The landscape of higher education has been shaped by neoliberal influences such as managerialism and market regulation (Djerasimovic and Villani, 2020; Roberts, 2019). These changes have significant implications for the academic profession, including ways of being and doing in academia, well-being, and academic identities (Skea, 2021; Tülübaş and Göktürk, 2020). On one side, academic identities are constantly shaped by social and institutional contexts and external pressures; on the other, individual agency, personal narratives, experiences and beliefs play an important role in shaping them. These factors influence how academics respond to changes in the academic environment and how they perceive their roles within the profession (Fanghanel, 2011; Ybema et al., 2009). The purpose of this research is to analyse academic identities in Portuguese public universities, based on academics' perceptions of their work dimensions. After conducting a systematic literature review, we designed a mixed-methods study involving academics from different disciplines. Four focus groups were conducted, one for each disciplinary area (soft pure, soft applied, hard pure, hard applied). The data was analysed using a content analysis approach guided by abductive inference (Gondim and Bendassolli, 2014). The analysis was based on three dimensions of categorisation: (1) self-identification of the academics, (2) perceptions of the transformations, and (3) reactions to the scenario. The categories 'focus on professional field', 'focus on diversity of functions' and 'focus on teaching/training' emerged in the first dimension. Additionally, we discuss the different roles within the career and note a tendency to balance them, although some academics clearly see them as opposites. We also observe a recognition that the perceived tensions are not felt equally at all stages of the career. The categories of 'positive trends', 'negative trends', 'ambivalent trends' and 'continuity trends' emerged in the dimension of perceptions of change. Although some positive perspectives are presented, the discussion mainly focuses on the negative or ambivalent aspects of these changes. In the third section, we observe reactions of 'adaptation' and 'resistance', with hybrid identities prevailing. These identities both reinforce and resist discourses of change and management. This overview raises questions about the current state of the academic profession and the risk of distancing from its core values. To (re)consider this topic, it is important to recognise the agency of academics in performing their work, rather than simply analysing structural change and the demands of higher education policies.

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