Cross-national variations in postdoc precarity: An inquiry into the role of career structures and research funding models
Autor/in:
O’Connor, Pat; Le Feuvre, Nicky; Sümer, Sevil
Quelle: Policy Futures in Education, (2023)
Details
Inhalt: 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 suggests that the career prospects and status of these early career stage researchers depend to a large extent on societal variations in academic career structures and research funding models. The article underlines the implications of an increasingly competitive academic labour market on postdoc precarity and identifies both common and specific (national and/or disciplinary) challenges facing postdocs in these different contexts.
Schlagwörter:career structures; early career researcher; international comparison; internationaler Vergleich; Post-doc; precarity; prekäre Beschäftigung; research funding; wissenschaftliche Karriere
CEWS Kategorie:Europa und Internationales, Wissenschaft als Beruf
Dokumenttyp:Zeitschriftenaufsatz
The many facets of academic mobility and its impact on scholars' career
Autor/in:
Momeni, Fakhri; Karimi, Fariba; Mayr, Philipp; Peters, Isabella; Dietze, Stefan
Quelle: Journal of Informetrics, 16 (2022) 2
Details
Inhalt: International mobility in academia can enhance the human and social capital of researchers and consequently their scientific outcome. However, there is still a very limited understanding of the different mobility patterns among scholars with various socio-demographic characteristics. By studying these differences, we can detect inequalities in access to scholarly networks across borders, which can cause disparities in scientific advancement. The aim of this study is twofold. First, we investigate to what extent individuals’ factors (e.g., country, career stage, and field of research) associate with the mobility of male and female researchers. Second, we explore the relationship between mobility and scientific activity and impact. For this purpose, we used a bibliometric approach to track the mobility of authors. To compare the researchers’ scientific outcomes, we considered the number of publications and received citations as indicators, as well as the number of unique co-authors in all their publications. We also analysed the co-authorship network of researchers and compared centrality measures of “mobile” and “nonmobile” researchers. Results show that researchers from North America and Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly female ones, have the lowest, respectively, highest tendency towards international mobility. Having international co-authors increases the probability of international movement. Our findings uncover gender inequality in international mobility across scientific fields and countries. Across genders, researchers in the Physical sciences have the most and in the Social sciences the least rate of mobility. We observed more mobility for Social scientists at the advanced career stage, while researchers in other fields prefer to move at earlier career stages. Also, we found a positive correlation between mobility and scientific outcomes, but no apparent difference between females and males. Indeed, researchers who have started mobility at the advanced career stages had a better scientific outcome. Comparing the centrality of mobile and non-mobile researchers in the co-authorship networks reveals a higher social capital advantage for mobile researchers.
Internationale Mobilität im akademischen Bereich kann das Human- und Sozialkapital von Forschenden und folglich ihre wissenschaftlichen Ergebnisse verbessern. Allerdings ist das Verständnis für die unterschiedlichen Mobilitätsmuster von Wissenschaftler*innen mit verschiedenen soziodemografischen Merkmalen noch sehr begrenzt. Durch die Untersuchung dieser Unterschiede können die Autor*innen Ungleichheiten beim Zugang zu wissenschaftlichen Netzwerken über Grenzen hinweg aufdecken, die zu Ungleichheiten beim wissenschaftlichen Fortschritt führen können. Mit dieser Studie werden zwei Ziele verfolgt. Erstens untersuchen die Autor*innen, inwieweit individuelle Faktoren (z. B. Land, Karrierestufe und Forschungsgebiet) mit der Mobilität von Forscherinnen und Forschern zusammenhängen. Zweitens untersuchen sie den Zusammenhang zwischen Mobilität und wissenschaftlicher Tätigkeit und Wirkung.
Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Forschende aus Nordamerika und Afrika südlich der Sahara, insbesondere Frauen, die geringste bzw. höchste Tendenz zur internationalen Mobilität aufweisen. Die Wahrscheinlichkeit der internationalen Mobilität steigt, wenn man internationale Ko-Autor*innen hat.
Bei den Geschlechtern haben Forschende in den Naturwissenschaften die höchste und in den Sozialwissenschaften die niedrigste Mobilitätsrate.
Schlagwörter:bibliometric analysis; Bibliometrie; Gender; international academic mobility; internationale akademische Mobilität; Mobilität; Region; scopus
CEWS Kategorie:Europa und Internationales, Wissenschaft als Beruf
Dokumenttyp:Zeitschriftenaufsatz
International migration of researchers and gender imbalance in academia—the case of Norway
Autor/in:
Wendt, Kaja; Gunnes, Hebe; Aksnes, Dag W.
Quelle: Scientometrics (Scientometrics), 127 (2022) 12, S 7575–7591
Details
Inhalt: Female representation among students and graduates in higher education is growing internationally. This is a promising trend for achieving gender balance in top positions in academia. But there is still a long way to go, as women accounted for 26 per cent in top positions at European higher education institutions in 2018. In this article, we examine the influence of international recruitment of researchers on the gender balance—or the lack of gender balance—in Norwegian academia. We draw on data from the Norwegian Register of Research personnel, linked with population statistics from Statistics Norway. These data show that 38 per cent of the researchers at Norwegian higher education institutions in 2018 were born abroad. The share of foreign full professors has increased from 16 per cent in 2001 to 27 per cent in 2018, while for postdocs there has been an increase from 31 to 69 per cent. In terms of overall gender composition, a higher percentage of the foreign-born researchers are male compared with the native Norwegians. The incidence of international recruitment differs significantly across academic fields and is particularly prevalent in engineering. This is also the field where the gender balance is most skewed generally. Taking these variables into account, we conclude that international migration is not among the factors contributing to the gender imbalance in Norwegian academia. In fact, international recruitment has contributed positively to the gender balance in Norway in the majority of the fields analysed.
Schlagwörter:academia; full professor; gender inequality; higher education; international academic mobility; Migration; Norway; Norwegen; recruitment; Rekrutierung
CEWS Kategorie:Europa und Internationales, Hochschulen, Wissenschaft als Beruf, Geschlechterverhältnis
Dokumenttyp:Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Potenzial nicht ausgeschöpft : Internationale Mobilität von Wissenschaftlerinnen
Autor/in:
Löther, Andrea; Freund, Frederike
Quelle: Forschung & Lehre, (2022) 9, S 700–701
Details
Schlagwörter:Antragserfolg; dual career couple; Exzellenz; Forschungsförderung; Geschlechtergerechtigkeit; Gleichstellungspolitik; internationale akademische Mobilität; Mobilität; Wissenschaftler*in
CEWS Kategorie:Europa und Internationales, Wissenschaft als Beruf, Geschlechterverhältnis
Dokumenttyp:Zeitschriftenaufsatz
University, neoliberalism and hegemonic bodies: narratives of international students in Chile
Autor/in:
Martinez, César Augusto Ferrari
Quelle: Gender and Education, (2022) , S 1–15
Details
Inhalt: This article investigates the production of neoliberal subjectivities in Latin American international students in Chilean universities. In last years, Chile have registered plenty political uprisings regarding its economic, social and gender inequalities. The premise is that Chile is a country where Neoliberalism is rooted not only in the form of political and economic guidelines, but as rationality. It proposes that these forms of thought-action reinforce typically male success stereotypes, dismissing bodies challenged of non-hegemonic paths. Narrative interviews with doctoral students in Chile are used to describe how the topic of academic excellence sustained by the Chilean neoliberal university market materializes differently in each body. Students report the interpellation of success discourses affecting their bodies and relating their nationhood, gender and sexualities experiences to feelings of diminishment, loneliness, discrimination, etc. I argue that the presence of neoliberal rationalities in the Chilean university favours the exercise of sexist practices, naturalized as market practices, and impose normative adjustments on the gender and sexuality performance of students.
Schlagwörter:Chile; Erfolg; excellence; Exzellenz; gender inequality; gender relation; Geschlechterverhältnis; higher education; Hochschule; internationalisation; Internationalisierung; Interview; Männlichkeit; neoliberal university; neoliberale Hochschule; sexist attitude; social inequality
CEWS Kategorie:Europa und Internationales, Wissenschaft als Beruf, Geschlechterverhältnis
Dokumenttyp:Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Examining the gendered timescapes of higher education: reflections through letter writing as feminist praxis
Autor/in:
Burke, Penny Jane; Gyamera, Gifty Oforiwaa
Quelle: Gender and Education, (2022) , S 1–15
Details
Inhalt: This article examines the significance of neoliberalism in re/shaping the gendered timescapes of higher education in Ghana through its intersection with patriarchal forces. It draws from a project aiming to create non-hierarchical, co-mentoring spaces in which participants collaboratively generate feminist analyses. Letter-writing was identified as a form of feminist praxis and an auto/biographical method to access the multidimensional inequalities women navigated in their careers. Opening counter-hegemonic time–space and providing feminist conceptual resources, the women explored their aspirations, experiences, and subjectivities. In Ghana, women are attempting to balance the accelerated temporalities of neoliberal higher education, as productive subjects, with the explicit demands of patriarchy, which construct them primarily in reproductive terms as wives and mothers. Our collective reflections illustrate that intersecting forces are at play that impact women’s higher education careers in unpredictable and contradictory ways.
Schlagwörter:academic career; gender inequality; Ghana; higher education; Mentoring; neoliberal university; neoliberale Hochschule; neoliberalism; patriarchy; time allocations
CEWS Kategorie:Europa und Internationales, Wissenschaft als Beruf, Geschlechterverhältnis
Dokumenttyp:Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Gender and Globalization of Academic Labor Markets: Research and Teaching Staff at Nordic Universities
Autor/in:
Pietilä, Maria; Drange, Ida; Silander, Charlotte; Vabø, Agnete
Quelle: SI (Social Inclusion), 9 (2021) 3, S 69–80
Details
Inhalt: In this article, we investigate how the globalized academic labor market has changed the composition of teaching and research staff at Swedish, Norwegian, and Finnish universities. We use national statistical data on the gender and country‐origin of universities’ teaching and research staff between 2012 and 2018 to study how the globalized academic labor market has influenced the proportion of women across career stages, with a special focus on STEM fields. We pay special attention to how gender and country‐origin are interrelated in universities’ academic career hierarchies. The findings show that the proportion of foreign‐born teaching and research staff rose substantially at the lower career level (grade C positions) in the 2010s. The increase was more modest among the most prestigious grade A positions, such as professorships. The findings show significant national differences in how gender and country‐origin of staff intersect in Nordic universities. The study contributes to research on the gendered patterns of global academic labor markets and social stratification in Nordic universities.
Some findings among post-docs:
The total number of post-docs increased during the period 2012–2018.
In 2018, the proportion of post-doc women overall was about 45 per cent in Finland and Sweden and 46 per cent in Norway.
In Norway, the proportion of post-doc women fell a bit, from about 48 per cent in 2012 to 46 per cent in 2018.
Among post-docs, the percentages of both foreign men and foreign women increased. For Norway, the combined percentage jumped from 50 per cent to 68 per cent.
The share of foreign men among post-docs in Norway grew from 29 per cent in 2012 to 40 per cent in 2018.
In Sweden, the share of foreign women in post-doc positions climbed from 19 up to 30 per cent. The proportion of Swedish women fell from 27 per cent to 15 per cent. The total proportion of women post-docs dropped by one percentage point.
Some findings among professors:
The proportion of women increased in all three countries and was quite similar.
In 2018, 31 per cent of professors in Norway were women, 27 per cent in Sweden and 28 per cent in Finland.
The percentage of foreign women professors varied across the three countries.
Of all professors in Norway, 8 per cent were foreign women.
Schlagwörter:academic staff; Finnland; Frauenanteil; Geschlechterverteilung; internationalisation; Internationalisierung; Norwegen; Professur; Schweden; wissenschaftliches Personal
CEWS Kategorie:Europa und Internationales, Wissenschaft als Beruf, Geschlechterverhältnis
Dokumenttyp:Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Gender roles during COVID‐19 pandemic: The experiences of Turkish female academics
Autor/in:
Parlak, Simel; Celebi Cakiroglu, Oya; Oksuz Gul, Feride
Quelle: Gend Work Organ (Gender, Work and Organization), (2021)
Details
Inhalt: This study aims to explore the COVID‐19 experiences of Turkish female academics in terms of gender roles by focusing on how these women have dealt with domestic and academic responsibilities. The study group consisted of 21 female academics working from home, along with their spouses. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to analyze the data collected through semistructured telephone interviews. The findings were clustered under five main themes: the early days of the pandemic, work life after the pandemic, domestic responsibilities after the pandemic, family relationships after the pandemic, and the perception of gender roles. The results indicate that the pandemic has deepened gender inequalities, and the academic life of female academics has changed in terms of academic productivity. Therefore, we recommend that more research examining the quarantine process and involving women in other occupations and of different socioeconomic statuses should be done to develop more effective social policies.
Schlagwörter:academic career; academics; akademische Karriere; COVID-19; familäre Verpflichtungen; family; gender inequality; gender role; Geschlechterrolle; Produktivität; publication; Publikation; Türkei; Turkey
CEWS Kategorie:Europa und Internationales, Wissenschaft als Beruf, Geschlechterverhältnis
Dokumenttyp:Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Research performance and age explain less than half of the gender pay gap in New Zealand universities
Autor/in:
Brower, Ann; James, Alex
Quelle: PLoS ONE, 15 (2020) 1
Details
Inhalt: We use a globally unique dataset that scores every individual academic's holistic research performance in New Zealand to test several common explanations for the gender pay gap in universities. We find a man's odds of being ranked professor or associate professor are more than double a woman's with similar recent research score, age, field, and university. We observe a lifetime gender pay gap of ~NZ$400,000, of which research score and age explain less than half. Our ability to examine the full spectrum of research performance allows us to reject the 'male variability hypothesis' theory that the preponderance of men amongst the 'superstars' explains the lifetime performance pay gap observed. Indeed women whose research career trajectories resemble men's still get paid less than men. From 2003-12, women at many ranks improved their research scores by more than men, but moved up the academic ranks more slowly. We offer some possible explanations for our findings, and show that the gender gap in universities will never disappear in most academic fields if current hiring practices persist.
Schlagwörter:Alter; Berufung; Forschung; Forschungsleistung; gender pay gap; Neuseeland; performance; Personalrekrutierung; Professur
CEWS Kategorie:Europa und Internationales, Wissenschaft als Beruf, Geschlechterverhältnis
Dokumenttyp:Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Book Review: Annalisa Murgia, Barbara Poggio - Gender and Precarious Research Careers
Autor/in:
Guenther, Elisabeth Anna
Quelle: Gender Work Organ (Gender, Work & Organization), (2020)
Details
Schlagwörter:Eignungskriterien; excellence; Exzellenz; Geschlechterungleichheit; Geschlechterverhältnis; Heteronormativität; internationaler Vergleich; Intersektionalität; Klasse; Meritokratie; Nachwuchsforschende; people of color; Post-doc; prekäre Beschäftigung; race; Ungleichheit; Widerstand; wissenschaftlicher Nachwuchs; Wissenschaftsideal; work-life balance
CEWS Kategorie:Europa und Internationales, Wissenschaft als Beruf, Gleichstellungspolitik, Geschlechterverhältnis
Dokumenttyp:Zeitschriftenaufsatz