Dr Emily Cock, Early Career Researcher, University of Adelaide

Browsing the terrific reports on the 10th Biennial Conference of the Australian and New Zealand Association for Medieval and Early Modern Studies (ANZAMEMS) already provided by postgraduate bursary recipients, it strikes me that the point of difference I might most productively contribute is as a post-postgraduate, squeezing into bursary eligibility as an unemployed (though not for much longer, hooray!) ECR. Firstly, I must give my sincere thanks that such funding is available to early career researchers. The announcement of the Philippa Maddern Memorial Prize for a publication by an ECR is also very welcome news, and typifies the supportive structure I have always found within the ANZAMEMS community toward younger scholars. I did not realise until I began attending conferences overseas how lucky we are to have the full mix of postgraduate-to-professor scholars attending the same conference. Elsewhere, I experienced bizarre weeks in which the tenured academics attended The Conference, while the postgraduates were next door at a Symposium… and no one crossed the threshold. Here, by contrast, I benefitted greatly from research, presentation and career feedback from across the board, including (a vivid memory) Dolly McKinnon encouraging me out of a huddled, defensive posture into a lesson on “how to stand” after my very first conference presentation at ANZAMEMS, 2007.

The two round tables I attended were both useful, in different ways. The first was “Career options for Graduate Students and Recent PhDs beyond the Tenure-Track Job”. This was a timely inclusion given the current state of the academic job market, and handled in an encouraging manner for the most part. The panel highlighted that a postgraduate research qualification prepares graduates for more than university teaching/research, and was refreshing for discussing such options (eg. publishing, academic support) as equally viable and worthwhile career paths, rather than—as I have often heard the case made—fall back options to only consider once you have “failed” to achieve a tenure-track position. One PhD student’s comment of hesitation at “coming out” to their supervisor about these sort of career interests typifies this culture, which is likely to shift in coming years as the number of PhDs awarded to jobs available continues to slide further apart. The second roundtable to establish the “Maddern-Crawford Network”, led by Clare Monagle and Dolly MacKinnon, also acknowledged the difficulty facing junior (here, specifically female) scholars, and here workshopped practical ways in which a network of female scholars at different stages of their careers can help each other and advance the field in general. If the job statistics in the careers session left me a bit bereft, this panel was an excellent antidote, blending a little feminist belly fire with the practicality of network support.

This was also the conference at which I finally caved in to twitter (@EmilyNCock), and very much enjoyed following the ANZAMEMS hash tag for sessions I was unable to attend.