About
PhD Project: Working conditions of academic professionals.
Reference: UI/BD/154289/2022 (protocol FCT and IS-UP)
Supervisor: Carlos Manuel Gonçalves (IS-UP); co-supervisor: Virgílio Borges Pereira (IS-UP)
Timeline: March 2023-February 2026
Abstract: This research project aims to address the scarcity of studies on the precariousness of academic careers in higher education as a result of the “corporatisation” and overlapping of “mission” trends (teaching, research and externalisation). We seek to reflect on the implications of recent reforms that have contributed to a process of "hybridisation" of functions (teaching, research and management), visible in everyday work and careers, and associated with signs of precariousness. Based on a qualitative comprehensive and interpretive methodology, we propose to carry out interviews and focus group sessions with teachers and researchers on their perceptions of their working conditions, based on the public reforms imposed on higher education, and also how they plan them with the increased use of the “digital” resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition to contributing to the production of relevant and innovative academic knowledge in this field, the results obtained will make the debate on the quality of academic careers more visible on the political and institutional agenda.
End beneficiaries/target population: i) Tenured and contract teachers in public higher education (universities and polytechnics); ii) Researchers linked to R&D centres (recruited through public tenders and scientific employment); iii) Experts in higher education management policies, experts in working conditions for teachers and researchers, and experts in digital education.
