A large number of reports about the mental health and wellbeing of researchers and academics in HE keep reminding us that things are not very rosy at the moment. Much of what is being written about HE and the research environment repeat a narrative of gloom, anxiety, and depression. Much of the metaphors used when talking about research, research careers and early career researchers are images of struggle, pain, challenge….
The "Tales of Joy in Research" project aims to lift things up a bit and provide some space and time to rejoice in the positive small stuff that make research careers.
We have challenged our researchers to share something that brings them joy:
- it could be something very trivial about the everyday thing that you do a part of your research
- it could be something very mundane about your work environment or something that is joyful within your working life
These small stories are captured through the Think Ahead blog: https://thinkaheadsheffield.wordpress.com/2019/06/03/tales-of-joy-in-research/
My inspiration for this project comes from an old book series called “Chicken soup for the soul”, but also the book ‘The Tao of Pooh” by Benjamin Hoff. Some people may find these things a little bit silly…However, I think that reminding ourself of the great many positive things in research lives and in lives in Higher Education is tremendously important as we so often focus on the challenges and negativity.
Sandrine Soubes