This study reports on the career management and career choice preferences of a sample of bioscience postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers according to their…
Abstract
This study reports on the career management and career choice preferences of a sample of bioscience postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers according to their personality type as determined using the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Correlations can be found but other decision‐making processes come into play and are more influential regarding career choices. The aim of this study was to investigate whether personality (measured here as Psychological Type) has an influence on career management style and career preference. The study was conducted on a group of bioscience postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers who had previously attended a one‐day career development workshop. The qualitative survey analysis aimed to determine whether there is a relationship between a person’s preference for particular aspects of their career management such as skills development and everyday tasks (e.g.devising experiments, attending conferences, writing papers, analysing data) and their career preferences (e.g. on their preference for particular types of work).
Details
Keywords
Kathleen Houston and Peter Lumsden
The purpose of this paper is to present a case study‐based evaluation of a newly accredited career exploration and development module for researchers. It assesses the value of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a case study‐based evaluation of a newly accredited career exploration and development module for researchers. It assesses the value of the pilot module in terms of how it succeeded in stimulating career thinking and “work wisdom” in researchers. Career destinations data suggest that fewer than 50 per cent of researchers will establish careers in academia or higher education; it is therefore notable that 73 per cent of respondents to the postgraduate research experience survey expected to pursue a research career in higher education. Given that researchers' expectations conflict somewhat with the reality of potential career directions, the need for a career development programme that allows them to explore career possibilities within and without academia seems relevant. The module examined was delivered through a mixture of taught and interactive workshops (examined in this article), structured reflective journaling, online peer‐sharing discussions and group driven action learning.
Design/methodology/approach
A practitioner research, case study, approach was employed, with the intention of informing practice and delivery.
Findings
The paper presents evidence of positive qualitative outcomes for the researcher participants, and of a successful learning intervention.
Originality/value
The paper describes an accredited programme incorporating action learning. It is unusual since much career training for researchers within universities is ad hoc and unaccredited.
Details
Keywords
Life studies are a rich source for further research on the role of the Afro‐American woman in society. They are especially useful to gain a better understanding of the…
Abstract
Life studies are a rich source for further research on the role of the Afro‐American woman in society. They are especially useful to gain a better understanding of the Afro‐American experience and to show the joys, sorrows, needs, and ideals of the Afro‐American woman as she struggles from day to day.
Robyn Creagh, Sarah McGann, Marian Tye, Jonine Jancey and Courtney Babb
The purpose of this paper is to report on research investigating the relationship between physical activity and workplace design. In particular, the paper explores the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report on research investigating the relationship between physical activity and workplace design. In particular, the paper explores the social–ecological context of a new workplace building. This paper seeks to understand why better physical activity outcomes for the staff were not observed in the new building despite influence from a staff wellness committee during design; achieving success against existing best-practice indicators; and staff reporting increased feelings of wellness, energy and satisfaction with the new building.
Design/methodology/approach
Three design aspects are taken as a focus from within an opportunistic pre-/post-physical activity study of an organisation as they move from a building they occupied for 30 years into a new purpose-designed building. This study was conducted through mixed methods, incorporating ethnographic, architectural and quantitative means.
Findings
The social, spatial and personal context is important for understanding participant workplace-based physical activity. Despite the health and well-being goals and 5 Star Green Star outcomes of the new building, participants were sedentary for a substantive part of their workday in both buildings.
Practical implications
A well-designed environment can support staff feeling healthier, but the 5 Star Green Star rating does not implicitly ensure a healthier, activity-promoting environment. Facilities managers and designers can act to provide physically active paths as the most straightforward circulation option in workplaces.
Originality/value
The originality of this study lies in the opportunity to conduct a pre-/post-study of physical activity where the organisation, workforce and type of work are constant and where the variable is the building design, spatial configuration and location. The methods used in this study draw from both health promotion and architectural research practices.
I think that psychologically it is most important that, as long as possible, every effort should be made to maintain the supply of foods enabling dishes of an attractive character…
Abstract
I think that psychologically it is most important that, as long as possible, every effort should be made to maintain the supply of foods enabling dishes of an attractive character to be produced. The morale of the big cities must be maintained, and as a large proportion of the population in these cities takes at least one meal a day in a public eating‐place, and, moreover, as the housewife relies on the pastrycook for an ever increasing proportion of her non‐basic foods, not to mention the basic foods themselves, every effort must be made to maintain producers of foods in such a position that they are able to supply cakes, confectionery, biscuits and so on. And in suggesting this I am being a realist; I have experienced the depression of the “ Berliner ” when it became impossible for this kind of food to be bought except by the very rich or the very powerful. It is, in fact, not sufficient to provide the necessary calories, the necessary vitamins, the necessary “trace” elements, as the Americans have called them; the method of presentation must be studied, for this is of vital importance in the maintenance of good health. From the scientific point of view it is deplorable that six months had to pass before the Ministry of Food appointed a scientific adviser. Dr. Drummond's influence in that capacity should help to straighten out some of the muddles into which the Ministry have apparently been led. It is obvious that our vaunted preparedness did not extend to the realm of food. One important point must be borne in mind, namely, that although the Ministry did not appoint a scientific adviser until February, 1940, they had at their disposal the experts of the Food Investigation Board and of those research associations in food science which I have already mentioned. Possibly, therefore, the Ministry would consider that it was sufficiently well served, and that these bodies would have been able to produce the briefs on which the Minister could plead. But the Food Investigation Board—and I am speaking as an exmember of that body—is essentially equipped for long‐distance research work, and not for the solution of problems of immediate importance. No one has greater respect for the work of fundamental importance which the staff of the Food Investigation Board have produced than I, but except for practical problems concerned with a limited number of food products—beef tendering, bacon curing, fruit preservation—they are not in direct touch with practice. It has been a very sound policy to restrict the activities of their staffs to the solution of problems of fundamental nature, the results of which, when published, would be applied to practical problems by the chemists attached to foods producing firms. I cannot pass from this section without comment on the very admirable statement of certain aspects of the work of the Research Associations clearly expressed by the Director of the Research Associations of British Flour Millers, Dr. Moran, in the journal Milling recently. He gives in a few clear sentences his understanding of the functions of a research association. His words are: “The research association has four clear functions: (1) as a sentinel of progress and development not only in this country but throughout the world; (2) to carry out continuously research which the individual miller—certainly the small miller—could not undertake; (3) to deal with the day‐to‐day problems of members; (4) generally to improve the efficiency of the industry and the quality of its products by the greater application of scientific methods.” The degree to which these functions are realised by any association is an excellent yardstick by which to measure its success. The milling industry of the country is to be congratulated that the director of their research association has such definite ideas, and the country as a whole is to be congratulated that the council of at least one research association in food is sufficiently alive to the importance of their duties to allow such statements as I have quoted to be published. It certainly stimulates interest and confirms the faith which should be placed in science as applied to a basic industry. The food manufacturer has, naturally, been rationed in respect of raw materials, as have been the members of the public. Fats, sugar and meat have been available in decreased quantities, but with the advent of rationing a distinct lessening of wastage of food follows and no real difficulties of shortage have become apparent. The attention of chemists has however, been directed to “ alternatives.” I object to the word “ substitute,” because in the minds of the majority this suggests something inferior. In many cases the alternative is to use something more expensive, something which under normal conditions would not be used. For example, at the moment glucose, more expensive than cane sugar, has taken the place of a portion of the usual sugar; lactose, the sugar of milk, is being used although it costs about twice as much as cane sugar and has a sweetening power far below that of the usual sugar. But sugars are not only used for sweetening, as so many people seem to think. Their presence in a cake or other bakery product has a most important chemical or physicochemical action on the gelatinisation of the starch of the flour, and an adequate amount of sugar is therefore essential if the character of the product is not to be impaired. The use of alternatives is not to be confused with sophistication; the replacement of non‐available constituents must be differentiated from the dressing‐up of one thing to make it look like another. The artificial colouring of a cake with a brown colour and the description of the resultant product as a chocolate cake, is to be condemned, although such a cake may be as nutritious as the cake to which chocolate powder had been added. The caffeine of coffee and tea is of importance in giving a slight feeling of stimulation to the tired worker, and therefore roasted cereals, as supplied in Germany during the last war, and again to‐day, cannot be considered alternatives for coffee, neither can mixture of fruit leaves take the place of tea. It is to the scientist that Germany owes the development of her substitute and alternative foods. These substitutes and alternatives are far better than those Germany had in 1914–18, because very early on she enlisted her chemists, or rather those who had not been expelled, into the service of her Four Year Food Plan. Chemical research in the totalitarian states is in practice Government‐controlled—in practice only because in theory there has been no bar to private investigation—but the Four Year Plan in Germany as applied to food entailed the direction of food investigations by State officials and although not so obvious in Italy, the same thing obtained there for a number of years. The natural outcome is control of food production. An interesting example is to be found in the tomato‐growing districts in Italy. Through the research station at Parma the farmers and the factories dealing with tomatoes are definitely directed. The former are told what seed to plant, how much, how to till their land, how to manure it, when to gather their crops, how much to gather, the quantity to pack as fresh fruit, the quantity to send to the factories to be made into purée.
Sarah Johnson, Liz Thyer and Paul Simpson
The proliferation of undergraduate paramedicine programs has led to a surge in demand for work integrated learning (WIL), placing pressure on domestic ambulance service placement…
Abstract
Purpose
The proliferation of undergraduate paramedicine programs has led to a surge in demand for work integrated learning (WIL), placing pressure on domestic ambulance service placement capacity. The objective of this study was to establish a baseline understanding of international WIL in paramedicine university programs.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional study design was utilized to gather data from Australasian universities offering undergraduate paramedicine. A telephone survey was used to gather quantitative and qualitative data using a tailored questionnaire.
Findings
Of 15 eligible paramedicine programs, seven program leads participated. All offered international WIL, predominantly short-duration format in locations including United Kingdom, USA, Israel, Nepal, Indonesia, Timor-Leste, New Zealand, South Africa, Finland, Canada and Vanuatu. Two distinct models were identified: academic-accompanied, group “study tours” and unaccompanied individual placements. International WIL is common in paramedicine but placement models, rationale and expected learning experiences are diverse.
Originality/value
International WIL is an increasing component of paramedicine and other health discipline degrees, yet the pedagogical rationale for their inclusion and typology is not always clear. This paper provides an insight into the variance in international WIL typology in a single health discipline highlighting the heterogeneity and need for future research linking into the structure, support and assessment of international WIL.