Studies of hope labour emphasise individual’s commitment and attachment to unpaid or undercompensated labour, a phenomenon normalised by neoliberal ideology. However, they provide limited insights into how change and transformation can occur in neoliberalism. In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, which interrupted the established order and transformed the political economy, we address this lacuna by drawing on Badiou’s theoretical ideas of the event. We theorise and demonstrate how the Covid-19 event has transformed the patterns of contingent academic work that sustain and reproduce hope labour. Through an analysis of forty interviews with contingent academics in the United Kingdom in the wake of the Covid-19 event, we illuminate the emergence of a new present manifested in patterns of ‘transforming academic passion’ and ‘transforming academic professionalism’. This novel contribution enriches our understanding of hope labour and precarity within the neoliberal university by highlighting the subjective break experienced by contingent academics, disrupting the continuity of hope labour and giving rise to new discourses and practices. Our analysis sheds light on the nuanced dynamics at play in the research of academic work, emphasizing the transformative potential inherent in the event.
