| Abstract: | Increasingly, research staff positions rather than lectureships are the reality for social sciences PhD graduates wishing academic work. Within this context, our longitudinal study examined how social science doctoral students and research staff in two UK universities imagined their futures in and out of academia. The variation over time in how they viewed their futures is examined through the lens of identity-trajectory. The results emphasise how individuals balanced their academic intentions with social, personal and physical desires and constraints. The results also enrich understanding of early academic career experience and the conceptualisation of identity-trajectory. Research and policy implications are considered. |
