精东传媒app

The purpose of this exploratory research is to investigate the lived experiences of Southeast Queensland-based sessional academics’ concerning their precarious employment, career transitions, and wellbeing outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Sessional academics’ faced unemployment, effectively forcing them into a career change to avoid the damaging effects of unemployment and to find meaningful, decent work.  The overall research aim is to discover the wellbeing experiences of business discipline-focused sessional academics working in universities in Southeast Queensland during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.  By utilising the interpretivism paradigm, the intention is to conduct qualitative research to examine and understand the perspectives of sessional academics’ as they reflect on a significant, turning-point experience characterised by uncertainty and change.  A case study approach will be used to explore a bounded phenomenon, discover how a small group of sessional academics psychologically interpreted their changing environment, and reveal what behaviours were exhibited during this turning-point experience.  Initially, surveys will be used to gauge the extent to which precarious employment and sessional academics’ personalities and mindsets during the COVID-19 pandemic influenced career adaptability and work volition.  Questions will also be designed to investigate whether there was a correlation between career transition experiences and subsequent wellbeing.  As part of the survey, participants will be given the option to remain anonymous or express an interest in being interviewed.  Both the identifiable and non-identifiable data derived from survey responses will guide the development of semi-structured interview questions.  Thematic analysis will be applied to interview response data to interpret responses, identify patterns, and make meaning of key themes.  By exploring the new context of sessional academics' precarious employment and significant industry disruption, contrasting experiences are anticipated to give new insights into career transitions and wellbeing outcomes.

For more information, please email the Graduate Research School or phone 0746 311088.