Programme / How to make academic careers attractive and sustainable

The role of science is crucial in these times of global crises, where armed conflicts, health emergencies like pandemics, the threatening consequences of climate change, and the unknown consequences of the use of artificial intelligence dominate our lives.

However, despite their critical importance, careers in research fail to attract and retain many talents, posing a significant threat to our collective ability to tackle these crises. Pursuing a career in research is fraught with challenges: Most early to mid-career researchers and scholars face uncertain job prospects, precarious positions often associated with significant international mobility constraints, limited funding, and intense competition for grants. The academic “publish or perish” culture can lead to burnout and stifle creativity. Excellence is often defined and assessed in a unidimensional way, i.e. associated with academic research output only, mostly in the form of prestigious publications. Many key researcher competencies and contributions (e.g. teaching, mentoring, leadership, involvement in science policy or science advice for policy) often go unrecognised and unrewarded, exacerbating problems tackling equity, diversity, and inclusion among researchers. Moreover, the path to becoming an established researcher often requires long years of low-paying postdoctoral positions of short durations, making it financially unviable for many, which in turn results in a consequential loss of talent. The classic, linear academic career path towards professorship is the reality for very few researchers. Most researchers, research support staff and PhD holders will work in industry, in the public administration, in NGOs and other sectors.

In this panel, members of researcher organisations representing early career and senior researchers will discuss the question of how to make academic careers more sustainable and attractive by engaging directly with the audience. We will start with 5 keynote statements from our respective representatives, followed by breakout sessions with the audience for detailed discussions with the panelists in a roundtable format, each facilitated by moderators. At the end of the programme, we will share the main conclusions of each breakout session in the plenary to ensure that there are concrete takeaways.

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