糖心TV

Abstract

Current understanding of international academic mobility tends to view academic careers as residing in individuals and detached from the context(s) within which they unfold. Distinctively, our paper takes a contextual perspective and specifically looks at international academic careers as embedded in the professional contexts of at least two countries. Such an analysis expands the research focus beyond job transitions and draws attention to migrant academics鈥� conditions of work and how these conditions affect academic mobility. Based on 62 semi-structured interviews with foreign-born academics employed in the UK, we investigate the relationship between national professional structures and migrant academics鈥� decisions to come and remain in the UK. We argue that the availability of (relatively) good quality employment shapes international academic mobility more than country preferences. However, academics may become 鈥榮tuck鈥� in the country even when employment conditions deteriorate, not only because they gradually acquire location-specific capital through working in the UK, but also because they lose the capital needed for another international move. This paper therefore shows that 鈥榮tickiness鈥� in international mobility involves not only being 鈥榣ocked-into鈥� a country but also being 鈥榣ocked-out鈥� of another, and in so doing contributes to knowledge about the ways in which migrant academics become stuck whilst working abroad.

Toma Pustelnikovaite is Lecturer in Human Resource Management at Abertay University. She completed her PhD at the University of St Andrews in 2018, with a thesis entitled 鈥淭he working lives of migrant professionals: exploring the case of migrant academics鈥�. Toma鈥檚 research is in the area of sociology of work, employment and professions. She is interested in migrant labour, higher education, diversity in professions, as well as knowledge work and workers. Toma has given a number of invited presentations and public lectures in the UK and abroad on her research on migrant academics, and published a book chapter on knowledge work with Routledge. She has also been a Visiting Lecturer at Kiev National Economic University, and received several research and scholarship grants from the University of St Andrews, British Sociological Association, and British Council Researcher Links/Newton Fund. At present, Toma is working on publications from her doctoral research.