Insecurity and intense competition for permanent academic positions appear to be common experiences for early career researchers across the globe. With academic precarity now firmly on the international research and policy agenda, this article looks comparatively at postdoc precarity in three European countries: Ireland, Norway and Switzerland. It…

This study aims to investigate whether a government-funded postdoctoral fellowship improves the chances of being selected for a tenure-track faculty position in the social sciences and humanities in South Korea. Data on new scholars applying for government-funded postdoctoral fellowships in 2011-2013 were used to compare the likelihood of…

Postdoctoral researchers are important contributors to European higher education, playing significant roles in research, but also in teaching and societal engagement. Despite their valuable contribution, the situation of postdoctoral researchers remains challenging in Europe as issues such as temporary or short-term contracts, high workloads and…

An award as principal investigator (PI) is an aspiration for many post-PhD researchers. However, we know little of the actual journey from PhD graduation to achieving this goal. Using a qualitative narrative approach, this study explored how eight science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine post-PhD researchers (on contracts and…

What does it all mean for universities as research institutions when the external funding acquired by their academics, already stretched intellectually and time poor, is going to those who simply do not have the time to carry out the proposed research, i.e. to the academics themselves? That is, how can a full-time teaching and research academic…

Over a decade ago, the National Science Board (NSB) highlighted the importance of international collaboration in its call for increased government commitment to promoting international science and engineering (S&E) research and education. The NSB also identified the National Science Foundation (NSF) as having an important leadership role in…

This article describes the experiences of four social work researchers who pursued an alternative career path immediately following their doctorate in social work by accepting a postdoctoral training fellowship funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). As schools of social work look for creative ways to build research capacity, this…

The European Research Area and the European Higher Education Area are still under construction. Their foundations, however, are visible and already affect what the next generation of researchers can and cannot do. While it is unclear when, and to what standard, construction will be completed, the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of…

The purpose of this study was to provide some basic facts about postdoctoral study in the United States. The report begins with a review of the history of postdoctoral education since its beginning more than 50 years ago. Succeeding chapters consider in detail the composition and distribution of the postdoctoral population; the significance of…

This report is concerned with graduate science and engineering education, particularly dealing with enrollment and with sources of funding. Drawn from the survey of Graduate Science Student Support, analyses reveal distributions of full-time graduate students by source of major support and changing patterns in support and utilization of graduate…

Discusses unpaid postdoctoral researchers, especially those in biology and medicine, addressing reasons why they work without pay, how they receive funding, efforts to help them, their impacts on the field, and personal concerns. (DC)

This report is the third in a series of annual studies directed to institutions granting Ph.D. degrees in science in the United States and to their medical school components. Both Ph.D. and masters students are included in the 354-institution survey. Information gathered reveals that fall 1974 graduate science enrollment in institutions of higher…

Answers the following questions: How does a Ph.D. degree differ from other postgraduate education? Why do people seek Ph.D.'s? How long does it take? How are graduate studies financed? and What kind of work do people with a Ph.D. do? (CT)

This publication describes the variety of research and research training grant mechanisms available from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD). The first section briefly describes the following extramural research grant programs: investigator-initiated research project grants; the Small Grant program; First…