This extended working paper reports on an investigation into how the career endings of UK academics and their transition to retirement are managed by the individuals concerned and their employing institutions.

The ‘feel’ for a person that comes from encountering them in their home is difficult to replicate in depth online. The pandemic …

Nearing retirement doesn’t have to mean you’re ‘out of the game’. But for those who wish to continue playing, it takes determination, …

Is the concept of the academic role model primed for an update? The grand achievements of those who came before are often …

I am sure I am not alone in being asked quite often what it is that sociologists do. One way of answering …

A successful career can take many forms, and there are always lessons to be learned through studying people’s achievements. For successful academics, …

A life expectancy of 75 may seem low for academics, but it is the average age at which death occurred for the …

Academic careers matter for several reasons, and much has been written about them. Extensive advice is available on establishing successful academic careers, but a recent contributor to this literature lamented that the ideal model of academic careers ‘fails to attend to the concerns of scholars looking to transition successfully out of the university at the end of their career’ (Hay 2017: 200).