Work-life balance is a common topic of conversation within Higher Education. We all have different ways of doing it, and many of our colleagues seek advice for improving theirs. In this session from the Research Realities event in March 2025, Professor Sue Fletcher-Watson talks about managing career and, in particular, how to have an effective management of work-life balance Professor Sue Fletcher-Watson, Professor of Developmental Psychology, Centre for Clinical Brain SciencesAs an undergraduate I studied Psychology at the University of St Andrews, and then went on to a Masters and PhD at Durham University. My PhD research explored the spontaneous social attention preferences of autistic and non-autistic adults and adolescents, using a range of methods, including verbal descriptions, change blindness and eye-tracking. Since then I have worked under the fabulous mentorship of Professor Helen McConachie including a Nuffield Fellowship which funded the Click-East project. I became a Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Edinburgh based in the Patrick Wild Centre and in 2019 I moved into the role of Director of the Salvesen Mindroom Research Centre. Discussion Points of Session Below are the main points discussed during this session, and the time at which they were discussed. We hope this will help any viewers who may wish to watch specific sections they are interested in. Timestamps Question 0:00 – 4:00 Scene setting 4:32 – 6:55 Career Journey & Motivation Prof. Sue shares her career background and what inspired her to pursue research in higher education. 7:13 – 9:07 Charity Work How Prof. Sue views her roles in charities as part of her broader career beyond the university. 10:50 – 16:30 Changing Work-Life Balance Culture Reflections on how attitudes toward work-life balance have shifted over the years and what has influenced these changes. 18:04 – 19:21 Empathy and Trust in the Workplace The importance of empathy and trust in building a healthy work-life balance culture. 20:13 – 22:40 Parenting and Career How Prof. Sue negotiated her career when she had children and could no longer travel for work. 23:11 – 26:00 Saying "No" Her experience with turning down opportunities and how others responded. 27:32 – 29:51 Life Outside of Work A look at her other roles (besides worker) in life and how she manages them alongside her career to achieve work-life balance 31:19 – 33:43 Making Time for Wellbeing How she prioritizes time for activities that support her health and happiness. 35:37 – 39:05 Rebalancing After Burnout Points in her career where she found the balance between recharging and draining were getting disproportionate to each other and how did she rebalance the centre of proportion? 44:05 – 43:00 Advice and Role Models Her tips for maintaining balance and the role models who influenced her approach. This article was published on 2025-06-16
