Wednesday, 10/28/2020
13h15 I Online
Reducing the precarity of research careers: challenges and solutions
The share of doctorate level attainment across the OECD is
increasing fast. Many young doctorate holders are joining a growing contingent
of postdoctoral researchers on fixed-term contracts without permanent or
continuous employment prospects – the research precariat. The
deterioration of the working conditions of these researchers raises issues of
their wellbeing, the diversity of the research workforce and the attractiveness
of the academic research career to national and international talent.
At the seminar, I will present work in progress that seeks to
answer the following question: how to promote better management of academic
research careers to address the current challenges and ultimately improve the
quality of research being produced.
To answer the question, information on OECD countries’ policies
was sourced from: the international database on Science, Technology and
Innovation policies – STIP Compass, information provided by 15 countries
specifically for this project, and follow-up interviews with policy officials,
funders, employers of researchers, and representatives of researchers, in 11
countries, at the European level and with the Trade Union Advisory Committee to
the OECD (TUAC). The data collection
protocols were based on the conceptual framework developed for the project,
which resulted from a literature review and analysis of existing data.
We found a number of challenges relating to a longer postdoctoral
period on fixed-term contracts, outdated career structures, unstructured postdoctoral
phase, excessive dependency on senior researchers, late selection into the
career, low inter-sectoral mobility, incompatibility of family life and
academic career, negative effects of international mobility, under-developed
human resource management in institutions, and poor evidence base regarding the
career trajectories and experience of doctorate holders. The covid-19 pandemic
has added to the sense of insecurity and the need to safeguard the research
pipeline and pre-empt the loss of research talent.
We will finish by presenting a number of initiatives being taken
to address these challenges and discussing the factors enabling or hindering
their effectiveness.
Registration in the webinar is mandatory. Please send an e-mail to nipe@eeg.uminho.pt.
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Looking forward to your attendance!
Núcleo de Investigação em Políticas Económicas e Empresariais (NIPE)
Escola de Economia e Gestão (EEG)
Universidade do Minho
Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga
Tel.: +351 253604518
Email: nipe@eeg.uminho.pt
Site: http://www.nipe.eeg.uminho.pt