Stickiness in academic career (im)mobilities of STEM early career researchers: an insight from Greece

Charikleia Tzanakou

doi:10.1007/s10734-020-00596-1

Abstract

Academic and policy discourse has idealised academic mobility despite studies showing that it can have adverse effects on individuals’ experiences and contribute towards exacerbating existing inequalities. This article focuses on career (im)mobility stories of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) early career researchers that are variously sticky with emotion and affect. It places emphasis on the challenges, frictions and emotional tensions for early career researchers as part of this decision-making, irrespective of whether they decide to move or not. To do this, it deploys the concept of stickiness, which allows investigating the intersection and co-construction of embodied experiences of early career academics with the internationalisation discourse of academic excellence which are not often brought together. Focused on a largely under-examined population and context, it is based on a qualitative analysis of 15 in-depth interviews with a subsample of survey respondents, as part of a mixed methods study of Greek researchers in STEM. This article compares two groups of early career researchers who are seemingly at odds but have a lot in common: those with a highly international outlook moving to build an international profile and those who decide to stay and pursue research aspirations within a national context. Stickiness is demonstrated in two ways: stickiness to establishing an international profile and an academic career dictated by the internationalisation discourse; stickiness to affective considerations which are temporal, fluid and often understated. The main difference is how early career researchers address this stickiness: through the normative international mobility or participation in collaborative funding programmes. This article shows academic mobility is not only associated with benefits but can entail negative implications for individuals. It also provides empirical insights into hidden STEM early career researchers and elaborates a concept of stickiness in academic (im)mobility with discursive and affective layers, highlighting the importance of considering affect in career development scholarship.

Highlights

Academic and policy discourse has idealised academic mobility in two ways, through the ideal academic who is free 24/7, unconstrained, unattached and flexible and through the idealisation of mobility as a significant and increasingly required part of international academic careers, knowledge production and innovation
Two groups of early career researchers are compared who are seemingly at odds in academic studies: those with a highly international outlook moving to build an international profile and those who decide to stay and pursue research aspirations within a national context. This comparison shows that these groups have a lot in common, with stickiness demonstrated in two ways affecting each other: stickiness to the aspiration of establishing an international profile and an academic career that fulfils their research goals dictated by the internationalisation discourse and stickiness to affective considerations which are temporal, fluid and often understated
The findings are presented through a comparison of these groups rather as the two aspects of stickiness with a view to illustrate how it operates in both layers simultaneously and how the latter intermingle and influence career decisions

Summary

Introduction

Academic and policy discourse has idealised academic mobility in two ways, through the ideal academic who is free 24/7, unconstrained, unattached and flexible and through the idealisation of mobility as a significant and increasingly required part of international academic careers, knowledge production and innovation. As Bilecen (2013, p.669) emphasises: postgraduate students are a very important subject of study because they are in a phase of transition from being consumers of education to producers who are appreciated for their academic achievement and innovation capabilities, which will have an influence of the reputation of the university and later of the country. Moguérou (2006, p.2) underlines the importance of investigating the mobility of PhD candidates since they are highly mobile, facilitating beneficial synergies for the enhancement of scientific knowledge. They play a critical role in ‘the conduct of research and innovation in national innovation systems’ and their mobility can have far-reaching implications for economic growth of the home-host countries. Research on academic mobility highlights personal considerations but it only touches on the embodied experience of mobility of PhD candidates and early career researchers, its ‘social and affective dimensions’ (Morley et al 2018, p.551)

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