Secret Academic brings together a group of full-time scholars from the tertiary sector who seek to contribute their knowledge, experiences and skills in order to inform and elevate public discourse on current affairs. It aspires to become a trusted source of information, knowledge and analysis, entirely free from market drivers, other monetisation incentives and careerist motivations.
Anonymity provides the freedom to embrace fully this core mission. Much of modern academic life centres on achieving career progression and/or tenure via building name-brand recognition (ie regularly publishing with the right people, in the right outlets); competing successfully to secure project funding, where it is the funders themselves who decide the funding priorities; and intellectual empire-building. Preoccupation with these tasks can quickly overtake what should be any academic’s primary purpose: producing quality research and analysis, based on their own view of what’s important. Furthermore, institutional interests and/or sensitivities can create strong disincentives to tackle certain topics or issues. This holds for individual academic employees just as much as it holds for any employee in any corporate environment.
By writing anonymously, Secret Academic aims to strip away these extraneous, ego-driven pressures; to reclaim academic independence and freedom; and to return to basics: compelling research and analysis, expressed well, and as needed.
If you would like to contribute to Secret Academic, please get in contact: contact@secretacademic.com