Navigating old and new terrains of academic practice in higher education: indelible and invisible marks left from the Covid-19 lockdown

Higher education has been (re)shaped by the Covid-19 pandemic in ways which have left both indelible and invisible marks of that period. Drawing on relevant literature, and informed by an exchange catalysed through a visual narrative method, authors from four European universities engage with two reflective questions in this article: As academics, what were our experiences of our practice during the lockdown periods of the Covid-19 pandemic? What might we carry forward, resist or reimagine in landscapes of academic practice emerging in the post-Covid future? The article explores how academics experienced and demonstrated resilience and ingenuity in their academic practice during that turbulent time. Particular insights include entanglements of the personal and professional, and the importance, affordances and limitations of technology. In addition, the authors reflect on some of the ongoing challenges exacerbated by the pandemic, such as education inequalities. The article concludes by reprising the key points about what marks are left behind in the post-Covid present, and how these relate to the future in which relational pedagogy and reflexivity are entangled in the ways in which we cohabit virtual and physical academic spaces. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of London Review of Education is the property of UCL Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Entering a Career as an ECR in an Increasingly Shifting Academic Landscape: The Value of Different Forms of Capital

Previous research has indicated that many PhD students undertake a PhD degree with the goal of pursuing a career in academia. Due to the competitive nature of the post-PhD job market, many of these students feel the necessity to undertake extra work outside of their degrees to increase their chances of securing employment via increasing their overall academic profile. Examples of this work include publishing in academic journals, as well as gaining teaching experience in higher education settings. The PhD journey in and of itself can be an all-encompassing lived experience, placing the doctoral student under high levels of stress, as well as negatively impacting their work/life balance and overall wellbeing. As such, any additional work taken on by the student can further add to this burden. The COVID-19 pandemic has generated an environment of economic instability in the field of higher education, which has worsened the competitive academic employment landscape. Using Bourdieu's theory of practice, in this chapter I will detail my own experiences in the field of higher education. This will include (a) my experiences as a PhD student attempting to develop my academic profile to be a competitive candidate in the post-PhD job market, and (b) as an early career researcher navigating this job market throughout the pandemic. Of particular interest is the concept of capital and how the value of various types of capital have shifted throughout the pandemic, and subsequently how my experiences of this within the field of higher education have influenced my overall academic identity. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.

Hajime! Karate as Academic Salvation

In March 2020, an official international declaration of a global pandemic resulted in worldwide uncertainty as our everyday experiences, including those within academia, were being hijacked by a contagion. Herein, I merge a philosophy of phenomenology with the methodology of autoethnography to elicit my personal story by recounting my academic experiences throughout the pandemic. This chapter describes how the first lockdown compelled a swift resignation from my revered, yet altered, academic position followed by an enrolment in PhD studies while simultaneously registering for Karate. Unexpectedly, training in Karate has proven to be a key ally in sculpting my academic identity, presenting as academic salvation during a time of professional crisis and global despondency. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.

Empowerment in the Crisis: Narratives of COVID-19 Generation Researchers

The COVID-19 pandemic influenced higher degree by research (HDR) students' academic experiences profoundly as it forced HDR students to adjust their intensive and demanding research work and studies according to unforeseeable challenges. This was particularly challenging for international HDR students as they had rather limited resources in their host countries to cope with uncertainties, and the university emergency responses gave them limited attention and support. This resulted in many international HDR students feeling disempowered. However, recent research on international HDR students' experience in their host countries during the pandemic remains sparse. From an insiders' account, this autoethnography study aims to bridge this gap, investigating two Australia-based Chinese HDR students' struggles in their research studies and their academic identity self-formation. This study presents that the international HDR students managed to empower themselves by holding on to their support systems and exercising their agency in the middle of uncertainty. The findings presented in the study add to the understanding of the importance of providing a more inclusive and supportive environment for international HDR students' development. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.

"Locked Down, But Inspired”: Beginning Our Research Studies During COVID-19

This chapter presents a collaborative autoethnography of our experiences as beginning researchers during the COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020. Specifically, it explores how completing our doctoral preparation degrees during these unsettled times positively influenced the development of our academic identities. By drawing on transformative learning as a conceptual metaphor, we consider how we connected with our researcher voices online, reimagined our understanding of a virtual research community, and transformed the limitations imposed on our research as an impetus for creativity. We argue that just as we redefined our research and academic identities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important for academia as a whole to recognise and harness the potential for transformation as it responds to the new COVID-normal. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.

Research and Teaching in a Pandemic World: The Challenges of Establishing Academic Identities During Times of Crisis

This book adopts collaborative autoethnography as its methodology, and presents the collective witnessing of experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic within the higher education sector. Through the presentation of staff and student experiences and what was learnt from them, the authors examine the global phenomenon that is the COVID-19 pandemic through the purposeful exploration of their own experiences. This book presents an overall argument about the state of higher education in the middle of the pandemic and highlights academic issues and region-specific challenges. The reflections presented in this book offer insights for other staff and students, as well as academic policy-makers, regarding the pandemic experiences of those within academia. It also offers practical suggestions as to how we as a global community can move forward post-pandemic. © The Editor(s)(if applicable)and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.

CODA The Challenges of Establishing Academic Identities During Times of Crisis

This section of the book synthesises authors' contributions by reflecting on the key themes identified in the various stories told within the chapters. It briefly describes the impact that marginalisation, parenthood, mental health, and virtual participation had on the formation of academic identity during the COVID-19 pandemic. The section ends with the editors' thoughts on what was achieved in this volume, in addition to the challenges that lie ahead. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.

Introduction to the COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Impact on Higher Education

This chapter investigates the wide-reaching impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on higher education. It collates surveys conducted by large organizations to assess the effects of the pandemic on academia. The chapter then discusses changes in academic workload among academic staff and their consequences for retention and burnout. It then turns to the perspectives of academics and students in relation to remote learning and research collaboration. Finally, the chapter touches on the long-term ramifications that pandemic-related restrictions may have for academic identity and higher education. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.

Reflections on Developing Academic Identity During the Pandemic

This work is a post-modern autoethnographic reflexive narrative about the internal journey in the development of academic identity arising in the context of the transition from working as a casual academic to engagement for a short-term contract and beyond in the quest for tenure during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is an exploration of my personal story about moving from the periphery of academic belonging and being, to reaching the turning point going ‘over the bridge' toward the future cycles of becoming that await. This study highlights the importance of a sense of belonging and connection in the academic community as a foundation for being and future becoming. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.

Preface: Research and Teaching in a Pandemic World

Research and Teaching in a Pandemic World explores how the academic identities of students and staff were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This chapter outlines the main motivation for writing this book and provides a brief overview of the chapters that follow. This book was initiated to allow the chapter authors to narrate their emotional journeys during a time of significant upheaval. We believe that stories matter;individual experiences matter. The stories in this book are of trauma, grief, and loss, but also highlight moments of resilience and growth. As the editors, we encourage the reader to explore these stories with us. In this book, you will discover stories which either resonate with, or differ significantly from, your own experience. As you read these stories, then, we encourage you to reflect on your own journey during the COVID-19 pandemic—you may be surprised at the response this reflection evokes. In this way, we can all bear collective witness to the often-times idiosyncratic ways in which the pandemic has affected us all. It is only through this collective witnessing that we can learn to move forward into a post-pandemic society. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.

Academics in Lockdown: A Gendered Perspective on Self-Esteem in Academia during the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown

This qualitative research explores the experiences and sense-making of self-worth of 1857 South African women academics during the enforced pandemic lockdown between March and September 2020;the study was conducted through an inductive, content analysis process. Since worldwide lockdowns were imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, women academics, in particular, have reported a unique set of challenges from working from home. Gender inequality within the scientific enterprise has been well documented;however, the cost to female academics' self-esteem, which has been exacerbated by the pandemic, has yet to be fully realized. The findings of the study include negative emotional experiences related to self-worth, engagement in social comparisons, and the fear of judgement by colleagues, which were exacerbated by peer pressure. Finally, the sense-making of academic women's self-esteem as it relates to their academic identity was reported. Beyond being the first comprehensive national study on the topic, the study's insights are more broadly useful for determining what support, accommodation, and assistance is needed for academic women to sustain performance in their academic and research duties at universities worldwide. © 2023 by the authors.

Academic Identity during COVID-19

The recent Coronavirus pandemic triggered a global shift in higher education to fully embrace online platforms. With such a significant shift of academic workload and focus, we explore potential issues arising about how this shapes academic identity. Our interest is on how the adoption of a flexible pedagogy shapes an academic's sense of work and place and whether this is for some a readjustment of what is believed to be a normative view of an academic as teacher, while for others it may be a challenge to their values. Through a sampling of academics at a UK Higher Education Institution (HEI) we determine that the rapid move to remote teaching has resulted in the establishment of a transient identity that has yet to be consolidated as the sector moves from crisis-respondent transactional delivery models, to one of permanency that reflects the skills, competencies, and values of the digitally literate academic 4.0. © 2022 Common Ground Research Networks. All rights reserved.

Changing the narrative of disengagement: Exploring academic identity formation for non-ethno-European students

The COVID-19 pandemic and the changing demographics of the American identity have drawn attention to the necessity of reforming the Ethno-European education system to meet the needs of a diverse student population. If the educational landscape is to be transformed to meet the needs of a growing non-Ethno-European student population, more research is needed to explore factors that increase non-Ethno-European students' academic engagement. This research attempted to identify individual and systemic factors contributing to non-Ethno-European students' academic engagement during secondary education. This exploration began by outlining the role a cohesive identity continuum has on education engagement for non-Ethno-European students. Antecedent moderators of academic engagement for non-Ethno-European students were explored utilizing the seminal work of attachment theory by John Bowlby (1969) and Mary Ainsworth (1991), the Psychosocial Development of Identity Formation theory by Erik Erikson (1950), and Social Identity theory by Tajfel (1972). This exploratory research used a Convergent-Parallel Mixed Method design to evaluate potential antecedent moderators during the 2020-2021 academic year. The Convergent-Parallel Mixed Method used three research instruments to explore whether Ethnic Identity, Grit, and other school engagement factors (SEI) contribute to student attendance. The research also used a semi-structured interview to explore teacher and student perceptions and expectations about factors influencing student engagement. For this research, student engagement is defined as the number of days students attend school. As such, the terms student engagement and the number of days students attended school is used synonymously throughout the dissertation.The QUAN portion of the research utilized varies from three research instruments: Ethnic Identity Scale, Grit Scale, and Student Engagement Scale (SEI), as well as the number of days students attended school during the 2020-2021 school year. The QUAN portion of the research revealed statistically significant differences between grade-level groups, 10th graders and 12th graders, as well as among Gender, males, and females, for the Grit scale, though the variables were not statistically significant predictors of student attendance. In the QUAL portion of the research, a semi-structured interview was conducted to explore student and teacher perceptions of factors that increase or decrease school engagement. This research portion points to students' psychosocial moratorium as an antecedent factor influencing student and teacher classroom interactions. Lastly, a teacher's Psychological Grind appears to be an essential phenomenon with theoretical implications among teachers of non-Ethno-European students. A teacher's Psychological Grind may facilitate the intersectionality between a student's psychosocial moratorium and academic engagement. A teacher's Psychological Grind is defined as the ability of an educator to remain emotionally and psychologically engaged and consistent, despite a student's emotional and cognitive instability. The finding points to the need for further research on how students' attachment patterns contribute to their psychosocial moratorium influencing biases and perceptions about the education system and its teachers well before entering the classroom. Teachers have a brief window of opportunity to contribute to a healthy attachment with students. Teachers must attune, grasp, interpret, and respond to the student's internal and external needs to create a healthy attachment to students. Focusing on a teacher's and student's attachment patterns, the student's psychosocial moratorium, and a teacher's Psychological Grind has the potential to guide future research in exploring attachment patterns as antecedent moderating factors of school engagement among non-Ethno-European students. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Shifting sands: Navigating being academic in an evolving sector

The evolution of the higher education sector has included a strong focus on academic performance despite increasing workloads and employment precarity, with COVID-19 further disrupting traditional university expectations. Drawing on HERD's author voices from 2010 to 2020, this reflective review examines the changing nature of academe, mapping the shifts in role and identity that occur through an academic's career life cycle. The mechanisms to support these developmental journeys are examined, highlighting the role that development agencies and university leaders need to play in supporting the holistic development of academics (and researchers), particularly as expectations evolve. Implications for a post-COVID sector are explored, suggesting this disruptive phase will require more responsive support from universities, developers and university leaders. The paper identifies gaps in research and commentary that warrant further exploration by scholars in the future. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Building academic resilience: Lessons for academics and institutions

In this penultimate chapter, we link the key themes on academic resilience to the changing context of the academic workforce around the world. We provide provocations for individual academics and institutional leaders to reflect on the complexities of the academic landscape and academic identity regardless of contexts and adversities. We include in this chapter powerful reflections for academics and institutions to build academic resilience by tapping into structural or institutional resources, collective solidarities, and personal resources. By offering these reflections, we hope our readers-individuals and institutions-will reflect on strategies to navigate the changing and unstable terrains of academia. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Block and tackle or interfere: Student-athletes identities & well-being

Athletic and academic identities among college student-athletes have been identified as important determinants of their academic achievement, career preparation, and sport termination. However, less is known about how these two identities, independently or simultaneously may be related to student-athletes' overall (e.g., levels of optimism and happiness) or sport-wellbeing (e.g., satisfaction with one's sport performance). To this end, the purpose of the study was to examine how student-athletes' academic and athletic identities are associated with their overall and sport well-being in a U.S. national sample of 241 Division I student-athletes. I also examined whether the relationship between these two identities and well-being would be moderated by the student-athletes' year in school, gender, or race. Because this study took place during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (Summer of 2020), I also explored whether interruptions to school and sport activities due to the pandemic would also affect student-athletes reported overall and sport well-being. Results showed a significant positive relationship between academic identity and overall well-being, and a negative relationship between athletic identity and sport well-being. Additionally, year in school and race were significant correlates of sport well-being, with lowerclassmen student-athletes (first- and second-year students) and White student-athletes reporting higher levels of sport well-being than their counterparts. Race and gender were also significant predictors of overall well-being. Specifically, male student-athletes and White student-athletes reported higher levels of overall well-being than student-athletes identifying as female or as a person of color. Finally, results also indicated that COVID-19 were negatively associated with participants' overall and sport well-being. However, the relationship between academic nor athletic identity and well-being (i.e., overall, sport well-being) were not moderated by self-reported rage, gender, year in school, or COVID-19 interruptions. After a review of the current literature and its limitations, findings and implications for practice with student-athletes are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Management as ideology: "New” managerialism and the corporate university in the period of Covid-19

In this paper, we examine how Covid-19 was utilized by the management of a university as a catalyst for ideological change, with the objective of transforming the ethos of a university management school and the role(s) of the academics employed within. Through new modes of working that maintained corporeal distance between university staff, market-based ideology was mobilized to institute radical and lasting change within the roles of academics and operations of the institution. We focus on a singular case study: "Blue Management School” (BMS, pseudonym), based within an English mid-tier research university which has historically embraced corporatization more readily than most of its peers. We conducted a qualitative analysis of management email communications and from interviews with nine academics (both current and former employees) who were working at BMS during the time concerned (March 2020 onward). We observe that Covid-19 posed significant challenges to corporatized universities, and that university managers at BMS sought to address these challenges by undertaking further steps toward corporatization and mobilizing organizational change legitimized by the need to manage the Covid-19 situation. This included hierarchical forms of accountability, with academics answering for module content to teaching convenors and the management team ("manager academics”). We draw attention to how management communications carried profound effects for the mobilization of ideological change within the institution, during this period. In addition, academic identity was affected, moving away from traditional research and teaching scholars toward revenue-generating customer service workers, facilitating a power shift away from academics and further toward managers. © 2023 The Authors. Financial Accountability & Management published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Academic Identity during COVID-19

The recent Coronavirus pandemic triggered a global shift in higher education to fully embrace online platforms. With such a significant shift of academic workload and focus, we explore potential issues arising about how this shapes academic identity. Our interest is on how the adoption of a flexible pedagogy shapes an academic's sense of work and place and whether this is for some a readjustment of what is believed to be a normative view of an academic as teacher, while for others it may be a challenge to their values. Through a sampling of academics at a UK Higher Education Institution (HEI) we determine that the rapid move to remote teaching has resulted in the establishment of a transient identity that has yet to be consolidated as the sector moves from crisis-respondent transactional delivery models, to one of permanency that reflects the skills, competencies, and values of the digitally literate academic 4.0.

Block and tackle or interfere: Student-athletes identities & well-being

Athletic and academic identities among college student-athletes have been identified as important determinants of their academic achievement, career preparation, and sport termination. However, less is known about how these two identities, independently or simultaneously may be related to student-athletes' overall (e.g., levels of optimism and happiness) or sport-wellbeing (e.g., satisfaction with one's sport performance). To this end, the purpose of the study was to examine how student-athletes' academic and athletic identities are associated with their overall and sport well-being in a U.S. national sample of 241 Division I student-athletes. I also examined whether the relationship between these two identities and well-being would be moderated by the student-athletes' year in school, gender, or race. Because this study took place during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (Summer of 2020), I also explored whether interruptions to school and sport activities due to the pandemic would also affect student-athletes reported overall and sport well-being. Results showed a significant positive relationship between academic identity and overall well-being, and a negative relationship between athletic identity and sport well-being. Additionally, year in school and race were significant correlates of sport well-being, with lowerclassmen student-athletes (first- and second-year students) and White student-athletes reporting higher levels of sport well-being than their counterparts. Race and gender were also significant predictors of overall well-being. Specifically, male student-athletes and White student-athletes reported higher levels of overall well-being than student-athletes identifying as female or as a person of color. Finally, results also indicated that COVID-19 were negatively associated with participants' overall and sport well-being. However, the relationship between academic nor athletic identity and well-being (i.e., overall, sport well-being) were not moderated by self-reported rage, gender, year in school, or COVID-19 interruptions. After a review of the current literature and its limitations, findings and implications for practice with student-athletes are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Changing the narrative of disengagement: Exploring academic identity formation for non-ethno-European students

The COVID-19 pandemic and the changing demographics of the American identity have drawn attention to the necessity of reforming the Ethno-European education system to meet the needs of a diverse student population. If the educational landscape is to be transformed to meet the needs of a growing non-Ethno-European student population, more research is needed to explore factors that increase non-Ethno-European students' academic engagement. This research attempted to identify individual and systemic factors contributing to non-Ethno-European students' academic engagement during secondary education. This exploration began by outlining the role a cohesive identity continuum has on education engagement for non-Ethno-European students. Antecedent moderators of academic engagement for non-Ethno-European students were explored utilizing the seminal work of attachment theory by John Bowlby (1969) and Mary Ainsworth (1991), the Psychosocial Development of Identity Formation theory by Erik Erikson (1950), and Social Identity theory by Tajfel (1972). This exploratory research used a Convergent-Parallel Mixed Method design to evaluate potential antecedent moderators during the 2020-2021 academic year. The Convergent-Parallel Mixed Method used three research instruments to explore whether Ethnic Identity, Grit, and other school engagement factors (SEI) contribute to student attendance. The research also used a semi-structured interview to explore teacher and student perceptions and expectations about factors influencing student engagement. For this research, student engagement is defined as the number of days students attend school. As such, the terms student engagement and the number of days students attended school is used synonymously throughout the dissertation.The QUAN portion of the research utilized varies from three research instruments: Ethnic Identity Scale, Grit Scale, and Student Engagement Scale (SEI), as well as the number of days students attended school during the 2020-2021 school year. The QUAN portion of the research revealed statistically significant differences between grade-level groups, 10th graders and 12th graders, as well as among Gender, males, and females, for the Grit scale, though the variables were not statistically significant predictors of student attendance. In the QUAL portion of the research, a semi-structured interview was conducted to explore student and teacher perceptions of factors that increase or decrease school engagement. This research portion points to students' psychosocial moratorium as an antecedent factor influencing student and teacher classroom interactions. Lastly, a teacher's Psychological Grind appears to be an essential phenomenon with theoretical implications among teachers of non-Ethno-European students. A teacher's Psychological Grind may facilitate the intersectionality between a student's psychosocial moratorium and academic engagement. A teacher's Psychological Grind is defined as the ability of an educator to remain emotionally and psychologically engaged and consistent, despite a student's emotional and cognitive instability. The finding points to the need for further research on how students' attachment patterns contribute to their psychosocial moratorium influencing biases and perceptions about the education system and its teachers well before entering the classroom. Teachers have a brief window of opportunity to contribute to a healthy attachment with students. Teachers must attune, grasp, interpret, and respond to the student's internal and external needs to create a healthy attachment to students. Focusing on a teacher's and student's attachment patterns, the student's psychosocial moratorium, and a teacher's Psychological Grind has the potential to guide future research in exploring attachment patterns as antecedent moderating factors of school engagement among non-Ethno-European students. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)