‘Joy doesn’t dilute academic rigour. It sustains it’

The teaching, research and administration juggling act can be draining. Many of us are overstretched, moving quickly between roles and responsibilities, often just trying to get through the week without burning out. In this context, joy can feel optional at best; something to indulge in only once the real work is done.

But our experience suggests the opposite. Integrating joy into our work helps us reconnect with the enthusiasm that led us to academia in the first place. Our working hypothesis is that joy doesn’t dilute academic rigour. It sustains it. Here are practices that work for us.

Create spaces where there are no bad ideas

I (Alice) see my role as a lecturer as similar to that of a big sister. In both instances, my job is to create a psychologicaly safe space to give others confidence to try things. To get things wrong. To not be paralysed by shame. And then to try again. It’s a joyful experience.

In the classroom or office, brainstorming that leads us down a wild tangent can be just as valuable as a tightly planned process. Too often, we self-censor ideas before they’ve had a chance to breathe because we’re more concerned about looking foolish than about having fun.

In a recent research project that centred queer joy as a practice of personal and collective resilience, everyone on the team arrived with an openness that welcomed individual quirks and idiosyncrasies. That acceptance helped us work better together. Ideas developed faster because people weren’t expending energy on self-monitoring or defensiveness.

In teaching, this can look like letting a student’s unexpected question reshape the direction of a session, even briefly. When people trust that they won’t be embarrassed for thinking out loud, they tend to think more creatively and rigorously.

Make room for imagination and play

I (Madeleine) bring a deliberate sense of whimsy into my lectures. Students say this keeps them engaged. After all, it’s hard to learn from someone who doesn’t sound interested in what they’re talking about.

Using prompts, games or speculative tools can help people step outside habitual thinking. At a recent symposium, we worked with The Oracle for Transfeminist Technologies cards. These playful, fantastical prompts encouraged us to imagine futures well beyond the immediately practical.

There was a lot of laughter. But there was also serious conceptual work happening. By the time we returned to more conventional research discussion, people were already warmed up, feeling bolder and ready to share ideas. Play prepared the ground for rigour.

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Be yourself in the classroom

Being yourself, from the boring to the eccentric, is both a joyful and a generous act. When students see authenticity, some of them will recognise themselves in it.

A student once said to me (Madeleine), “Seeing you as a lecturer made me realise anyone can be one.” While to this day we don’t know if that was a compliment, at least one student has learned that academia doesn’t have to look like stuffy, posh men acting like they know everything. It might look like a queer nerd sharing what they love with a room full of people, and freely exploring ideas as they come to mind.

These moments sound trivial but they make learning spaces feel more human and rich with possibility.

Let go of formality

During one of my (Madeleine’s) most memorable lectures, students had very little to go on. With sparse slides, the session became a live exploration of ideas, challenging students’ thinking in real time.

They discussed Mothman (a seven-foot winged humanoid) and other mythical creatures during a robot design activity. Their creativity ran wild when they stopped limiting themselves to conventional designs.

When we give ourselves and our students permission to say what we think in the moment, lessons become more engaging.

Use humour to start difficult conversations

Humour is a powerful connector, especially when dealing with heavy topics.

In a recent seminar on the Sustainable Development Goals, a student asked me (Alice), “Is there actually any hope for climate change?” My response: “No, sorry. We haven’t scheduled any hope into the module.”

We all laughed. My gallows humour relieved tension, created rapport and paved the way for discussions on work being done to protect rainforests.  Humour so often springs from honesty rather than from following a script or lesson plan.

When you feel like you have to just get through the lesson, consider sharing your opinion or a funny anecdote. Maybe you could even relinquish control of the space to let students lead the conversation.

Celebrate joy beyond the classroom

Joy doesn’t only belong in teaching spaces, it also belongs in departments and teams.

Notice when colleagues take risks, try something new or show care for others. Celebrate those moments. You don’t always have to lead the action; you can support it.

Joy won’t fix higher education’s structural pressures. But without it, our institutions risk becoming places we endure rather than environments that foster belonging.

What might happen if we read and discussed articles like this together with colleagues? What reflections, disagreements or shared desires might emerge if we treated joy as one of academic life’s core resources?

Alice Wilson is lecturer in sustainability at Manchester Metropolitan University. Madeleine Steeds is assistant professor in information and communication studies at University College Dublin.

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