'Beginner's guide' launched to help at-risk scholars navigate UK academia

The UK Young Academy has launched a new guide for academics who have recently arrived in the UK to help them continue their careers. 

Many at-risk scholars arrive in the UK with significant academic expertise but limited familiarity with how UK academia operates. Forced displacement can disrupt professional identity, networks, and institutional knowledge, making it harder to navigate an unfamiliar higher education system and rebuild a career. 

Today, the UK Young Academy’s At-Risk Scholars and Professionals project team has launched the accessible ‘Beginner’s guide to UK academia‘ to help address this gap, supporting academics to understand how UK academia works, where they fit within it, and where to find further support, all whilst navigating resettling in a new country.  

An accessible entry point into a complex and often opaque system, it combines introductory guidance with signposting to specialist resources.  

The guide will cover topics ranging from university structures, academic career pathways, and job titles to recruitment processes, research funding, and key organisations within the UK’s higher education landscape.  

This resource sits alongside similar guides from fellow national young academies, including A Beginner’s Guide to Dutch Academia, and A Beginner’s Guide to Swedish Academia, which directly inspired the development of this guide. 

Nuclear physicist Hasan Maridi is a member of the UK Young Academy, and former Council for At-Risk Academics (Cara) Research Fellow at the University of Manchester. He said: 

“Even for someone with substantial academic experience, entering the UK system can be challenging because many of its structures, terminology, and expectations are unfamiliar. Much of this knowledge is often assumed rather than explicitly explained. 

“Having clear information in one accessible place can reduce uncertainty, help people understand the opportunities and expectations within UK academia, and give them greater confidence to ask the right questions and find appropriate support at an already challenging time in life.”

“Having clear information in one accessible place can reduce uncertainty, help people understand the opportunities and expectations within UK academia, and give them greater confidence to ask the right questions and find appropriate support at an already challenging time in life.” 

Anthony Kevins, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Studies at Loughborough University and the resource development lead, said:  

“Expertise and capability are not erased when someone is forcibly displaced from their own country. Yet we see that professional networks, institutional knowledge, career momentum, and cultural capital can be. 

“For early-career professionals — who are often still in the process of establishing their professional identities — navigating displacement can be particularly challenging. 

The UK Young Academy is privileged to have access to a wide variety of experts and perspectives from across the UK, including from those with at-risk backgrounds. Many of those perspectives helped create this resource, which we hope will empower at-risk scholars to navigate our institutions through knowledge.”

The UK Young Academy is funded by a grant to the Royal Society from the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade.   

About the At-Risk Scholars and Professionals project

The At-Risk Scholars and Professionals initiative connects scholars and professionals, whose careers have been disrupted by conflict, displacement, or persecution, with membership opportunities, resources, and support from the UK Young Academy. The project aims to help participants rebuild their careers in the UK, through opportunities such as: 

• UK Young Academy Membership, 

• Mentoring, 

• Professional training, 

• Practical guidance for navigating the UK’s specific academic and professional landscapes. 

The practical and participant-focused initiative supports at-risk individuals to continue their professional work and support the long-term development of their home countries, whilst also capitalising on and championing the talents, perspectives, and expertise of at-risk scholars and professionals, to the benefit of the UK.   

UK Young Academy projects are member-designed and UK Young Academy-funded initiatives that investigate and address societal challenges through interdisciplinary collaboration.