Peacock or Plum? Reflections on academic research career pathways

SummaryPurpose of the paperThis paper critically deconstructs academic career pathways in research and explores possible future directions.Background and contextDevelopment in NHS policy and practice has brought about something of a sea change in academic career pathways in nursing and midwifery. Whilst once there was a fairly prescribed route into nurse education and then research, contemporary factors no longer foster such traditional routes.MethodsIn examining what a career pathway into academic nursing research may look like it may be useful first to delineate what are the basic assumptions that constitute ‘achievement’ within such a career. Once pinpointed it is possible to map out different pathways that illustrate the diversity with which this has occurred. This provides a useful mirror for examining what may or may not be useful for the future. This paper explores three areas of the nurse academic career pathway: introspectively to understand where we are at the moment, retrospectively by examining composite research careers in order to gain insight for the final prospective section, where we make recommendations for the future.ConclusionsNurses and midwives working in higher education require transparent and sustainable research strategies that facilitate clear research pathways in academia. The tensions between research and teaching are inevitable, but are manageable if workforce development uses individuals to their strengths and values diversity of contribution.