Stop Gatekeeping Academia

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 A retired academic recently wrote an op-ed about the problem of “cold emails” in academia. For those unfamiliar, these are emails that one sends to someone who they have made no contact with before.
In the academic context, these emails can often come from aspiring academics who are looking for supervisors, job opportunities or just seeking to collaborate.
The op-ed highlights that this practice is a scourge plaguing contemporary academics, citing how established academics are bombarded with many such emails, often from would-be PhD students seeking potential supervisors.
Their main problem with the practice is that these emails are often disingenuous, impolite and poorly formed; she was particularly incensed by the poor quality of language and the lack of clarity in the writing from the authors of these emails, often coming from other poorer countries within the Global South.
We would like to provide an alternative view to theirs. To many first-generation academics, cold emails are an essential way to make headway into academia. It is the digital version of the “elevator pitch”, the act of using a very short amount of time to impress someone important by giving them your sales pitch within a minute or so.
Like many other academics, we all got into our respective programmes and got that crucial job interview or that influential fellowship simply because we dared to send out these emails to people out of the blue and hope for the best.
Academia is incredibly competitive now and is facing a crisis, fueled by decreasing enrollments in programmes worldwide, questions about the true economic values of degrees, and the advent of competition with YouTube, free educational content, and artificial intelligence.
The job prospects for many fields for people with PhDs are frankly not great - the industry is incredibly saturated and you have many others to contend with.
Choosing this path means having to rely on your ability to network and use them strategically. For many who do not come from academic dynasties or lack access to vast social networks, cold email is pretty much the main tool to make any sort of dent in modern scholarship.
Many aspiring scholars who come from disadvantaged backgrounds or the Global South can often struggle to be seen or noticed by those who speak English fluently.
Instead of just demanding that they cease contact, we privileged academics should instead be more welcoming and show compassion as with the proper nurturing and tutelage, these scholars can become good researchers and academics. Especially since we ourselves may face employment crises or difficulties progressing due to rapid changes in technology and pedagogy.
Instead of saying that these emails are destroying academia or making life difficult for established and comfortable academics, the focus should be on teaching people to make better and more impressionable cold approaches.
Not everyone can saunter into a comfortable tenure-track position without struggle and as such there should be some empathy and care from the academe to ensure that the door is as open as possible for people who may not have the necessary connections, nepotism networks or privilege to have direct access into academia.
Shoot your shot
So, here are some tips for aspiring academics and researchers to use in cold emails to allow you to shoot your shot with the greatest chances of success: first, sell yourself first and foremost.
The whole point of a cold email is to show the recipient why you are worthy of their time and why you could not afford to use another channel. Be honest and open about your context and background, talk about the struggles you overcame and why you feel so strongly to become an academic.
If you struggle with language or have trouble formulating a good proposal, be upfront about it and explain that you’re more than willing to learn and hope to become better under their guidance. The context is important and can build empathy with your recipient which will hopefully make them more amenable to your cause.
Secondly, be sure to read up and research your recipient. It’s not enough that you mention that they are working on a topic that is related to your own, you have to go deep into their portfolio to show that you know enough about their work and are certain that you want to work with them (If this is for a job application, then this should be on the work of the department or school you’re applying for).
This will show that you’ve put effort into this email and is not the product of shallow research. This will appeal to the recipient that you’ve done your homework and have seriously considered how you can either work together or are a good fit for the job.
Next, utilise technology to your advantage. Run your email through ChatGPT and have it check for spelling errors. If your email is too long - which decreases the chances it will be read - have ChatGPT shorten it without losing context.
Do spellcheck to catch typos, and if it’s a very important email to a respected person, have a friend or colleague take a glance. Remember: first impressions are often remembered, for better or for worse.
Finally, be humble and gracious about your own work and yourself. No matter how important or novel you may think your idea or proposal is, you are still speaking to someone who can simply ignore you.
Established academics often have a lot on their plate at any given time and they will very likely not respond well to emails that come off as arrogant, pushy or detached.
They are more willing to respond if the sender is warm, humble and ultimately human in their delivery. Plus, if they don’t respond to your thoughtful and heartfelt email, then that tells you that you probably wouldn’t get along with them anyway, so this works both ways.
Fundamentally, cold emails are usually long shots and have very low success rates. This being said - it can and has worked for many in order to expand opportunities, including for both of us.
All it takes is for that one email to resonate with someone and then you have your foot in the door.
It takes a lot of grit, perseverance and tenacity for people to send out hundreds of cold emails and hope for the best, and so the least we can do as comfy academics is to at least lend an open ear to any that come our way and can have the privilege of offering someone a lifeline out of a bad situation.
We owe it to ourselves as scholars to give people chances that other people have given us before in our careers.
Stop gatekeeping academia. It’s already so difficult in this field as it is. - Mkini
BENJAMIN YH LOH is a senior lecturer at the School of Media and Communication at Taylor’s University and an Associate with the Asia Centre in Bangkok.
MELATI NUNGSARI is associate professor of Economics at Asia School of Business and Research Affiliate at MIT Sloan School of Management.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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