text:
Can a professor tell you that you can’t use your phone before or after their class?
So, I have this one professor who refuses to let anyone use their phone. I understand this during class hours but now he’s saying he will give a demerit to anyone using their phone even if it’s before or after class.
I personally am at the school from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and his class is my last one for the day and I have a 2 1/2 hour wait until it starts. Most days I get into his class room anywhere from 30 mins to almost an hour before class starts. The teacher is in the room as students aren’t allowed in otherwise. In that time I’m generally on my phone as in my opinion it’s my free time and I’d like something to do or have people I’m talking to over text.
Everyone is of course adults as we are in college so it’s extremely irritating that another adult would tell me and other students to put a phone away when there is literally no one else in the classroom and no work is being done. Even after class he threatens to write me up for having my phone out whether it’s just to check the time or look something up. (I’m usually the last to leave as I don’t feel the need to rush out of the room and generally try to clean up pretty well before I go)
Maybe I’m just being unreasonable but I do believe some boundaries of respect are being crossed. I don’t talk back or stand up for myself when he tells me to put it away either as I grew up being taught to respect anyone in authority or older than you. Though, he’s the first to make this difficult as the respect doesn’t feel as though it’s being reciprocated.

What do you want to achieve here?  I feel this is more of a complaint than a question.

Does your school have a policy forbidding the use of cellphones?

@JoelReyesNoche: Even if they don't, there are plenty of unwritten rules of how to conduct yourself in a classroom.

My assumption would be that if the prof didn't feel like your behavior was in some way interrupting his class, you wouldn't be hearing this request.

Can you use a laptop in the exact same situation (ie - an hour before class?) If so, then the policy is largely assinine unless your phone is on blast making all kinds of noise. If you are sitting silently texting or using headphones that should be no different from typing on a laptop or tablet. Just give this person their ego trip prior to class and sit outside the room

I think behaviour of this professor is completely unreasonable, but I doubt there is anything you can do about it. Therefore it would be best for you to either avoid using the phone in the classroom or avoid being in the classroom at all.

Anyone can tell you anything they feel like telling you. You can then choose to act as you wish. It sounds quite simple: use your phone and get a demerit. It's up to you to decide what you want to do with this information.

Might be better suited for https://interpersonal.stackexchange.com/ as the context seems largely irrelevant here (saying "my college professor oversteps his authority while I am at school but class is not in session" is essentially the same as "my boss oversteps his authority when I am at the office but off the clock"... or just "[person with authority over specific activity] oversteps the bounds of that authority when I am at [the place where we typically engage in that activity], but at times when we are not actually [engaged in said activity]")

@Z4-tier: But "professor oversteps his authority" is not a given here. For example, at my institution there is official wording from the college council that use of phones in any classroom is prohibited (no qualifier for whether class is in session or not).

Where would you be if the professor were not in the class room 30-60 minutes before class began? Use your phone there instead. University policy seems to vary on the availability of otherwise unscheduled classrooms, but the fact that you state you aren't allowed there without the professor present seems to imply that it's not for student use outside of class.

If you're "usually the last to leave", and it's 9pm, then perhaps he just wants to close up & get home and feels you're dawdling - the phone is then just a convenient outlet for his frustration.  If you've ever worked retail, you'll know what it's like to have one of "those" customer at closing time...  And if you think that putting the phone away "shows respect", then why do you keep getting it out again?  Respect doesn't magically "reset" overnight, and putting it away whenever he asks isn't respectful if he keeps having to remind you not to have it out in the first place.

If you were calling him "Prof" instead of "Professor Whateverhisnameis", and he asked you to stop because that was disrespectful, then calling him "Professor Whateverhisnameis" for the day and going back to calling him "Prof" again the next day - and being reminded to use "Professor Whateverhisnameis" again - isn't "showing respect".  In fact, it might come across as more disrespectful than calling him "Prof" the whole time, because you've already demonstrated that you're perfectly capable of remembering his name.

I think your description of what’s going on is misleading. The professor is not “telling you you can’t use your phone before class”. He’s telling you you can’t use your phone before class in the classroom when he’s also in the classroom.
Is that reasonable? I honestly don’t have a strong opinion. I can certainly see why it’s annoying to you on the one hand, but can also see things from the professor’s perspective - if he wants to use those thirty minutes before class to review the material he’ll be discussing, and is easily distracted by phones (yes, professors are prone to distraction just like other people), he may well think his need to have a distraction-free working environment so that he can deliver good instruction for his class overrides your personal need to use your phone during that time and makes it okay for him to decide what is and isn’t allowed in the classroom, even though the official lecture time hasn’t yet arrived.
It’s possible you can win this on a technicality by turning this into some kind of principled fight over individual rights. But I don’t see a point, it wouldn’t be a real “win” for you or anyone else in any meaningful sense. Your professor may be a slightly unreasonable person with a slightly rigid personality, but in my opinion the mature thing to do in this situation would be to respect his wishes and find some other place to use your phone before class.

"easily distracted by phones"....depends on the context and use. A dead phone, sitting in a corner silently bricked is hardly a distraction. Same for sitting silently reading. If OP is playing a video or game without headphones or it is constantly beeping and buzzing because of calls then sure...

@NKCampbell perhaps, but OP didn’t mention a restriction on bricked phones, and in any case it seems counterproductive to get into that level of detail. The professor considered the question and decided on a policy. Regardless of whether you agree with his reasoning or not, he has authority to do so by a reasonable interpretation of the situation. That’s all there is to it really.

Frankly I'd say it's pretty unreasonable assuming the phone isn't making noises, but also agree with your conclusion this is a silly fight and OP should just find somewhere else to post up before class.

I believe this sort of power dynamic is important to address. If we allow professors, or anyone else, "their ego trip" as one commentor put it, it is enabling the behavior. I once had a professor tell me to remove my baseball cap as a courtesy to others and when I refused (I didn't say or do anything other than not comply), he threatened to take me to the dean. I was worried about my grade in that class and any future classes I might have with him - so I capitulated. While I get courtesy and conformity, it was a power imbalance that he exploited to enforce his personal behavioral norms.

@CramerTV good point. If you post a question about a professor asking a student not to wear a baseball cap, we can discuss that and the issues it raises. To clarify, my current answer is about OP’s specific question and does not necessarily extrapolate to other situations.

I am not sure I agree. Why is the professor hogging the classroom for 30min before class? It should be available to all without undue restriction. If the professor wants peace and quiet, he can use his office.

@FelipeVoloch perhaps his office is on the other side of campus. Or perhaps he is a low paid adjunct instructor with no office to call his own who has to walk to class from a far away parking lot and wants to collect his thoughts before lecture starts. Anyway, you may have a point technically but as with NKCampbell’s comment I think you’re overthinking the issue. Not every disagreement between a student and a professor is worth scrutinizing in microscopic detail. Sometimes one has to look at the bigger picture and accept that there are annoyances in life too minor to get upset about.

Among "annoyances in life too minor to get upset about" one must surely count a student messing quietly with his phone. (Of course, a noisy phone is an entirely different matter).

@FelipeVoloch agreed.

This is also a life-lesson, possibly deliberately so: you will come across similar situations later in life, where someone in authority makes an (apparently) arbitrary decision that you don't like - if you can't abide with that now, you had better start learning. @CramerTV  I was brought up that it was rude for any man to wear a hat indoors - sounds like that professor thought the same thing.

@MikeBrockington hence Cramer's "..to enforce his personal behavior norms." That is the problem. You are free to think it's rude all you want, but if someone else does not share your opinion then it's actually not rude, and attempting to get them to take it off is actually the rude action. Ie: treating your completely arbitrary view as more important than their view is rude, and that's an understatement. Not saying you would do that, but that's what Cramer addressed. I don't remove hat or coat indoors, don't bow head or close eyes when people pray, but I'm not rude about it.

Depending on the situation, a phone is not a bother, or really irritating. Moving pictures, even without sound, or other phone-relevant movement can distract others. It is hard to know what is acceptable. Sometimes, sitting in class with a jacket and a hat irritates lecturers; it sends the message "I am about to get up and leave." even if they don't and so creates a permanent sense of imminent departure. There is usually a very good reason that different communities have particular etiquette; even if particulars of that do not seem relevant, the whole often makes sense under scrutiny.

@FelipeVoloch I mean, OP says they aren't allowed in the room if there is no professors in it. I'd hardly call that "hogging"...

@NKCampbell: it's not up to us to decide what is or isn't a distraction to this professor.

@CaptainEmacs Plus, a blanket "No Phones" rule causes far less issue (especially with regards accusations of discrimination) than asking for the distracting phones to be put away individually.  Imagine if the only person in a class with distracting content on their phone was from an ethnic minority - even if that student accepted it, someone else might kick up a fuss "on their behalf".

@NKCampbell: "Same for sitting silently reading."  If only that were true.  In middle school (not college) I had more than one control-freak teacher who found my habit of doing exactly that -- sitting silently, reading, not disrupting anything or pestering anybody -- sooooo offensive that they complained to my parents about it!

@reinierpost It is and should be up to us to decide what a reasonable person can consider bad enough to be worth intervening over, and call people out when they're unreasonable about it.  That's kind of a big deal WRT the rule of law, afterall.

@Chronocidal Precisely. That's why it is etiquette, i.e. general rules, rather than specific exceptions.

@MasonWheeler We do not know all details. Some people are unable to understand why having a loud mobile conversation in a train coach is actually an issue ("everybody's talking!"). We do not know in what ways the smartphone could have disturbed the professor, as OP does not go into details. Maybe (I am not claiming this is the case) taking silent selfies (can be extremely distracting). Quite possible, instead, that the professor is just a control freak. Even so, the prof are in charge and OP need to decide whether this is the hill they want to die upon.

Short answer: Yes, he can (unless there is a rule to the contrary)
If I understand your description correctly, you are present in the lecture room outside of the designated lecture time, and the professor is enforcing his no-phone rule while you are in that room, but outside of the time for the lecture.  Assuming that this is an accurate understanding of your description, I see no reason why the professor would not be able to enforce this rule of ettiquette in the lecture room.  It is generally accepted that professors have fairly broad discretion in setting the expected conduct of students while they are in lecture rooms, as they are the designated university employee with operational control of the room.  Thus, it is generally considered to be reasonable for professors to impose rules of ettiquette in their lecture rooms, so long as those are not contrary to broader university rules.
In a technical sense, the classroom belongs to the university as an institution, and it is this institution that sets the rules.  Your professor is one of the employees representing the institution, and his power is determined by the level of discretion and control granted to him by the university.  Professors are generally expected to impose reasonable ettiquette on students while in university facilities, and they are given pretty broad discretion over how they run their classes, and the rooms they are using.  Professors are expected to abide by university rules/policy, but within this range, they have quite a bit of discretion.  The fact that you describe the room as "his classroom" (though it of course belongs to the university) shows that you have an appreciation of this circumstance.
Now, a professor would certainly have this discretion during the designated lecture time, and in a reasonable window around that time that is necessary for preparation/conclusion of the lecture.  When you are talking about periods of time that are far outside the lecture time, there may be a circumstance where the professor loses control of the room in favour of some other university employee, student, or other user (e.g., if someone else has made a booking of the room).  Nevertheless, in the absence of someone else having a better claim to use/control the room (and you do not), if that professor is the only staff member present using the room, then he is the representative of the university in control of that room.  Absent some university rule/policy that grants you permission to use your phone in this circumstance, or some other more senior person at the university overruling him, it is likely that your professor can indeed prohibit you from using your phone.
I can certainly appreciate why you find this annoying, since "everyone there is an adult".  Having said this, universities take in a lot of young students in the early part of their adulthood (many still in their late teens), and there is a huge difference in maturity between these students and their professors.  Everyone may have attained the age of majority, but everyone is not equally adult in the sense of their maturity and life experience, so some professors have gotten into the habit of having to play a disciplining role with their students.  Many professors find that young students have a tendency to be distracted by their phones in lectures, so some take a hard line.  Of course, the most obvious solution here is for you to remove yourself from the lecture hall until you need to be there, and go out into the more general "public" areas of the university, where you are allowed to use your phone, free of the watchful eye of your professor.

I'd disagree with the understanding that any "representative of the university in control of that room" can impose arbitrary behavior rules on others. E.g. s/he could not require students walk on their hands or shed their clothes. There is a line somewhere between inadequate and arbitrary on one side vs. adequate and justified on the other. Examples for the latter, as always, would primarily be rules to protect the rights of others: Keep your voices down, keep the room clean etc.

No disagreement here.  As you'll see, my answer refers to professors having "broad discretion" and imposing "reasonable ettiquette" on students; not unlimited discretion to impose arbitrary behavioural rules.

@FelipeVoloch The etiquette when you disagree with an answer is to post your own contrary answer and let other users vote on it.

@FelipeVoloch Comments with the aim to improve a post are helpful. But if you disagree with the whole thrust of the argument, better to post your own than try to bend the other to your way of thinking.

I don't have specific sources, but in my experience it's not the professor's prerogative to occupy or control "general use" classrooms unless the room is reserved specifically for their class (or some sanctioned activity like a scheduled study session).  In other words, if there is no class in session the professor is "squatting" just as the student is, and doesn't have any particular authority to regulate use of the room.

You are overstepping your boundaries: you don't bear the responsibility of teaching the class, and hence you do not set the standards of behaviour inside the classroom. Simply exit the classroom if you want to use your phone.

This does not answer the question

@user111388 Not explicitly, but the implication should be clear: yes they can.

First of all, his room, his rules, so he gets to decide what he wants to allow. That said, try asking him politely what his concerns are about phone use before or after class. Maybe you can suggest an alternative policy that he's happy with, but keep in mind that his extreme policy is probably the result of past experiences with immature students abusing access to their phones.

I particularly like the suggestion to seek a dialogue and start a conversation about the subject matter and its rationale instead of embarking in a power fight. From a philosophical perspective, living together means to find rules which moderate our respective interests in a fair manner. It's legitimate to pursue one's own interests, both for you and your professor, and find a rule which respects both.

It's not, as you say, "his room".  It's his during class hours but a professor can't commandeer a room at random times of the day and think he can make it his personal domain.

@G.Allen: Unless he can. For adjuncts with crappy working conditions, that room may double as both office (when not teaching) and classroom. Even beyond that, there is a reasonable period, particularly before class, when the room becomes "their room" for the purpose of setting up prior to class, which depending on subject could easily extend for over half an hour (e.g. lab set up for physical sciences). Or they're providing help hours before and after class that the phone disturbs. The OP explicitly notes the classroom is off-limits to students until the teacher arrives after all.

His room, his rules? I hope he can not impose arbitrary rules (students must be only in their underwear, are not allowed to write their notes on a gray sheet of paper, students must adress him as "my lord" etc.)

Even after class he threatens to write me up for having my phone out whether it’s just to check the time or look something up. (I’m usually the last to leave as I don’t feel the need to rush out of the room and generally try to clean up pretty well before I go)

Have you considered that this behavior of yours could be considered quite rude and might in fact be the root of the teacher's blanket "no phones before/during/after class" policy?
Because students aren't allowed in the room without a teacher present, your mulling about after class is the only thing keeping them from heading home to their family, dinner, hobbies, research, etc.
They are probably far less upset about the phone itself so much as the fact that you're choosing to waste their time with a personal activity could be done in a hallway, library, etc. on your own time.

This is a really insightful perception!

"Students aren't allowed in a classroom without a teacher present"? Not in my Uni in the U.S.

@paulgarrett: The OP explicitly says "The teacher is in the room as students aren’t allowed in otherwise", so it applies here.

The Professor needs a (relatively) quiet classroom before and after class:

Before class - to prepare, concentrate and/or relax before teaching - which is a stressful and demanding activity.
After class - to gather up his things and collect his/her thoughts and observations of the dynamics during class, and/or to attend to students who come up to him/her after class.

On the other hand, you can very well go outside the classroom to use your phone.
So, it is legitimate, justifiable, and moral for the Professor to expect of you, and demand of you, not to use your phone before and after class.
... but if it's 30 minutes or more before class, that's excessive, and I'm not sure s/he is within his rights to do that. Using an empty classroom for phone conversations is legitimate. In fact, as a teacher, I would avoid entering the classroom so long before class is supposed to start; I always felt it's kind of upsetting/annoying for the students.

Yep your last sentences hits it I think. In my years at university usually the professors and other teaching staff only entered the rooms like 3 minutes before lesson start - except they had something to build up (like experiment stuff) - then of course they'd arrive earlier - but were likewise busy that they would hardly take notice of students using their phone - especially like in your case, mostly typing messages. I see a point for the professor where your phone is loud ... like alarms or call-signs - I usually had my phone silenced.

@eagle275: That gets into the questions of how large the class is, how loud the speaker's voice is etc.

Why should a teacher avoid entering a classroom long before class? Plus, the student is not allowed in without a teacher, so the point is moot anyway.

@CaptainEmacs: "the student is not allowed in without a teacher" - I was talking about my own experience; in my university there is no such restriction.

@einpoklum There are so many strange rules in various places (including ours) that I take the truth of this condition for granted. I do not think that OP wants to fight the random bureaucratic decree of their location (about rooms not being accessible without teacher), as it would be unwise.

I'm going to take a contrary position here and say the professor is being unreasonable.  He gets to set the rules during his class but, as I've pointed out in several comments, a professor can't just commandeer a room.  If peace and quiet are important to him then he could always just deny students access to the room until just before class starts and make sure everyone leaves promptly afterwards.
With that said, I don't know that you have a lot of options here.  You could always complain to the dean or department chair but is this really a fight that you want?  You're going to be antagonizing someone who has some influence over your immediate future so you might just be better off putting the phone away until you're out of the room.

Wait.  So it's reasonable to deny access to the room, but unreasonable to allow access without cell phone use?  I would think the latter is more reasonable than the former.

@Richter65 Honestly, I think it would be a little unusual for a professor to take over a room for his personal use.  However, trying to order students around outside of the classroom environment without a compelling reason should clearly be out of bounds.

Actually, I do believe that it would be easier to defend (say, in court) "I don't allow access to a room" than "I do not allow phones in the room". For the latter, one could always claim one has to prepare (even, if this is not true).

Agreed: ordering students outside the classroom environment is unreasonable.  The question (which has been explored in many of these answers) is whether this counts as a "classroom environment".  Clearly the professor thinks it does.  If we agree he's within his rights to deny access, to me that adds more weight to his viewpoint.  I also agree that a blanket "I don't allow access" may be easier to defend bureaucratically, but to me that's kind of a sad reflection on our bureaucracy.  So I can understand a willingness to "compromise" and allow access without cell phones. (Just my $0.02)

He's joking. There is no such thing as a demerit in college. If he wanted to penalize you, he would say, I'm taking 3 points off your grade every time I see you with that phone out. Read the syllabus for his class policy on phones.

That's quite the sweeping statement. A quick google search for "university demerit" seems to indicate that at least some universities in the USA do have demerits.

Whoa, demerits in college in the U.S.? I may (facetiously) start threatening demerits to the grad students in my dept... Long ago, I did give literal, physical gold stars...

The limitation isn't one of "time," but rather of "space."
Basically, as long as the professor is in the classroom, it is his "room," even though class is not in session. So he can set the rules for the classroom during his time there.
He can't forbid you from using your phone, before, after, or during the class as long as you are outside the classroom. (He may prevent you from entering or leaving during class, but that's a different matter.

No, it isn't.  I can't wander into a random room at an arbitrary time of the day and claim it as my own.  The room is his during class and that's where his authority should end.

@G.Allen If he has multiple lectures in a row, I would argue that it's still his in the 10 minutes or so between them.  Alternatively, sometimes a classroom or lecture theatre is allocated to a specific Professor, especially if they require specialist equipment either for their demonstrations, or as a result of a disability.  Finally, some Universities (certainly among older ones in Europe) even have the classroom, office, and the Professor's private apartment all linked together - you're basically having classes in their oversized sitting room.

@G.Allen: "The teacher is in the room as students aren’t allowed in otherwise," according to the OP. The University has told the professor when he may/should be in the room at such and such times. and given him control over the room while he's there. I don't agree with it, but that appears to be university policy.

@TomAu "The University has told the professor when he may/should be in the room at such and such times"  I didn't get that from the original post.  My reading was that the professor has just taken up residence outside of regular class hours.

@Chronocidal You made several valid points, none of which are stated in the original post.  In fact, the asker specifically referenced getting to the room upwards of an hour early so this doesn't appear to be a case of the professor staying in the room between consecutive classes.


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What are the criteria for associate professor habilitation in Italy in mathematics?
What are the official criteria that one needs to meet to achieve the national "associate professor" habilitation in Italy in mathematics?

First of all, information about the Abilitazione Scientifica Nazionale procedure is available on https://abilitazione.miur.it/ , although in Italian only. There is an English version of that site, but it is a (sad) joke: it only contains outdated information from 2013. Unfortunately it seems impossible to find up-to-date information that is not in Italian. Anyway, here is an overview.
First thing, you need to figure out which 'branch' of academia (settore) you are applying for, because the requirements change depending on it. The branches for mathematics are:

01/A1 mathematical logic
01/A1-MAT/04 teaching/history of math
01/A2 geometry and algebra
01/A3 analysis
01/A3-MAT/06 probability and statistics
01/A4 mathematical physics
01/A5 numerical analysis
01/A6 optimization and operations research

A complete list of branches for each discipline, with their descriptions, is in the attachments at the end of http://attiministeriali.miur.it/anno-2015/ottobre/dm-30102015.aspx . Attachment D is a list in English.
For each branch, a committee (commissione) of five scholars (who where drawn at random among all eligible professors) evaluates all the applicants. The names of the members of this committee for each branch are published on https://abilitazione.miur.it/public/commissariSorteggiati_2018.php .
Then, the requirements are:

Passing certain thresholds (soglie) on 2 out of 3 of these indices: number of publications in the last 5 years, number of (Scopus or WoS) citations in the last 10 years, (Scopus or WoS) H-index restricted to the last 10 years. The thresholds for each branch and for the current version of the procedure are available on http://abilitazione.miur.it/public/documenti/2018/Tabelle_Valori_Soglia_ALLEGATI_DM_589_2018.pdf (in Italian; the right pane "II classe" is for habilitation to the associate professor role; the left pane "I classe" is for habilitation to full professor, where these intervals of 5 and 10 years are replaced by 10 and 15, respectively).
Having 3 out of 10 "titles" (titoli), which are the following fuzzily defined items:

Organization or participation as a speaker at scientific conferences in Italy or abroad
Direction or participation in the activities of a research group characterized by collaborations at national or international level
Responsibility for studies and scientific research entrusted by qualified public or private institutions
Scientific responsibility for international and national research projects, admitted to funding on the basis of competitive calls for peer review
Direction or participation in editorial committees of magazines, editorial series, encyclopedias and treaties of recognized prestige
Participation in the steering board and / or teaching assignments in  Phd programs [in Italy only] accredited by the Ministry
Teaching or research assignments (fellowships) at qualified universities or foreign or supranational research institutes
Prizes and awards for scientific activity, including affiliation to academies of recognized prestige in the sector
Results obtained in technology transfer in terms of participation in the creation of new businesses (spin-offs), development, use and marketing of patents
Specific professional experiences characterized by research activities related to the branch

These are not binary, i.e., it is not sufficient to have n>=1 conference talks to qualify for the first one, for instance. It is specified further what these criteria means in the context of each branch: this information is available on https://abilitazione.miur.it/public/pubblicacriteri_18.php . Even after reading these clarifications, it will not be immediately clear whether you qualify for one or not; it is up to the committee to decide if the documentation you have submitted is sufficient qualification to get one. To get an idea of how restrictively they are evaluated, it may help to check the past results and evaluations available on https://abilitazione.miur.it/public/pubblicarisultati_2018.php (and compare them to the submitted applications available on https://abilitazione.miur.it/public/pubblicacandidati_18.php).
Having your application evaluated positively by said committee: they get a chance to say no even if you have all the numbers and requirements.

One applies on the platform Loginmiur. You need an account there, which you get by sending information and a copy of your ID by e-mail to a certain address (instructions on that page). The application process is in Italian: there is an English version of the form, but in practice almost all text appears in Italian even if you select it.
The next deadline (and last published deadline) to apply is May 14, 2020. After that, new committees will be elected, possibly there will be adjustments to this system, and probably all the above links will be replaced by new ones. If you wish to go for the May deadline, I would recommend you to start your application immediately, because it may take some time to go through the bureaucracy (such as applying for this account). Also, you may have to submit corrections to Scopus, if needed, so that all your articles and citations are counted properly; the Scopus staff also take some time to process them.
Good luck! I understand that the procedure may look daunting for someone who does not speak Italian.
Everything I wrote above applies also to all other branches outside mathematics, with the exception of some branches, mostly liberal-art ones, that use a different method for requirement 1 (settori non bibliometrici).
One important note: habilitation does not guarantee you a job. It only grants you the right to apply for associate/full professor positions when a university has an opening for that role.
For an early-career researcher, the most common way to get a permanent job is via another kind of position, the tenure-track ricercatore di tipo B (RTD-B). You do not need a habilitation to apply for those; however, if you get a RTD-B position you will need to obtain habilitation within three years before your tenure evaluation. For this reason, often candidates who already have a habilitation are preferred. So it is a good idea to apply for habilitation as soon as you pass the thresholds in my point 1, if you plan to have a career in academia in Italy.

Thank you for this detailed answer: it helps a lot.

I have two questions about it: (1) What happens if the candidate has some publications which are not entirely relevant to the chosen "settore"? (2) In case of negative results, what is the minimum waiting time to resubmit the habilitation request?

(1) It is left to the committee to judge if the candidate has enough experience in the field. If he/she got his/her "thresholds" entirely through off-topic papers, that is a possible reason for exclusion. It is indeed a common reason for exclusion, because some try the procedure also for a tangential field different from their main one (you may try it in multiple fields separately). (2) Up to now the answer was "one year". However, further deadlines after the May one are not set yet, and there may be changes. (I think this aspect won't change, personally.)

Thanks! By the way, what are the official requirements about the age or years of experience of the candidate?

To apply for the habilitation, I think there are no formal requirements. To apply for an RTD-B, you need 3 years of postdoctoral experience (in the form of an Italian RTD-A, or abroad) or the habilitation.

Thank you. About your last note: how long does it usually take to get the results from the habilitation process?

I would consider 3-4 months after the deadline. They do not come out all at the same time; each committee ends at a different time.

Thanks for adding the details of the "titoli". I'm not sure I understand the last one "Specific professional experiences characterized by research activities related to the competition sector". What do people usually put under it (that does not overlap with other ones)?

@Lao It is slightly mistranslated (oops, I admit I partially trusted Google Translate for these titles...); I improved the translation. As far as I understand it is meant to include non-academia jobs and other work involving research outside of academia. In my branch of mathematics, 01/A5, the committee chose not to use at all the last two titles (9 and 10), probably since they are not too relevant for math applicants (see clarifying document on https://abilitazione.miur.it/public/pubblicacriteri_18.php). So I guess you are not the only one to find it unclear...

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Add unpublished but widely cited paper to CV?
I wrote an expository term paper in graduate school and posted it on my website, never trying to get it into a journal. Google Scholar says it now has 19 citations from various countries ("widely" is of course relative; what I mean is that this is more citations than my other publications have).
Since the article apparently resonated with an audience, should it now appear on my CV? If so, should I describe it with the name of the professor or course for which I wrote it, or just a title with no venue?

The question seems impossible to answer without more information about your current career stage, number and quality of research publications, and the quality and topic of the expository paper. One can imagine scenarios where the expository paper does make you look a bit more impressive, and others where it just makes you seem desperate to pad your CV with unimportant things. Not sure what more can be said.

19 citations doesn't yet quite count as "widely cited". But at a certain stage of a career, it might provide a noticeable boost to a CV, and then it's of course useful to list it.

What field are you in?  In my little corner of mathematics, 19 citations would be pretty sweet.

Is it a good paper - one you would be proud of?

Is it possible this paper could be published in a review-type journal? Maybe you should submit it. There are several such journals that do "wrap up" or "state-of-the-art" type articles. The things "everybody knows" but not everybody knows, or knows in detail.

Why not? As long as you're happy to defend it if someone brings it up in an interview.

One strategy is to do a deep-dive to check up on the quality of those 19 citations.

If you end up impressed: submit your paper to a journal. (The peer review will add some quality or quality control; the paper is less likely to disappear; and the author gets recognition.)
If not: maybe just leave it as is and don't include on CV.

(I had a similar experience as you describe. Sometimes some less-serious researchers just want to cite something with the right words in the title... not saying that's the case with your citations but it's worth checking.)

Scientific journals typically focus on publishing new results. If the paper does not present new results, but rather old results explained nicely, that is, if it's mostly teaching material rather than research material, getting it published at a journal may be difficult.

@Uwe - many fields have teaching-specific journals where such a paper might fit well.

@Uwe, Jon is correct.  There are also journals that only publish reviews.  And mercenary editors who will publish anything that gets many citations.

@Uwe that depends on the field. In my particular field we have a concept called a "pearl" which is exactly something that might not be quite novel but is explained in a "beautiful" way. Pearls are often quite different beasts from the regular research papers but are nonetheless valued.

I guess it's time for the Academia.SE mantra: "Academia varies more than you think it does."

In my field, some journals in addition to review papers also publish tutorial papers. An email to the editor beforehand may help - and if they don't publish such papers they may be able to tell other journals in your field who do.

I think its becoming more common to have divide the "publications" section of a CV into "Peer-reviewed primary research" and "Reviews, pre-prints and other non-reviewed publications". Would that work for you?

Add unpublished but widely cited paper to CV?

If it's widely cited, then it has been published. Perhaps you mean - published only in non-refereed venues? If such work is meaningful and you feel like showcasing it, then you can certainly put it in your CV. I've done this with a monograph of mine that's on ArXiv - and it's not even widely cited.

And if it is already being cited and genuinely being interacted with by other researchers then you could think of it as going through the real peer-review process now - that's something many papers in peer-reviewed journals don't actually get!

This. It is very normal to have publications that are not peer reviewed in the CV: posters, oral presentations, technical reports, proceedings papers (in my field they are not peer-reviewed and thus rare), I also list some software there.

To add to this, ArXiv has some quality control. Its not peer review, but if it gets in, its at least, not some random work, but something worth reviewing in general. So yes, if its in ArXiv, its OK to list it in your CV, I think.

Since the article apparently resonated with an audience, should it now appear on my CV? If so, should I describe it with the name of the professor or course for which I wrote it, or just a title with no venue?

Whether it should be included depends on your career path.
For research positions, you should definitely include the manuscript on your CV and I'd suggest treating it like a technical report. (You could mention the course for which it was written (and possibly even the professor), but that depends how you introduce the work.) For other positions, it depends how relevant you consider the achievement.

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A journal published my paper without finalizing the proofs -- is this normal?
The title says it all.  The journal published my paper without sending me the final proofs beforehand.  I didn't even find out that the paper had been finally published from the journal; I found out from an ORCID update.  With other journals, I always got a final look to make sure the edits were done correctly, but that step was missing here.
Is this normal?  I'm quite perturbed, because the copy-editors had made lots of inappropriate edits, and I wanted to double check that they had fixed everything before the paper went live.
The publisher is Wiley (which I don't have experience with).

Has the journal published? Or released a preprint? The latter may be intended to make research available more quickly.

It's an online version, "early view."  Which is fine.  But that's also the version most people will look at.  And it still has certain mistakes I asked them to fix.

Any "early view" should be labelled as such and will be replaced by the final version that you approve.

Is this normal? I'm quite perturbed, because the copy-editors had made lots of inappropriate edits, and I wanted to double check that they had fixed everything before the paper went live.

I'm a journal editor (Taylor & Francis) and have edited special issues (Springer), so in my experience this is not normal in the slightest. Even though it is an "Early View" article, this is a standard part of the publishing pipeline, and we'd expect those to be the finished version (just waiting for the formal assignment of a volume/issue number as space opens up).
If this happened to me, I would be disappointed.
You should e-mail the handling editor who you corresponded with.
My guess is that something has happened in the interplay between editorial staff and the back-office Wiley people, and I would guess that the handling editor would be just as disappointed and surprised as you. You want these edits to happen as quickly as possible, as once the DOI is minted and its an "early view" article - as you know - people will be getting their Google Scholar alerts etc. and beginning to read and cite the piece.

Each publishing house seems to deal with this differently, but it's certainly not unknown for electronic versions to appear earlier in the publishing process than the final print version. Based on your comment, this seems to be what's happened to you. These versions are subject to change, and should get updated when your proofs are finalized and your work gets inserted into an "issue". Assuming this is a traditional journal, that's also the version that will get put onto paper, etc.
While it can be annoying, you should note that this isn't the version the journal will advertise (on its website, mailing lists etc.), nor the version that people will cite, so unless you are sending the web link out somewhere, it's not going to be held against you.

The paper already has a DOI (which is what people will cite) and it's featured on the journal's main webpage.  Also, Wiley does advertise "early view" papers on their mailing lists.

The issue here, just to clarify, isn't about the paper being "early view."  It's that the journal made public a version of my paper without my approval and without notifying me.  I want to know if that is normal.

@artificial_moonlet It's certainly not abnormal, and seems to be becoming more common.

@artificial_moonlet I suppose you signed a copyright transfer form, so technically they do have your approval to do whatever they want with it.

@FedericoPoloni Of course, but why would they make public a version that I didn't agree should be final?  That just seems weird from an editorial point of view.


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I reported cheating in an online exam and now I am scared the professor is going to blame me
I took an exam online and immediately after the exam typed in the programming question on google to see if there is an answer out there so I have an idea if I did well on the exam. I found on Chegg that people were taking pictures of their computer screen with the exam questions and I reported it to the professor.
Now I really regret doing that because I am 100% sure the professor will look at my protected exam video and try to blame me for cheating as well.
Can I be blamed for cheating on an exam without a proof, and if I didn't do anything wrong? the reason why I think the professor will watch the video is because I sent him an email telling him that there were some background noises from outside of the room during the exam, in case the screen protecting software detects the sounds and flags my exam, it happened to me before in another course and the professor said that only if the exam is flagged will she watch the video but this professor said he will watch the video and let me know if he has any questions.
 what are the chances of something like that happening, and if I am accused with cheating, how will I be even able to prove I didn't?

I'm sorry you're so anxious.  I'm not sure there's any way we can help you here though, beyond saying that it's doubtful they would accuse you of cheating without good evidence of you cheating.  If they allow the use of notes, they probably have a good feel for the difference between a student looking at notes, and one looking at their phone.  You may have to deal with more scrutiny because of your past, but that doesn't mean you're fated to be accused again.

I don't understand your exam situation as you describe it, but that's not really an issue.
Yes, if that professor has had an academic dishonesty issue with you, it is a reality that the professor may choose to look at your work more rigorously than otherwise.  Your performance is what generates the way people think about you.  Even so, the plagiarism you describe doesn't really suggest that you would cheat on an exam.  I have, in the context of academic honesty hearings that I've served on, seen students have two findings against them in the same semester by the same prof.
If your academic dishonesty incident was in another class with another professor, your current professor would, by policy, not be aware of the incident unless directly told by the other professor, and that is really frowned upon in many places.  If this is the case, there would be no reason to focus extra attention on your work.
I don't understand your situation about the video, even a little bit.  If you sealed your exam prior to opening the browser to search for the question, you should be OK, unless somehow there is real evidence of cheating on your exam or on the video.
All that said, you can't see what's on Chegg without a Chegg account.  With a finding of academic dishonesty against you, I strongly recommend deleting your Chegg account, and never log on to it again, either with your account or a "borrowed" account.  You have a finding against you.  A second finding will yield real penalties, and a third might lead to a permanent separation.  You would be amazed by how often I hear the word "Chegg" at academic honesty hearings.

The time stamp for when you submitted your exam will be EARLIER than the time stamp for when you started your on-line search.
For all other cases, as the saying goes: Ignorance of the law is no excuse.
Your case will be reviewed as appropriate to the level of evidence. The burden of proof that you did cheat (again) or not is likely first left for the instructor to determine. Your arguments will not be weighed for validation that the evidence is beyond any reasonable doubt. Rather, they will be weighted based on the metric of what will a reasonable person conclude from this body of evidence. All that the instructor needs to be able to say is ... This student was told not to undertake this action, and the evidence reasonably shows that this student undertook this action.
The best bet to clarify where you stand is to summarize your statements in writing and to present them to the faculty instructor before the instructor decides to review your case. Only the instructor can answer your questions without hypothetical generalizations.
Finally, academic misconduct is NEVER excusable as being "unintentional". You have a responsibility as a student to learn the rules that govern your conduct while at the university. You were certainly presented with a written code of conduct by the university and perhaps also by the professor before the course if not before you entered the university. Otherwise, you could not have been charged with misconduct for your behavior. A claim after the fact that you cheated but that your cheating was "unintentional" suggests a degree of laziness, disrespect, arrogance, or self-righteousness toward learning and following the rules.


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"In the event of failure, the candidate will be asked to withdraw from the Graduate Program.", How is it different from being fired?
This is from a document explaining the procedure for the comprehensive exam for entering the Ph.D. candidacy at my school. It mentions that the potential candidate should withdraw from the Ph.D. program if they do not pass the comprehensive exam. My question is: What would be the consequences if the potential candidate simply refuses to withdraw? They would be fired, right? Is there any benefit in withdrawing from the program compared to just doing your research and waiting to be fired? Or, it is just the usage of polite language and beating around the bush in this document?
For reference, this is about a university in Canada.

What country are you in? The language connotations differ...

I edited. thanks.

You aren’t an employee, you are a student. The effects are the same though.

"Is there any benefit in withdrawing from the program" - besides not having tuition due?

In British English "fired" would indicate the termination of a contract of employment it would not be used for a pupil in an academic setting.

When you withdraw from the program, you can tell people later (in a job interview, social situation etc) that you “decided to withdraw from the program”.
If you are fired you will have the option of either lying (with possible bad consequences if the lie is found out) or telling people “I was fired”.
Which of those sounds better?

great answers in this thread but this seems the most sensible reason for the student to do that/ for the program of offer such an option.Thanks

In the U.S., and to the extent I understand it, in Canada, funding is slightly and significantly separate from "being allowed to hang around, register for classes, etc.".
Of course, in many STEM fields, the usual expectation is that one _is_funded_ including tuition paid, so long as one is "in good standing" in the grad program. That means passing exams on schedule, doing whatever is prescribed.
Failing qualifying exams (if no repeats are allowed) surely puts one "not in good standing". Almost certainly this would entail loss of funding, and loss of tuition coverage. (Loss of teaching assistant or research assistant jobs, too.)
It might not immediately disqualify you from registering for classes, or from continuing in the graduate program... However, if the program requires that you (eventually?) pass the qualifying exam, and you're not allowed any further attempts after failing... success is impossible.
If the latter is your situation, you probably won't be escorted out of the building by security, but at some point you'll get no more pay, you'll be asked to vacate any office space, and have to pay to register, at best.
The only possible interesting thing is to inquire of your program how to get reinstated... or to be supported by them in trying to move to a lower-tier program that might be happier with you.

They have never once stated that they failed such an exam. They are only wondering out of curiosity why it is phrased this way. Why are you advising the asker to switch programs?

@user64742, I am only speaking exactly of the hypothetical, as an explanation of why it is phrased this way.

In some places, doctoral students aren't actually employees though they have some other position, such as a TA, which can be a separate thing. Your relationship to the university is "student", not "employee". In such systems what you suggest makes perfect sense. You can no longer enroll in courses if you fail comps. Normally a TA job also disappears since student status may be required to hold it, but that would be, administratively and legally, a different thing.
But if you fail comprehensive/qualifying exams, you won't be welcome, generally. You will get no benefit for "hanging around" and there is no path to a degree at that institution.
Some places you get more than one chance to pass, say twice.
In other places, doctoral students are employees of the university or a lab, and in such situations failing and being fired are about the same.

I imagine the details vary by institution, but the ones (in Canada and US) I am familiar with -

Formally, to register each semester/quarter/whatever, you need to be "in good standing" according to your department. If you are not, you cannot register.
If you have scholarship and/or grant-type funding, this is released contingent on you being registered and "in good standing" (or a similar condition)
If you have funding based on TA duties (or similar), the precise conditions of your contract may vary, but I'd be surprised if any contract you have would be for more than one academic year, potentially even one term, and your institution would just not renew it with you.
If you are funded through student loans, they will require confirmation that you are in good standing.

Therefore, if your department encourages you to withdraw, and you do not -- and don't persuade them to keep you in -- you will find yourself unable to register, and without funding.
Now in general, threats to take comprehensives etc seriously aside, departments don't actually want to push people out the door. If you have generally been making decent progress and something blows up, In my experience, they will work with you to buy you time, retake something, defer some deadline via accommodation/exception, etc. However, this has 3 important limitations.

They don't have to do this, and it depends on specific people personally championing you to suss out how to make it happen and influencing bureaucrats to make it happen. So don't treat it as an entitlement.
The dropout rate in graduate programs is appallingly high. This is not the place to discuss why and what should be done about this, but many people who drop out just aren't progressing at an adequate speed, from faculty's perception through insufficient creativity/imagination in the field (just not suited to it, regardless of how nice people they may be) and/or insufficient self-motivation and/or work ethic to make progress fast enough.  A number of these seem to perpetually be overoptimistic about their ability to turn things around, and so for better or worse it's rules on progress deadlines or crucial pass/fails that end up pushing them out, with faculty members breathing a sigh of relief since they can't actually see that person succeeding in the end anyway (whether correctly or not). So expect exceptions only if your failure or running out the clock is an uncharacteristic blip and you have a bunch of supporters who will argue that this blip aside, you are making great progress and show every sign of being a successful finisher.
If you do somehow stop the clock, or go away and work on something, AND successfully get reinstated later, of course you won't get financial support while you're "away", and you may well be required to retroactively register and pay full or partial tuition while you were "away" on your return. Depends on the institution, and is unfair (since you were not benefiting while away), but be prepared for it.

Not trying to be harsh here, just honest. Fully recognize that crucial junctures like comprehensives create a lot of worry and catastrophising. Hopefully that's all it is, and you'll do fine.

My institution (also in Canada) has similar wording but in the context of having a non-satisfactory grade on a required course, "the student is strongly recommended to withdraw from the graduate program". I spoke to my supervisor about this (same question as you) and in this context the reasoning is that you technically won't be eligible to graduate, but your supervisor can make a case for why you should be allowed to graduate despite the grades.
I'd assume that the reasoning is the same in your case. But I recommend that you speak to your supervisor/a department head about this. It should be an easy question to answer and it can likely vary by institution/department.


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Citations needed when using textbooks to write lecture notes/slides?
so basically I have recently started to teach my own course for the first time. In the past, I mainly taught professors in the department that were on leave etc and they normally supplied me with their teaching materials, so this is the first time I am completely writing my own notes/lecture slides.
Now, I am teaching a history survey course and when writing lecture notes/slides, I have mainly relied on the course textbook and a few secondary sources. The question now is whether I need to provide references at all if I use the work of others in this context? I do not copy anything verbatim of course and also dont claim anywhere that what is on the slides is my original work. However, while I normally rely on several sources for my lecture slides, at times several slides in a row more or less summarise a few pages from the textbook/another source. Would I be expected to give a reference for this? [I should add that I do provide references if I borrow a whole chart etc. from a book].
I have to say that at least in the humanities and in my own career as a student and teacher, I have never seen such references. In fact, a criticism of students about some of my former professors was that they basically just go through the textbook in lectures. So, unless I am missing something, my guess is that I dont have to provide references [I dont mean what would be ethically "perfect" but rather what is accepted practice in academia]. However, now that I am doing it myself, I thought I could ask here just to make sure.

Not an answer to your question, but my own practice was not to cite material from a required textbook but to provide a tiny-type citation on any slide that included material, other than well-known facts in the discipline. that came from another source.

You should certainly cite your sources. Not for each and every use, a general statement like "Based on textbook and others" on your first slide (or slide of each class) should be enough. Add references to slides/classes as needed for people who want to dig deeper.

Interesting. Can't say I have seen that much (if at all) in the humanities.

Also, would that not be inaccurate as well? If I just gave a sort of reference list, that would not tell anyone what information came from what source

@Polsci54 so you suggest we don’t have to cite or reference others work when we use it. Is that not plagiarism? Should we set a good, correct and profesdional example to students?

@SolarMike I think there is a difference between a piece of published scholarship and lecture slides that nowhere purport to be original work. Also, I am simply asking because my experience (again this might be field specific, I am in the humanities) I am yet to see a lecturer provide references.

@Polsci54 why don’t you provide an answer to that effect and we will then see if you are correct. If you are, I will delete my comment.

@SolarMike mmh, okay. I pretty much spelled this out in my question, but okay I guess this is how this works. And no need to delete your comment...

As it was suggested to me to post this in the form of an answer as well, here is my thinking about this again:
My reasoning behind not needing to provide references is:
1) Lecture slides do not purport to be an original piece of scholarship. Therefore, the rules for referencing are also not the same.
2) From my experience as a student and junior colleague, I am yet to see a lecturer in my field (history/humanities) that provides references on his/her powerpoint slides. The only exception are the occasional slide with "further readings" that you sometimes find. So it also does not seem to be an accepted habit (at least in some fields) to provide references.


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Would receiving an award from a recognised conference in the field boost my future academic career?
I have been nominated for a community contribution award alongside another professor in our field, this is a nomination for serving our research community (scientific activities). The conference is established by the leaders of the field and well-respected professor who nominated me.
This award is the for the first time in the history of the conference, I asked the professor who is also nominated alongside me, he said that he will not go due to his teaching schedule and I asked him whether this nomination means receiving an ward or not. He said he does not have any idea, which makes me hesitant whether I should go for the conference in that case (if I go I will present our ongoing work and meeting peers and the leaders of the field).
On the other side, here our project director does not want me to go to the conference since I don’t have a publication eventhough the conference registered me as staff (waived fees). My supervisor tried to persuade her, but she did not want to support my travel out of our project budget( very cheap expenditure though).
My question is: Should I insist on going to the conference and does a nomination, meaning having an award or not, in any way potentially boost my academic career?
In the other side, do you think that my project coordinator refusing to supporting my travel although we explained I am going to (present poster/short paper+ oral presentation at well respected community+ award nomination) is a toxic behavior? Actually, it is not the only action, she had many situations that bothered me and I am only 7 months into the program. My supervisor is always afraid of her and that’s worrying me very much. They did not seem to support me that much and that’s worrying. Maybe this a red flag, a sign to consider other opportunities or find another place that would support me. What do you think? (BTW I spoke with my supervisor, and he said he will try to persuade her again, but it seems disappointing that I am not appreciated, and that is my gut feeling).
=====EDIT======
I contacted the organizer and he said the nomination is confidential, I dont know whether this answered my question to. him whether I am going to receive award or not

Do you have an accepted paper to publish in the conference or not? It is unclear in the question. Kindly add clarification.

No, I don't have a paper, but I can present/talk in the workshop at the conference.

There are two issues here. The first is about whether getting nominated for the award is a good reason to go to the conference. The second is about the project coordinator here, and how to convince them that you should go (it sounds like you want to).
As to whether getting nominated is a good reason to go, it depends on how selective the award is. Were only a handful (5-10) students nominated? I would say that is then quite prestigious and you should include it on your CV, and it would be a good reason to attend. Also, will they be presenting the award (or announcing the nominees) at the conference? If so, it would be good for you to be there, in case you are awarded it.
I think you should specifically reach out to whoever is organizing this award and ask them if, since you are nominated, you should attend. That may also be a subtle way for them to tell you "please do make sure to attend", if they are planning to give you the award. You can also ask your supervisor to reach out on your behalf, if that would be more comfortable for you.
As to the project coordinator, she does seem difficult to work with, but we should not be too harsh, perhaps she is receiving a lot of pressure to be tight with the budget, it is not clear. Anyway, there are two things you can do here:

If you get confirmation from the organizer of the award that you are expected to attend, you can use this to pressure the coordinator to let you go.
Get the support of your advisor or another higher-up in your university, as appropriate. It sounds like your advisor is on your side, but afraid of the coordinator, and you are already getting your advisor to persuade the coordinator, which is good. If that is not enough, you basically need to find someone who has more influence than the project coordinator (someone who is their boss, or the equivalent) to get on your side. If you do that successfully, then they can talk to the coordinator and get them to agree to fund your travel.

It sounds very reasonable, given that you are nominated for an award, will present at a workshop, AND have already received funding (waived fees) for all except travel, so I hope you can attend. Good luck!

Thank you, I already sent an email and still waiting, according to the project coordinator, unfortunately, it isnot the first time, in fact, she sponsored a travel for a colleague in the project to present short paper which isnot that great and even my supervisor critized that. Actually, I am afraid to continue more three year in that program under this coordinator.

can feel she isnot supportive and also changing in moods so fast which is creepy to work with,my supervisor maybe supportive, but doesnot have an influnece and no one can influence, I saw she once arguing with him like a kid, it is worrying to me in any case.

@Erik sorry to hear about that. Who has higher authority, the project coordinator or your supervisor?

the project coordinator

There are mainly two points to consider:

Perspective of the prospective academic institution. Awards do have an added value, provided you fulfil an adequate publication record expected by the institution. This is applicable both for recruitment of academic positions as well as excelling if you are already hold an academic position.
Perspective of your institution. Your advisor/coordinator (or your institution) may weigh the travel costs against the positive merits received. The institution might perceive reputable publications weigh more than reputable award under question.

The end decision on whether the award is worth pursuing despite the costs ought to be looked upon from both the above perspectives. Your best bet would be to ask other professors in your department (and the prospective institution, if you have one in mind) as to how valuable that this award mean to the specific institution, with or without a publication.


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Faculty leaving to get a second degree, see training, etc. Is it heard of in Academia?
Is it possible for a faculty to take leave for 1 or 2 years to go and learn some new technologies in order to broaden their research area into a more interdisciplinary area?
Imagine you are working on statistical and computational modelling of cellular dynamics, now you want to go and learn experimental technologies in order to generate your data, validate your results, etc and basically turn into a dry lab/ wet lab instead of a totally computational lab. Is it possible to be funded by your university in order to go and do some self-improvement which would eventually lead to dramatically better research outputs in the future even though it may cause a hit in your short-term output? Something similar to sabbatical leave but not exactly that, as sabbatical leave policies are not funding your goals during the leave and might even stop you from your regular compensations.
I am especially interested in Canada and the US.

The most common way I have seen this occur is through collaboration.
Rather than starting from scratch learning like a student in another professor's lab, the faculty member would start a collaboration with someone at the same or another institution. As part of this collaboration, it is possible to trade and learn skills from each other.
Especially in the situation you describe, it sounds like you have skills that are directly useful to a potential collaborator who has the wet biology background without the computational side, and such a collaboration could increase rather than decrease your productivity.

Let me add to the advice of Bryan Krause that such a collaboration may not require a move at all. Lots of things can be done remotely these days.
But on the other hand, it is also possible to take a leave from one place and take a temporary paid position at another so as to make the collaboration more intense. The other position might be "visiting professor" or something with agreed upon duties.
If you can do this in conjunction with a  paid sabbatical leave from your home institution then you can actually wind up earning more than you would otherwise.
Lots of things are possible depending on your other obligations (grad students, etc). But the department head and probably the dean need to get involved.
None of that suggests an additional degree, however. Most people don't need such a thing except in some European places where the concept of a higher order doctorate exists.


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Topics for on-site interview lunch and dinner time
I want to seek some ideas about what kind of topics I can talk about during the dinner or lunch time during my upcoming on-site faculty interview. I will have a dinner with the searching committee, department head, and other faculty members in the department. What typical topics I can pick up to avoid silencing the time.

Hmmm. The Detroit Tigers. The Red Wings. The Lions. The fact that cows in the dairy farms have student numbers. The hated NY Yankees. The hated Ohio Buckeyes. The fact that the sun is now rising before 8am.

@Buffy: You are from the US, right?

@user111388. I was teasing the OP who is from Michigan, where I was born. I didn't make it an answer since it is just foolishness.

Actually, this advice is quite different from that of Wetenschaap, though I don't disagree with that suggestion.
Instead of talking about yourself, spend the time asking about them. Ask about the students. How motivated are they? Ask whether there are unique aspects of the educational program. Ask about their future goals. Ask about trends, both positive and disturbing that they see on the horizon. Ask about collaboration. Ask about the research of others. Ask about what research seminars are available.
And these are things you want to know before accepting an offer.
Or ask about the local environment. Are there good places to, say, ride a bike or hike. If you have a partner, ask about opportunities for them locally.
Lots of things. But don't make it too focused on yourself or you might seem narcissistic.

The more social events of an interview program are typically meant for the candidate and the other participants to get to know each other better. They would like to know: who are you as a person, beyond your direct research and teaching interests? Do you have any hobbies? Do you play any sports, or instruments? What are your favorite travel destinations? Depending on your personal interests, you can keep topics closer to your research field, or further away into general knowledge / state of the world things. Make sure they get an authentic impression of who you are, what makes you tick, how you reason about things.
If the other faculty members and the department head have not been part of the formal interviewing process so far, you can inquire after their own research interests, and try to make connections with your own work. Building bridges cannot hurt.

If I were going on an interview trip, I'd look on-line ahead-of-time to get an idea of the research interests of the faculty! Not waiting until lunch!


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Is it possible to move past bad decisions made during PhD and hope for a bright future if I do a good job in postdoc?
I completed my PhD in mechanical engineering last year. It took me 5.5 years to complete it. I already held a master's degree previously albeit in a different research area. The main reason was my inability to understand the topic, develop ideas and carry out focused work during the first 2 years of PhD.
I got disinterested in my topic/research area early on in my PhD. This was mainly because I had to self learn many advanced topics which were not taught in my university. That made me less sure about my knowledge.
However, post 3rd year, I worked hard, got interested in the topic and published 2 papers in decent journals.
In addition, I did very few TAs during my PhD because I was unfocused during my first few years and couldn't invest time in any other activities.
Now, I am pursuing a postdoc with my PhD supervisor on a different approach to my PhD project which is interesting and will help me secure better positions later. I plan to use this time to publish 4-5 papers.
Will the ghost of my past bad decisions made during PhD haunt me and affect my future even if I do a focused and productive job in my postdoc?

Your "bad decisions" sound like the typical progress of many PhD students I know -- including myself.

How long it takes to complete PhD varies from country to country as well.  5.5 years sounds normal for an American program, if it includes the typical two years of masters-level work.

@artificial_moonlet Canadian PhD. I already had a master's degree albeit focused in a different research area.

Something to keep in mind: doing an extended postdoc with your PhD supervisor is not a great way to indicate a fresh start that will help you in external evaluations.

First of all, congratulations for your achievements!
I did not a complete a PhD, not to mention a postdoc, but I had my own bad experiences during my academic and professional career.
From reading your question, it seems you have all conditions to succeed in this new stage of your life/career. Obviously, you had your low moments a few years ago, but you saw with your own eyes they can be overcome. I believe this could give you the extra confidence when facing obstacles later that you can spot them and know how to resolve them by yourself or with help from others.
Regarding obtaining future positions/jobs, I am confident PIs, universities and generally employers do no look that far in the past, but rather focus on the performance of people in recent years. In consequence, I believe you should keep a positive attitude and when the ghosts from the past appear realise they can be again defeated.

It's not a digital thing.  Not "absolutely, no hope for you...just give up".  Not, nobody cares either.  But you have to do good work moving forward.  Every day is a new day.  If you continue being slack, then you will reap the results of that.  If you buckle down, then good things will happen.

What "ghost of your past"? This sounds like a totally normal experience. People who are at their best all the time are the exception (if they anywhere exist at all). Working through personal or professional lows is part of the job. You succeeded at that.
As a more general answer:

For job applications the more recent achievements typically by far outweigh anything that happened a long time ago.
So if for someone something in your PhD time is a negative sign, that will cease to have influence and be outweighed by your following endeavours - for better or worse.
There are always exceptions: Someone might highly value the time in which you did your PhD, the number of your papers per year or your math grade in the kindergarten (what you did not get a grade there? sorted out!). Some people have a particular - sometimes weird - focus, but overall 1. and 2. apply.


text:
Is it ethical to refuse a postdoc offer after lab visit
I am a Ph.D. student, close to finishing up. I am looking for a post doc position and have been in talks with multiple professors in various universities. However, most of them want me to visit their lab for a talk or a presentation, without having directly confirmed anything. Although they sound positive about me, there is no confirmation yet. Moreover, this being a relatively early stage of my post-doc job hunt, I haven't truly made up my mind yet.
I would like to know if it is unethical to accept reimbursement for travel and stay to these labs and subsequently refuse the offer, since obviously I can't accept all of them (if they happen to confirm me). Please share your opinion on this.

Are these job talks (i.e. part of a formal job interview process) or just a "hey, why don't you come and meet us and give a talk" kind of thing? Either way I don't think you'd have any obligation to accept an offer, but if it's the latter you can just think of it as networking - if their work is relevant to you it will help you to get to know their group even if you don't end up working with them.

Yeah, its mostly the later.... the invitation to give a presentation was casual and did not sound very formal in an interview-ish way.

Please remember our be nice policy -- if you think a question is not appropriate for this site, or another user's comment is unkind, please do not respond in kind, but simply flag for moderator attention.

Duplicate? https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/126274/can-you-reject-a-postdoc-offer-after-the-pi-has-paid-a-large-sum-for-flights-acc

Though these visits may not be advertised as formal interviews, you'd be well advised to treat them as such. The host will definitely use the visit to evaluate you and determine whether they would want to extend you an offer.

See also: Is it usual that “expenses are not refunded in a case where an appointment is offered and then refused”?

Does this answer your question? Can you reject a postdoc offer after the PI has paid a large sum for flights/accommodation for your visit?

There are no ethical considerations here. They are willing to spend the money to get a look at you as well as let you look at them. Just be honest with them so that you don't seem to be leading them on.
Thinking of it any other way would imply that a small expenditure from them would lock you in. That would be unethical.
Good luck.

It is what will become for them a regular job interview.

+1 Also: Always remember that in interviews you are interviewing them just as much as they are interviewing you. (And come prepared to ask questions, observe the work environment, etc. with the idea that in your judgement they may not be a good fit for you regardless of how good a fit you are for them.)

Note also that it is much cheaper for them to bring you in and see if you are a good fit now than to discover it after they hire you.

There’s nothing unethical about visiting a lab, giving a talk, and expecting to be reimbursed for expenses you incurred for this visit.
The lab will get something out of your visit: the talk and the interaction with other members of the lab.  Of course if you promise a talk and don’t deliver that’s another matter.

I agree with the other answers that there's no ethical problem here, and I'd add that, even if these visits had been official job interviews, there still would be no ethical problem. I think it's understood (certainly in my field but I think in other fields too) that people who are finishing a Ph.D. will apply to many places, will go to interviews, might get several offers, and will decline all but one of the offers. No one thinks that, just because they invited a candidate (whether for an "interview" or "just a talk") and reimbursed expenses, the candidate is required to accept whatever offer they might make.

Interviews are two way things. It would cost nothing for the lab., and they would benefit from a talk from you. It's only fair they reimburse at least some of your expenses. If they like what they see, an offer may be forthcoming. If not, nothing. You may like what you see, and accept, if not, nothing. Ethics don't get involved here. It's a two way thing. And they realise that you, in your position, want the best for you. If it's not that lab., that's life.

At my work, we often have recent PhDs give a talk when interviewing.  They usually pick the topic, but every now and then a lab head asks for a particular subject.  The talks give the team insight as to the applicant's approach, style and personality.
The interview team conducts interviews, takes the applicant to lunch, designates a host, and the convenes after the visit to review the candidate.
At one point, when hosting candidates, my lab head encouraged me to spend money on them.  Nice dinner, slightly upgraded hotel, business class seating, whatever.  His point was they are coming here to see if there is a mutual fit, and they are contributing at least a day of their time (usually two or three when travel is factored in) and the company can contribute their share.  Both parties have skin in it.
Just because you go on one date, doesn't mean that you will marry that person.  This is an exercise in finding the level of mutual interest.


text:
Is it legal to download textbooks from academia.edu?
There is a website called academia.edu. It seems like they have papers on various topics - but my question is about their textbooks. It is possible to download certain college textbooks for free through their site. This is a link to a calculus textbook you can download through the site.
My question is: Is it legal to download textbooks from academia.edu (in the United States)?

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academia.edu

The legality would depend upon your specific jurisdiction. There are also several similar questions on this site. assuming you're in the US, your question is a duplicate https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/54029/is-it-legal-in-the-us-for-a-student-to-download-a-copy-of-a-textbook-to-study

Does this answer your question? Is it legal in the US for a student to download a copy of a textbook, to study?

Which country are you in?

@RichardErickson: That's a different case. academia.edu is not sci-hub or library genesis, it's more "respectable" and public

@einpoklum Not really. The legality of downloading a textbook doesn't matter where you download it per say. The exception could be website specific, (e.g., publisher, authors, or funding agencies might allow legal download from their webpage). However, even some author supplied downloads can be illegal if their publishing licence does not allow it. The overlap (or lack of overlap) of ethics and legality would be a different question :)

@RichardErickson: See my answer.

Someone who downloaded a textbook from there could make the argument that they had good-faith belief that the content on the website is available for public use, and was not aware of any legislation barring them from such download.
Thus, even if somewhere in the world it is illegal (which I doubt), the person downloading the book is extremely unlikely to get prosecuted or sued, and were they to be prosecuted - extremely unlikely of being convicted.
This, as opposed to textbooks you somehow got (without being able to make any assumptions about the source of the file.

So downloading from academia.edu would be legal in the USA

@Burt: I didn't say that. It still depends on what you download and how it got online.