your teaching and research identity? Do you
have more than one identity for different contexts and occasions and
does this cause you any physical and/or emotional and/or professional
difficulties? Do you have an 'ideal' identity you are trying to attain
and, if so, where does this come from (books, films, mentors etc.)? What
choices are we presented with?

 How do you think others conceive of your research, teaching or public
identities? What do external evaluators say/write about your research
(peer review, book reviews, in the news, at conferences) or your
teaching (students, peer observation etc.)? How do you feel about this?

 How do you negotiate external challenges to your research or teaching
identity such as the RAE, employability agenda, corporate strategies,
widening participation, QA, and internationalism etc.?

 
Why you would be interested in this conference

This conference will be of interest to anyone who wishes to reflect upon
and interrogate their academic identity, in any subject area and from a
variety of backgrounds. 


Conference details can be found at the conference website: 

Conference Website - www.uclan.ac.uk/host/academic-crisis/

 
Thank you very much for your time. 

Gail Simpson
Conference Officer
Conference & Events Management
Catering & Conferences
University Of Central Lancashire
Room 10
Foster Building
Preston
Lancashire PR1 2HE
Tel No: + 44 (0) 1772 892656
Fax No: + 44 (0) 1772 892977
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