Back in December, I was interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Live about my opposition to��Syrian air strikes. The interviewer clearly had doubts about my politics but also about my job, evident when she introduced me in��a sceptical tone as “Heather Mendick, who describes herself on Twitter as a freelance academic”. The idea of working as a��freelance academic is unfamiliar, even to many��university-based academics. The most common question I get asked by them is: “what do you do?”��In this blog, I answer that question.

What I do: paid work

There��are��the four main pieces of paid work that I’ve done or am scheduled to do in my first year freelancing. I’ve carried out��evaluations of Brunel University London’s scholarship programmes and its professional mentoring programme.��Both these programmes are targeted at widening participation students, those who are under-represented in higher education, and so the evaluations were funded by Brunel’s widening participation office. Alongside this, I’ve been��continuing to supervise two doctoral students��and proofreading their theses.��I love supervising, but find proofreading��slow and challenging. Still, given my��understanding of their work,��it’s better for me to muddle through��than to use online proofreading services. I’ve also been doing��research consultancy at��the British Science Association, a charity that aims��to create “a world where science is at the heart of society and culture”. ��I��helped��them����and we’re now��developing methods to evaluate how far their work is��enabling more people to actively engage with��science. Finally, over the summer, I’m going to be working on��data analysis and writing for a science and technology education project��funded by the Swedish Research Council and led by Anna Danielsson. I’ve also taken on some��smaller pieces of work, including research support and external examining, and I��make a little money��through the�������Ի���, which distribute fees to authors when their writing is��copied or their��books borrowed from libraries.

For much��of this work, I charge consultancy rates. I generally set these at £450 a day (25 per cent less than my last university charged for my time). However,��for two substantial pieces of work that gave��me financial��security and opportunities��to publish, I��reduced this to £350 a day. Proofreading pays less��and some work, like external examining, comes with a set take-it-or-leave-it fee, and��I negotiate this on a case-by-case basis, but never taking on anything where the effective hourly rate is below £10.

What I��do: unpaid work

As with all freelancers, a substantial amount of what I do is unpaid. I have to update my Academia.edu webpage,��complete my��tax return, pursue work that I don’t end up getting, and so on. The absence of��a regular income led��me to rethink what��I’m willing to do for free. I rarely��review articles and��remain on only one��editorial board for a��lovely open access journal, the��. With a��few exceptions, I do talks and seminars only if I’m paid for them.

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There are three main projects that I have chosen to work on for free. Towards��the end of 2015, I set up����with Laura Harvey. This aims to provide people with a space to explore��alternatives to mainstream higher education. I joined the executive of the����before going freelance. I considered resigning��when my circumstances changed. But the executive is a lovely group of people, my role takes only a few days each term, and through it I support an organisation that��has supported me in the past, so I’ve stuck with it. The biggest chunk of��unpaid work��I do is for CelebYouth [a research project exploring young people’s classed and gendered aspirations]: writing blogs like this, sharing responsibility for��looking after Twitter and Facebook and����with Kim, Laura and Aisha. I do this because I have��gained and continue to gain immensely from our collaboration.

How it’s going so far

There are lots of advantages to being freelance.��I left my last university after complaining about��bullying. Yet even without this push, universities are becoming increasingly difficult��places and life is less stressful outside them. I have control over what I do, from what time I get up in the morning to what work��I take on (although this latter freedom is partly��dependent on my financial situation at any given��time). This suits me, as does the way being freelance enables me to try new things.

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There are also downsides. It feels more��precarious than having a “proper job” – although, given the way employment is changing, I’m not sure it is. To guard against this precariousness,��I��have one��year’s income saved so that, if I��have a few��dry months, there’s no immediate��panic. Living cheaply also helps. And��I know that, while I don’t want to do private maths tuition or mark exam scripts, there will always be demand for these if I run out of other options.

After the first couple of months, I haven’t struggled to find work this year (I’m not trying to be full-time). There have even been a few interesting projects that I haven’t applied for because I don’t have enough time. I got this work by sending my CV to about 30��contacts, and generally broadcasting my��freelance status. Many thoughtful��people have��sent work opportunities my way, only some of which worked out but all of which gave me hope that freelancing was viable and not some��desperate stopgap between university posts. I miss having��colleagues and teaching��undergraduates, but not enough to consider going back yet.

Heather Mendick is a freelance academic and former reader in the School of Sport and Education at Brunel University London. This post on the website.