As with any good academic network, the origins of ASPIRE evolved from an overly chatty panel and a WhatsApp group. In 2022, Madeleine, Jillian and Hillary met at a pedagogy panel in Montreal at the International Studies Association Conference (ISA). The three bonded over their challenges and rewards on a teaching track at their respective institutions (Leeds, LSE and KCL). Keeping in touch over WhatsApp, the trio invited colleagues at their own and other institutions who were also on teaching track contracts in the field of Politics and International Studies. The snowball effect led to a subsequent workshop at King’s College London in 2023, where the group formed the idea to go back to ISA (this time in San Francisco) to host a panel on the joys of the teaching track. The energy from this panel ignited ideas of a network and in the summer of 2024, the founding board met for the first time at the University of Leeds – ASPIRE was born!

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