“Jobs that Really Matter”: Critical Reflections on Changes in Academic Life during/after the Covid-19 Pandemic

The prioritisation of the coronavirus pandemic in the public sphere has resonated in the field of sciences, with Covid-19 occupying the interest of many researchers in various dis-ciplines This article aims to analyse features of interpersonal and institutional discourses, pub-lished data, and the author’s observations to reflect critically upon the impact of Covid-19 on academic life and sketch some trends in the field of sciences The analysis demonstrates that Covid-19 serves as an accelerator for science;this process, however, is asynchronous across countries, disciplines, and research streams The “Covid-isation” of research systems rein-forces the instrumentalisation and projectification of science and creates intra-institutional hi-erarchies The coronavirus crisis amplifies existing inequalities and prompts the double move-ment of acceleration versus deceleration In the potential social morphogenesis in the field of science, the role of the humanities and social sciences scholars in asking critical questions and facilitating meta-reflexivity becomes paramount © 2021, Unified Theory of Information Research Group All rights reserved