Understanding the experiences of non-permanent faculty in India
What is the objective of the research study?
This study qualitatively investigates the lived experiences of ad hoc (adjunct/temporary/wage based/temporary) academicians working under precarious contracts, particularly in teaching and research roles. The aims of the study are
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To explore the lived experiences of academicians working in precarious employments
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The physical & psychological impact of working in precarious employment
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To identify protective factors and remedial measures to academic precarity.
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Who are they principal investigators?
This study is being undertaken by Saloni Diwakar, Dr. Pooja Prabhavalkar, Ayushman Shakya, and Sukanya Ganguly, research authors at the Department of Psychology at Nolmë Labs - a government registered academic research organization with a special focus on mental health.
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Why is conducting this study important?
Academicians have long been facing the brunt of unfavorable state and institutional policies regarding their employment. There has been continuous undermining of academic labour, reflected in the lack of tenured job opportunities, inadequate pay, exploitative contracts, workplace practices, and a range of other issues. Our study aims to collect these lived experiences of academic professionals, anonymously platform their perspectives, and study the impact of academic precarity in order to inform reformative policy.
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Who can participate?
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Academicians, i.e. researchers or professors, who are employed under precarious contract in institutes of higher education are invited to participate.
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Their employment status should qualify being described as adhoc/temporary/non-tenured/non-permanent faculty/researcher.
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They could be working in multiple institutes/organizations, either engaging in only teaching responsibilities, only research activities or both teaching and research activities.
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They should have a minimum of 2 years work experience in such roles. ​They should be employed in Humanities and Social Sciences (e.g. Departments of Psychology, Philosophy, Economics, etc.)​
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What do I have to do?
Participation in the study entails filling out a preliminary recruitment survey which elicits demographic information about age, years of work experience, type of institute (public/private etc.), subject matter expertise. Those who indicate an interest in further participating in the interview will be asked to include their contact information in this form.
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Ethical considerations
The research team anticipate negligible to no risk to interviewees through participation in this study. Participation of interviewees is voluntary. Any participant can withdraw at any time without penalty. All interviews are necessarily anonymous. Confidentiality of participants is paramount and all interviews will be transcribed and identifying information masked. Data will be stored in password protected folders with access restricted solely to the research team.
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For more information, email us at research@nolme.in
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Participants will have an opportunity to clarify the ethical safeguards impacting them before consenting to the interview process. For more information, email us at research@nolme.in