The End of Exploring

Abstract

April is the cruelest month, according to the modernist poet T. S. Eliot [1] , drawing attention to the difficulty of renewal after winter, and how hope can be more unbearable than despair. Within academia, and perhaps especially in science, technology, engineering maths, and medicine (STEMM) subjects, there is a “Red Queen” problem: the need to keep running just to stay still [2] . This produces a continual requirement not just to keep up, but to stay ahead; and staying ahead may necessitate the re-invention of the self, and revitalization of a research program, as the scientific and technological tectonic plates shift, realign, and indeed emerge. Against this backdrop, starting and sustaining a career in academia is not necessarily a straightforward undertaking. The aim of this article is to offer early-career (maybe even early midcareer) researchers some advice or heuristics derived from some [loses count] years in academic research which might help with this process. Finally, it puts this reinvention process in the broader context of the university’s “fifth wave” [3] , for you who would turn the wheel and look windward.