I started my first academic job, at Brunel University, almost exactly twenty-five years ago. I have since worked for four HEIs alongside many fantastic colleagues; researched and taught various subjects; published a fair few books, articles and other outputs; been a Head of Department; and even managed to pick up a few honours along the way. But being PSA Chair is, without any question, the best thing I have done in my entire career.
Not that everything has gone to plan. I interviewed for the role in January 2020, and took up the post in April. You may recall that some fairly significant things happened in that period! Shortly after the interview one of my predecessors told me that
there will be challenges you could never have expected. Well that was prescient… I certainly didn’t expect to do the first two years of a three-year term entirely via email and Zoom. (I literally did not meet any of my fellow PSA trustees, or any of the staff, until the York conference this year). But while the pandemic certainly disrupted some plans, and tested the PSA as a whole, I think we have come through it stronger. Parts of our community – including the Teaching and Learning Network, the Early Career Network, and many of our specialist groups – really stepped up to support colleagues in this strange and unexpected situation. And I think at least some of the lessons of the pandemic will persist.
No matter what the context in which you do the roles, being PSA Chair or Vice-Chair offers a great opportunity – to serve the professional community, but also to be stretched and to learn. You get to work with colleagues from the full range of academic institutions, as well as some from outside academia, and from people at every conceivable career stage, and to understand the very different challenges that many of them face. It has also been a particular privilege for me to work alongside my fellow trustees and the PSA staff team. They have brought so much collective wisdom and such a diversity of experiences into our discussions and decision-making. I have learned enormously from them.
Claire Dunlop and I will hand over PSA to our successors in a healthy state. We identified Excellence, Sustainability and Diversity as our priorities, and have made significant progress on all of them. But challenges do lie ahead, and we will need strong leadership to address them. The political environment will be challenging, with resources under increasing pressure and hostility to the social sciences evident from some parts of the political spectrum. HEIs will likely face even greater competition, and their responses may have particular implications for our discipline. It would not be healthy for politics and IR to become virtually Russell Group-only disciplines in the UK. The PSA will have a vital role, often working alongside other organisations, to support colleagues and be an effective advocate for our discipline.
There are plenty of people capable of being an effective PSA Chair or Vice-Chair. I very much hope that some of you will consider taking on this challenge. I can’t promise that it will be easy, but it will be very worthwhile. I can promise you that your immediate predecessors will support you in any way we can.
