Building Utopia, Part 5: Poor People and Project Management Skills.

A series of 6 blogposts where I offer my personal perspective on problems with academic culture from the point of view of a former early career researcher. I make suggestions on how to start combating these problems, based on my professional experience of 12 years in British academia, which included positions at Oxford, King’s College and University College London between 2008 and 2020.

Other Parts in this Series: Part 0 | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Problem #5: Poor People and Project Management Skills

Problem Statement

Academics are hired and promoted overwhelmingly on the basis of their publication record. Their mentorship and management skills are a minor factor in the equation, making it unsurprising that the sector is rife with and infamous for inefficient and wasteful management of people and resources.

Process and Consequences

Academic career progression contains at its heart a paradox, which is that a successful scientist is rewarded for their talent at the bench by being placed behind a desk and suddenly tasked with managing people and projects rather than doing the scientific work they excelled at.