The ground under academic research careers is shifting fast—and waiting for a return to “normal” is costing time, energy, and momentum.

In this first episode of Uncharted Academia, Sarah names what has changed: shrinking NIH budgets, political threats to universities, and rising burnout across the academy. She looks squarely at the panic spreading through the system and the unequal burdens placed on scholars whose work has long been undervalued. Drawing a line from the pandemic’s failures to today’s institutional shortfalls, she underscores Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom’s warning that your institution will not protect you.

The old rulebook may be gone—and for many, it never applied—but that gives us permission to write our own: clear goals, strong boundaries, and self-trust that endures uncertainty.

Subscribe for the full six-part Uncharted Academia series and share this episode with a colleague who could use a sturdier map.

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