The Taberna

The rise of the pro-sessional: precarious employees taking on complex and faculty-critical roles Researchers have noted for several years that universities are increasingly relying on precariously employed academics rather than employing continuing or permanent staff members, and consequently,...

Interesting paper about the rise of the Pro-Sessional, 'a new category of university employee who is expected to carry out complex and faculty-critical roles despite not having the salary, job security or support of a tenured academic'. (open access)

#HigherEd

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Something Alarming Is Happening to the Job Market A new sign that AI is competing with college grads

I haven’t seen much discussion in Academic Bluesky about the concern raised by Derek Thompson that AI is already starting to disrupt the job market for recent graduates. What would this mean for the future of universities? www.theatlantic.com/economy/arch...

A separate issue is library and database access for independent scholars to publish outside of traditional academic jobs. Lots can be done there with more orgs like NCIS www.ncis.org/national-coa...

The academic job market is a huge issue. Tenure should not be the only track venerated. Academia can and should be more than that.The Taberna is working on this issue by helping hums & soc sci ECRs create their own businesses based on their research, making them their own institutional affiliation.

Applications for Early Career Resarch Associates at the Institute of Classical Studies now open. These are non-stipendiary posts, but do give an institutional affiliation and research expenses to those who need them.

Completely aside from AI I think the conversation AI brings is important for shining new light on the academic job market and how narrowly defined it is. Embedding other skills, like business building, prepares scholars for a variety of scenarios that await post defending. It gives them some agency.

Thanks for sharing this @randalljstephens.bsky.social ! Tenure-track isn’t the only future and should not be the only 'track' of academia promoted. We need entrepreneurial skills within PhD programs too — not just for leaving, but for rebuilding the humanistic project in and beyond the academy.

lol the Guardian needs to look at the normal number of applicants for, like, any academic job

Really sorry to hear this — it’s brutal how common this is now! If it helps: at The Taberna we support researchers leaving academia to build work they own — social enterprise, consulting, digital products, etc. There’s a future for your skills. DMs open if you want to chat! In solidarity!

This isn’t a milestone for visibility.

It’s a quiet affirmation of the way we’ve chosen to build, socially and ethically: with care, clarity, and commitment to those navigating uncertainty with brilliance.
#goodmarket #academicentrepreneurship #altac #ethicalbusiness #socialenterprise

The Taberna is now Good Market approved — part of a global community of businesses that put values first.
We’re here for research-rooted, people-first work — not scale, not hype, just meaningful strategy for scholars building something real.
www.goodmarket.global/thetaberna

We also believe that business-building skills should be built into every graduate program (and early on). Academia is unsustainable if tenure is the only track.

Totally get this. The gatekeeping, the vagueness, the unpaid labour of job apps. At @thetaberna.bsky.social we help humanities and social science scholars build practical, income-generating ventures rooted in their research. We believe in an academia where tenure is just ONE track among MANY.

👏 so true everywhere.

The strain is undeniable. But also—there’s room to build outside the old systems. Freelance, Businesses, collectives, new models of sharing knowledge based on academic research. I dream of an academia where tenure is just one of many tracks and all are academia.

Felt this so deeply I forgot I wasn’t the one who posted it.

Academic Business Guide: Establishing Your Venture in Europe or North America | The Taberna Explore The Taberna's comprehensive guide for classics, humanities, and social science scholars, aiming to set up businesses in the UK, Canada, US, Germany, France, Spain, or Portugal. Gain insights a...

If you're writing up, just defended, or on the job market...

The Taberna helps Classics, hums & soc sci scholars turn their research into something they can build with—freelance work or ventures.

📜 Free guide to set up in N.A. or EU: bit.ly/44qMcpY

Share if this could help someone in your circle.