From mobility attractiveness to mobility fatigue: The impact of repeated transnational mobility on the lives and aspirations of early‐career academics

Abstract

In the early stages of their career, academics often move abroad for fixed-term positions, urged by the normative imperative to gain international experience and the need to accept academic opportunities where they arise. Drawing on three case studies comprising biographical and qualitative network interviews with academics, complemented in one case by a semistructured interview with a partner, this paper examines how early-career academics experience repeated transnational mobility and deal with its implications on their and their family members' personal lives. The analysis shows that the repetitive nature of mobility associated with fixed-term appointments is a significant aspect of academic precarity and provides insights into the compromises made by academics as they try to balance competing aspirations and demands pertaining to the different domains of their mobile lives.

Cross-national variations in postdoc precarity: An inquiry into the role of career structures and research funding models

“…With the globalisation of academic careers, postdocs are increasingly recruited internationally or are often expected to move abroad and/or between institutions at this stage in their careers (Sautier, 2021; Schaer, 2021; Nokkala et al, 2020). The postdoc experience is also highly gendered as the suitability for an academic career with family formation and care-commitments is usually assessed according to male-dominated structures, procedures and criteria (Le Feuvre et al, 2019; Bozzon et al, 2019).…”

Peripheral Contingencies: Experiences of International Scholars in Latvia

“…This leads to what Ferreira (2017) has termed "indefinite mobility" and Vatansever (2018) refers to as "academic nomadism." These movements may be experienced by scholars themselves-and early career researchers in particular-as forced and exhausting (Carrozza & Minucci, 2014;Manzi et al, 2019;Sautier, 2021;Schaer, 2021).…”