Go east, young researcher

Having spent his time theorising and criticising postgraduate pathways from the inside, and five years as head of the graduate school at the University of Edinburgh, John Holmwood is well placed to advise early-career researchers on how to play the system.

“I’ve probably got a bit of a reputation for being a critic of higher education policies,” says Holmwood, who has studied shifts in postgraduate education in the past few decades as part of his work on the philosophy of social science. Indeed, he’s something of a political agitator when it comes to higher education, having written extensively on the topic and been cofounder of the Campaign for the Public University.

Now based at the University of Nottingham as a professor of sociology, Holmwood has also previously worked at the University of Birmingham and been dean of the school of social sciences and cultural studies at the University of Sussex.