Staying sane in the academy: How to say no and deal with multiple failures

We all know that workload management is an issue in academic jobs. Not only do we typically need to balance teaching, research, and service, and in a research-intensive environment, we also need to balance the number of research projects we undertake relative to the resources we have.

In addition to being overworked, we often have to deal with failure, both when we realise we are not getting the results we hope for in our research and when we try to publish and get funding, ultimately accumulating more negative than positive feedback over time.

Coping with an excessive workload and multiple failures can take a toll on our mental health. Yet, saying no and bouncing from failure is easier said than done, especially early in one’s career and when experiencing job insecurity.

In the first part of this interactive session, we will brainstorm strategies for choosing worthwhile research projects (including some…