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  • CAREER FEATURE

Fed up and burnt out: ‘quiet quitting’ hits academia

Many researchers dislike the term, but the practice of dialling back unrewarded duties is gaining traction.
  1. Nikki Forrester

    1. Nikki Forrester is a science journalist based in West Virginia.

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When Isabel Müller became an assistant professor in 2021, she started working 16 hours a day, 7 days a week. Although nobody expected her to work this much, she says, she couldn’t find a way to fit all her research, teaching and mentoring efforts into fewer hours. But as the first term progressed, Müller realized her pace was unsustainable. She needed to set boundaries if she wanted to continue working in academia: “It took another term, but now I try to stick to some rules.”

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Nature 615, 751-753 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00633-w

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