Career transitions from industry to academia

Using narratives from four academics in the UK, this chapter offers an understanding of the career paths and motivations of academics from a range of sectors. It uses in-depth interview data to construct a narrative that demonstrates how the academics morph their professional roles over time, illuminating the complexity of career decisions in academic careers. The aim of this study was not to generalise; rather, the intention was to explore four participants’ careers in depth, and thereby to share real-life stories. This chapter answers a call for research into different academic contexts and deepens our understanding of academic career motivations and issues in the UK. This issue is highly topical, and therefore this chapter makes an important contribution to the debate in this area.