Episode 17: COVID series Part II: Addressing Mental Health (and poor working conditions)

‘The ghost of care in education and academia at the moment thrives on the intimate, fundamentally personal experience of these struggles, which often leads us to assume our own, isolated responsibility for causing and curing our problems – obscuring the burdens heaved by sexism, racism, elitism, etc. which converge with the current demands of education in the university space.’ – Joseph Uhlar

Dr Ann Wand sits down with cultural historian at the Open University, Dr Katy Layton-Jones, and former Male Welfare Office at the University of Oxford, Joseph Uhlar, to discuss the realities of working conditions in higher education and the effects this has on staff, student and academics’ mental health.

The show notes:

Additional reading material on poor working conditions and mental health concerns in academia can be found below:

Is College Still Worth It? | Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj (2020)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YytF2v7Vvw0&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR1hyC5na-lb7tQJmCrfcvc1HKUJ_9NEdT9S3Rock-_RhY7j3seq2OUL-d0

Trump Suspends Visas Allowing Hundreds of Thousands of Foreigners to Work in the U.S. (2020)

Too few counsellors on campus: why students are turning to mental health apps (2020)

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/feb/27/too-few-counsellors-on-campus-why-students-are-turning-to-mental-health-apps

Higher education staff suffer ‘epidemic’ of poor mental health (2019)

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/may/23/higher-education-staff-suffer-epidemic-of-poor-mental-health

I’m striking because insecure academic contracts are ruining my mental health (2019)

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/nov/29/im-striking-because-insecure-academic-contracts-are-ruining-my-mental-health

‘The way universities are run is making us ill’: inside the student mental health crisis (2019)

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/sep/27/anxiety-mental-breakdowns-depression-uk-students

‘It’s cut-throat’: half of UK academics stressed and 40% thinking of leaving (2019)

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/may/21/cut-throat-half-academics-stressed-thinking-leaving

Lecturer’s widow hits out at Cardiff University workload (2019)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-47296631

Facing poverty, academics turn to sex work and sleeping in cars (2017)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/28/adjunct-professors-homeless-sex-work-academia-poverty

Aftermath of a Professor’s Suicide (2017)

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/04/21/recent-suicide-professor-sparks-renewed-discussions-about-access-mental-health

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