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Reader (academic rank)

 

 
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Reader (academic rank)
 
 
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In the academic hierarchy
Academic rank

The world of academia—that is, scholars and students in a research and learning community associated with higher education typically are defined by a rather rigid set of ranks for professors and other instructors....
 in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 and some universities in Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
 and New Zealand
New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
, reader is the rank between senior lecturer (or principal lecturer
Lecturer

Lecturer is a term of academic rank. In the United Kingdom lecturer is the name given to university teachers in their first permanent university position....
 in the New Universities
New Universities

In the United Kingdom, the term New University has various meanings regarding British universities.New University has referred to several waves of new university foundations in the UK....
) and professor
Professor

The meaning of the word professor varies. In some English-speaking countries, it refers to a senior academic who holds a departmental chair, especially as head of the Academic department, or a personal chair awarded specifically to that individual....
. The title of Reader is given in recognition of research
Research

Research is defined as human activity based on intellectual application in the investigation of matter. The primary purpose for applied research is discovery , interpretation , and the development of methods and systems for the advancement of human knowledge on a wide variety of scientific matters of our world and the universe....
 and scholarship.

In some systems Readers are parallel to senior lecturers (old universities) or principal lecturers (new universities); in these systems promotions to reader are made on the basis primarily of research merit while promotions to senior/principal lecturer are made on the basis of teaching ability.






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In the academic hierarchy
Academic rank

The world of academia—that is, scholars and students in a research and learning community associated with higher education typically are defined by a rather rigid set of ranks for professors and other instructors....
 in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 and some universities in Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
 and New Zealand
New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
, reader is the rank between senior lecturer (or principal lecturer
Lecturer

Lecturer is a term of academic rank. In the United Kingdom lecturer is the name given to university teachers in their first permanent university position....
 in the New Universities
New Universities

In the United Kingdom, the term New University has various meanings regarding British universities.New University has referred to several waves of new university foundations in the UK....
) and professor
Professor

The meaning of the word professor varies. In some English-speaking countries, it refers to a senior academic who holds a departmental chair, especially as head of the Academic department, or a personal chair awarded specifically to that individual....
. The title of Reader is given in recognition of research
Research

Research is defined as human activity based on intellectual application in the investigation of matter. The primary purpose for applied research is discovery , interpretation , and the development of methods and systems for the advancement of human knowledge on a wide variety of scientific matters of our world and the universe....
 and scholarship.

In some systems Readers are parallel to senior lecturers (old universities) or principal lecturers (new universities); in these systems promotions to reader are made on the basis primarily of research merit while promotions to senior/principal lecturer are made on the basis of teaching ability. Readers can be primarily or totally research positions, with limited or no teaching responsibility.

In the UK, the salary range for a reader in most universities is the same as a senior lecturer. This is not the case in Australia and New Zealand where a reader's salary is in a higher category. However, some universities in the UK are following the trend to grant higher salaries for readers (e.g., the University of Strathclyde
University of Strathclyde

The University of Strathclyde , is a university in Glasgow, Scotland. It takes its name from the historic Kingdom of Strathclyde, the name of which also served as a Strathclyde from 1975 to 1996....
) after the National Framework Agreement.

In 2006 the University of Warwick
University of Warwick

The University of Warwick is a British campus university located on the outskirts of Coventry, West Midlands , England and is University of Warwick#Academic standards as one of the country's leading universities....
 substituted the title "Associate Professor" instead of Reader. From the end of 2007 in the University of Nottingham
University of Nottingham

The University of Nottingham is a public, co-educational institution of higher learning in the city of Nottingham, England. Nottingham, which has campuses in the United Kingdom and Asia, is the fifth largest university in the UK , and is a member of the Russell Group, Universitas 21, the Association of Commonwealth Universities, and the Europ...
, senior lectureship, senior research and readership have been prefixed with associate professorship (e.g., Associate Professor (Reader), Associate Professor (Senior Lecturer) and Associate Professor (Senior Research)). It is expected that this arrangement is temporary and in the end, it will follow the Warwick style. Whether this changing to North American naming conventions will spread to other institutions is uncertain as yet.

In Australia, academic ranks are now labelled "Level A" (Associate Lecturer) through to "Level E" (Professor). "Level D" is Associate Professor, but in some universities the term "Reader" is used for some people promoted to this level if the promotion is essentially only on the basis of eminence in research, but this practice appears to be declining.