Most of the comments in the feature ¡°Are older academics past their productive peak?¡± (12 May) relate to those who have followed a ¡°conventional¡± route into academia ¨C what about those who have come to research later on?

As a fiftysomething PhD student, I have all the enthusiasm and buzz and loads of ideas of any PhD student, even if my hair is greyer and my pace is slower¡­ There is also the fact that older academics tend to be given administrative duties as well as a teaching load. Now I have a full-time job as well as my research ¨C fortunately in the same area ¨C and sometimes find that time I want to use for research is taken over by other things that need doing.

m.robertson8_291084
Via timeshighereducation.com

This is all rather depressing for a fiftysomething like me. On the one hand, we are all told that everyone will have to work until 70+ in the future; but on the other, we could be written off when seen as ¡°past it¡±.

I had a commercial job for a while before entering academic life and have also held substantial administrative roles. Since departments have to be run and students also figure somewhere in the equation, a mix of skills is bound to develop unless one is permanently bought out of teaching.

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msl_csp
Via timeshighereducation.com

¡°When age has an effect, it is the middle-aged, rather than the young, who are most creative.¡± That may be so. It may also be that people are most productive after a certain number of years of experience. If that¡¯s true, then the most productive years of an academic may occur at a different point for someone who began work in academia at 25 and someone who began work in academia at 40.

A possible analogy might be to the writer of prose fiction. At the beginning of their career they might have lots of ideas but under-developed technique. Towards the end, it might be a case of fully developed technique but fewer ideas. Somewhere in the middle might come a stage at which both technique and ideas are at an ideal level. Similar for academics?

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barmby
Via timeshighereducation.com

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