Academic Resilience: Personal Stories and Lessons Learnt from the COVID-19 Experience

The COVID-19 pandemic undoubtedly tested the resilience of academics in higher education. Many universities were severely affected by reduced student enrolment, with widespread job losses reported across universities. For many academics, the impact of the pandemic has been worrying, financially crippling and overwhelming.

The virus has also exposed academic inequalities and impacted heavily on vulnerable people. The individual and collective heroic spirit of many academics has been nothing short of extraordinary. Overcoming the initial hurdles of COVID-19 takes one kind of energy; the resilience needed to remain engaged despite the continuing changes and uncertainties is quite another challenge. It is one that demands sustained resilience.

This timely book provides perspectives across disciplines, career stages and global contexts on how to develop resilience in academia. These personal stories may empower others not only to survive, but to thrive in times of adversity.

Marian Mahat is a Senior Research Fellow in the Learning Environments Applied Research Network at the University of Melbourne. Marian is the recipient of a number of awards, including Early Career Research Excellence Award and Research Partnership Excellence Award. She is also recipient of the 2022 Asia-Pacific Women in Leadership Program.

Joanne Blannin is Senior Lecturer in Digital Transformations at Monash University, Australia. Joanne is also Board Member and Conference Chair for Digital Learning & Teaching Victoria and the Victorian representative for the Australian Council for Computers in Education.

Caroline Cohrssen is Associate Professor in Teacher Education and Learning Leadership at The University of Hong Kong. Caroline has been appointed Professor of Early Childhood at The University of New England in Armidale, NSW and will be returning home to Australia in mid-2022.

Elizer Jay de los Reyes is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Communications and New Media, National University of Singapore. Jay combines global ethnography and digital ethnography to examine transnational connections between migrant Filipina domestic workers in Singapore and their left behind families in rural Philippines.