Hey all,

Just been having a chat with my supervisor about funding cuts, and job situation etc. I'm hoping to start looking in a few weeks and am getting a bit worried. I've been hearing about whole departments being got rid of! Most of the cuts are at prof/senior lecturer level so won't affect me but I think the whole situation is concenring. It's so childish but my overwhelming reaction is - IT'S NOT FAIR!!!

Greedy bankers have screwed up our economy and now universities are paying the price. Job cuts, tuition fee increases and funding slashes will forever change the face of academia.

Not a lot I can do about it, but if I don't have an academic job within a year I'll be returning to do a PGCE. Anyone else got a 'back up plan'? Anyone else have similar concerns?

Hello, I know, it's all very stressful and it is my supervisor's favourite topic of conversation. I now have to fund my way through my whole PhD (with no help) and it's proving to be a complete nightmare. I'm then worried that I won't even get a job after all this effort. However, there's nothing I can do so let's just hope it all picks up! GOOD LUCK TO US ALL.xx

Don't worry too much, if that's possible DrSeeker. A year is a long time in academia and the media has this awful habit of making things seem as bad as possible - it creates web traffic, sells advertising and ultimately hard copy. The recent spell of significant snow fall, according to the Daily Mail was supposed to extend into March. Oh, and according to The Times, Chicago is experiencing the 'snowpocalypse'. The Daily Telegraph recently told me that we're running out of soil (wtf?), so expect mass famine in a few years. But not if planet X crashes head on with our planet in 2012!

Yeah, it's going to be difficult for all of us, I think. And, yes, it may take most of us much longer to find a job. My tactic is just not to worry about it at the moment - what will be will be. I have one primary function - and that's to get my PhD. I'm not burying my head in the sand like an ostrich, but all this constant worry (I suppose about everything in general) takes the fun out of everything. And I find it becomes a vicious cycle as you're doing your PhD because you worry about getting a job and hence what the point of you doing a PhD is, and so forth. The fact is, universities are big business in this country, we are key to a knowledge-based economy and academia will right itself - sooner (hopefully), rather than later. It's always good to have a back-up plan in the interim as well.

Oh, and we're international superstars as well! If good ol'Blightey wants a cranial lobotomy, we'll just bugger off where the grass is greener in other countries (where we're able to). For instance, my favourite socialist Obama, has just increased funding for HE in the US by 31%, since he recognises how important it is.

My case in point...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1249195/Big-freeze-set-return-snowfall-forecast-parts-Britain.html

# Heavy snow warning issued for South East...DUN
# Snow falls could continue into next week...DUN
# Freeze brings new grit supply warning...DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!

What they forgot to add is...

# Feral youths from unemployed families of ill repute expected to roam the streets, in packs, throwing snowballs
# UK expected to go into triple-dip, spiralling recessions as snow takes hold.
# Mass panic, hysteria and thousands of death expected as bread and bananas run out through panic buying.
# UK carrot farming industry expected to be devastated.

I'm sure they'll amend it though...

ahhhh, it's good to have you back Wally!!

On a more scary note I was just talking to a new postdoc in my department who said that she was on a 3 year contract in USA when the entire funding, for the entire department was cut one day. As in, they were told there will be no money to run any of the projects from next week. mad stuff. She was lucky and managed to get another 6 months funding from somewhere but still shows you things are changing. However, as Wally rightly points out, at this stage there is no point freaking out about it, we still have to get the PhD before we can get a job, so sure keep (or start) looking for jobs, make contacts with people and get the feelers out there, but don't worry too much about it until the PhD is actually finished and you can devote all your worry ability to the task :-)

or so i tell myself anyway! 8-)