Conesa, Ester

Fellow at IAS-STS: 2017/2018

Ester Conesa is a doctoral student at the IN3 (Internet Interdisciplinary Institute) at Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Spain), and a FPI grant holder of the Spanish Ministry. She works on gender and scientific careers in the framework of the GENERA project. She focuses her thesis on the regimes of time and competitiveness in academia and in feminist ethics of care, in the context of new managerialism and austerity measures. She has previously worked as a research assistant on gender and technology at Universitat Rovira i Virigili (URV) with JovenTIC research group. She received a Master in Research on Social Psychology at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). She has been a visiting scholar at Radboud University in Prof. Benschop group of Gender and Power in Politics and Management and at Munich Centre of Technology in Society in Prof. Müller’s Science and Technology Policy research group.

Doctoral work: Gender, time and ethics of care in new managerial and precarious academia

New managerial practices and values jointly with austerity measures have changed the academic landscape. This new scientific model promotes international competitiveness and excellence under an audit culture that brings an intensification of work demands and pressures on individuals producing ‘hidden injuries’ (Gill, 2009) and an accelerated environment (Ylijoki and Mäntilä, 2003; Vostal, 2015; Felt, 2017). This doctoral work examines regimes of managerialism and precariousness in the Spanish scientific and academic context, and the effects on academics lives and careers under a gender perspective. It seeks to shed light on how these accelerated and pressured work conditions might create exclusionary effects. It explores too the application of an ethics of care perspective in academia in order to promote ideas of interdependency, responsibility, gender equality and social justice (Tronto, 1993).

Selected Publications

Conesa, E. (forthcoming, 2018). Accelerated Academy, Slow Science and Ethics of Care / Academia Acelerada, Slow Science y Ética del Cuidado (chapter). Ed. Ana M. González, La aguja y el camello (Mujeres en la ciencia). Invertir las lógicas de la ciencia y la tecnología contemporáneas. Icaria Editorial.

Conesa, E. & González, A. (forthcoming, 2018). New Managerialism and Austerity in the Spanish and European academic context. Two sides of the same coin? / Neo-gerencialismo y austeridad en el contexto académico español y europeo. ¿Dos caras de la misma moneda? Política y Sociedad.

Conesa, E., (2017). (No) Time for Care and Responsibility. From neoliberal practices in academia to collective responsibility in times of crisis. Teaching with Feminist Politicsof Responsibility in Times of Crisis, Eds. Beatriz Revelles y Ana M. González. AtGender Series. Routledge.

González, A., Conesa E., Vayerda, A. (2016). The impact of the new managerial practices in the scientific trajectories of men and women in times of crisis / El Impacto de las Prácticas Neo-Gerencialistas en las Trayectorias Científicas de Hombres y Mujeres en Tiempos de Crisis. Investigaciones Feministas, 7 (2), 67-87 http://dx.doi.org/10.5209/INFE.52882 Special issue: “Gender (in)equality in academia: present challenges and future opportunities”.

Gil-Juárez, A., Feliu, J., Vall-llovera, M., Calsamiglia, A., Conesa, E., (2015) From Research Using Life Stories to Social Theatre: The Gender Digital Divide Case / De la Investigación mediante Relatos de Vida al Teatro Social: el Caso de la Brecha Digital de Género. Universitas Psychologica, 14 (4), 1583-1598. http://dx.doi.org/10.11144/Javeriana.upsy14-5.imrv