ABSTRACT
The ethic of critique challenges all researchers, particularly those permanently employed within the university setting to adopt a critical stance that questions which groups or individuals are privileged or disadvantaged by current systems. One way universities can support staff taking their first steps into research is by providing information. Academic and research staff have also engaged in some activism, developing alternative manifestos for the contemporary university. Universities and other research organisations are beginning to acknowledge some of the problems associated with temporary research careers and take measures to improve them. California State University, Dominguez Hills, for example, has created opportunities for non-tenure track faculty to apply for sabbaticals, research funding, awards and advancement into multiyear contracts. The importance of supportive management goes beyond helping researchers become better researchers, it is about generating and building collective capacity for the development of research and education.
