At a conference over the long weekend I was asked if I had a position at the uni in Linz yet. I said no, and talked about the general trans-disciplinary research we and I am involved in at Time’s Up. And then the conversation stopped.
There are not many people who go to an abstract algebra workshop (the Arbeitstagung Allgemeine Algebra, AAA in short, that has been running since 1971, 105 conferences so far) who are not predominately involved in academia. Who do not have a “position” which seems to start as graduate student, to post doc, then a tenure track, tenure and perhaps professor. A position is assumed, but is also an assumption for funders, career advisors and people who have structures and positions themselves. Is it a status symbol? A sign of success?
In another conversation, a colleague said we had to talk, because he was amazed that I managed to somehow vacillate along the line of arts and mathematics, not in abrupt swings that had him play jazz piano for a few years before searching for a research position at some university, but on a daily, weekly or even hourly rhythm. We did not manage to have that conversation yet, but he has a position relatively close by, so with any luck some funding will have him come visit and we will have a chance to drink and chat and see if what I do makes any sense for him.
A position makes you referencable, structured, graspable. It also gives security, structure and a base from which to operate. After years of being the Vice-Rector for Research, a position where he repeatedly heard and discussed calls for silo-breaking and the necessity for trans-, inter- and cross-disciplinary research, a friend put together a paper where a perfect combination of medical, statistical and algebraic thought was used to develop effective tests for a difficult collection of symptoms. But it was not publishable in any journal, being too far outside any of the journals’ areas of interest. He felt like the repeated calls for transdisciplinarity were being ignored, or even rejected. Please do it, but Not In My Back Yard, or research grant, or my journal.
There is possibly no good solution to this situation. Acting across the boundaries of science, technology, culture and the arts cannot and probably should not be accompanied by reminders that what one is doing is “not art” and “not science.” It should be, one would hope, both. Our thinking seems to be too often one of this or that; choose one. But we need both. We cannot choose between raising minimum standards of living and not destroying the climate. We must do both.
The position required is probably a precarious balancing act between various stools, a quick darting between specialisations, or a slow circling at a suitable altitude. A position that is difficult to maintain, subject to misunderstandings, hard to evaluate and is definitely underfunded. But also intriguing, stimulating and, as we know from most of the wicked problems and predicaments we are in, necessary. On we go. Assume the Position.
LOOSE DIARY 