Academic Employment Research Articles

Giving the outrage a name – how researchers are challenging employment conditions under the hashtags #IchBinHanna and #IchBinReyhan

ABSTRACT Outraged by the release of a ministerial video in which short-term employment contracts in German academia were lauded through the embodiment of fictitious doctoral researcher Hanna, thousands of researchers rallied behind the hashtags #IchBinHanna & #IchBinReyhan to vent their frustrations about precarious academic employment in Germany. The emerging connective action attracted a comparatively large number of researchers in a short period of time, stayed active for over two years, elicited reactions from policymakers and the media, and influenced current legislative developments in Germany. We analyse the discourse of over 45,000 tweets related to the movement from its onset in June 2021 to March 2023. Using a mixed-methods approach that combines machine-learning, corpus-linguistic, and qualitative analysis methods, we aim to distil the factors that led to the movement’s considerable success. The fast growth of the movement was likely driven by the use of an easy-to-personalise action frame and the large variety of discussion topics, facilitating the involvement of different groups of academics across career levels and employment conditions. Our analysis of the linguistic characteristics of the discourse reveals largely positive, constructive, and active exchanges, in which many of the most salient keywords are lexical verbs. Our analyses offer an explanation for the continued involvement of many activists and the successful translation of solutions developed by the movement to news reports and proposed law amendments, despite an absence of coordination by any formal organisation.

Head & neck surgical oncology: Success in private practice.

Due to its complexity and multimodality treatment needs, traditional delivery of head and neck cancer care often occurs in a multidisciplinary cancer center, frequently in a university-based program in an urban setting. Fellowship training opportunities for subspecialty-focused head and neck surgeons have increased over recent years. There is a persistent concern that the number of newly minted Head & Neck Surgeons graduating each year outpaces the number of university-based employment opportunities, and that the workforce does not match the job opportunities. Recent publications examine this potential mismatch to better understand career choices, with a 2021 survey revealing that nearly 90% of fellowship graduates were employed by a university or academic institution and only 10% reported being in "private practice". However, it should not be an automatic assumption that academic practice is somehow superior to private practice. Moreover, not every patient can access university-based care, creating a societal mismatch between disease incidence, resources, and access to high quality care. The well-trained Head & Neck Surgeon may be able to deliver excellent care in a satisfying practice setting without an academic affiliation. Two Head & Neck Surgeons who have practiced in both Academic and Community-based ("private") subspecialty settings offer practical and actionable tips to provide high level evidence-based head and neck surgical care without the trappings of a university, and with a focus on patient-centered care as well as career satisfaction. Further, since graduates of comprehensive otolaryngology training programs receive a robust amount of head and neck surgery training in residency, understanding these practical tips will potentially assist the Comprehensive Otolaryngologist in private practice to expand head and neck services within their practice. 1) Review recently published survey-based reports of practice patterns and career satisfaction of recent HNS fellowship graduates, recognizing self-reported rates of practice settings, academic versus non-university-based ("private practice"). 2) Analyze and report practice structure of HNS graduates over the years 2015 to 2021 to determine rates of practice structure change from academic to private or vice versa, using Public Use Files combined with Google search. 3) Outline tips and pearls for a successful Head & Neck Surgery practice in a non-university-based setting, with 11 practical and actionable items that will allow high level subspecialty care without the traditional attributes of academic employment. Graduates of head & neck surgery fellowships in recent years may perceive a paucity of academic job opportunities. This article reviews practice patterns of recent graduates, and presents practical tips to achieve a satisfying Head & Neck Surgery career in a private practice setting.

Keeping up with the Max Plancks? Germany’s quest for university excellence and the role of public research institutes in doctoral education

Doctoral education is a crucial stage in the academic socialization of early-career researchers. Prior research has shown that career paths and activities of Ph.D.s are shaped by the universities and departments in which they were trained. To widen this focus, we analyze the role of public research organizations (PROs) and private-sector firms as organizational employment contexts of doctoral education. The empirical context of our study is Germany, where PROs and firms employ large numbers of doctoral candidates and provide the organizational environment for their dissertation research. Utilizing a novel process-generated dataset that covers about 40,000 STEM Ph.D.s who graduated from 1995 to 2011, we find that Ph.D.s employed at PROs during doctoral education are more likely to stay in academia than their university-employed peers. Despite extensive policy efforts that sought to strengthen the research performance of German universities, doctoral candidates employed at basic research-oriented PROs had the strongest cross-cohort increase in their post-graduation academic employment share. This group also experienced the most pronounced fall in the share of high post-graduation income owners. Industry-employed doctoral candidates are unlikely to migrate to the academic sector and have the highest likelihood of obtaining high post-graduation incomes.

Physiologists as medical scientists: An early warning from the German academic system.

"Medical scientists" are postgraduate investigators who are engaged in biomedical research, and either hold a biomedical PhD or are qualified in medicine but do not participate in patient care. Medical scientists constitute ~40% of staff at medical faculties and >90% at nonuniversity medical research institutions in Germany. However, medical scientists in Germany face limited long-term career prospects and a lack of dedicated training and support programmes. They also face time limits on their career progression arising from national academic employment legislation, and imminent reforms by the German government are likely to make this worse. Nevertheless, recent developments in the educational landscape including the introduction of increasingly focused MSc, pre-PhD, and doctoral programmes to train medically aware basic scientists, as well as improved general recognition of the roles and relevance of medical scientists in health research, are encouraging. Physiologists have taken essential steps to improve the recognition of medical scientists in Germany by introducing a "specialist physiologist" qualification; this initiative could be applied to support medical scientists in other fields and countries. In this review, we describe the particular challenges facing medical scientists in Germany and make recommendations that may apply to other academic systems.

Problems of Employment of Academic Teachers—Reflections de lege lata and de lege ferenda

The nature of employment of academic teachers is complex not only because their employment is regulated by the codes of practice with the auxiliary application of the provisions of the Labor Code and other sources of labor law, but also because it is related to the presence of public law elements in the obligatory bond of the employment relationship. The need for pragmatic regulation of the employment relationship of academic teachers seems obvious, and is justified by the differences in their rights and obligations in comparison with the general regulations. However, it should be noted that by approximating the structure of the academic employment relationship to the obligatory mechanism in the context of general labor law, we seem to ignore many specific and important features of this employment. Therefore, normative shortcomings of the applicable act can be observed. It seems that within de lege ferenda proposals, the one referring to the model solution, which takes into account the specificity of the work of academic teachers, is fundamental. Such a solution seems to be expected primarily due to the role played by the system of higher education and science in the structures of the state.

Academic Freedom and Protected Philosophical Belief: Strengthening the Legal Analysis

Abstract This article evaluates the state of protection for academic freedom and academic freedom of expression in English law, specifically the effectiveness of protected philosophical belief (PPB) as a vector for protecting them. We argue that the category of PPB (circumscribed by the test in Grainger v Nicholson) is inherently inappropriate as a means of protecting values that are of signal importance in the academic employment context. Furthermore, this framing poses a risk that the concepts of academic freedom and academic freedom of expression may be overlooked or misconstrued in the analysis when applying legal tests (eg of harassment) or in carrying out balancing exercises with the rights of others. We offer critiques of the analytical approach in two recent employment tribunal decisions—Phoenix v The Open University and Miller v University of Bristol—identifying how these problems arise in the reasoning of both tribunals in relation to academic freedom and academic freedom fo expression. Examining how the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 fails to remedy these issues, we set out the approach that tribunals and courts should in fact take in cases concerning AF and AFoE with reference to the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights and international instruments.

Pressure to publish introduces large‐language model risks

Abstract Large‐language models (LLMs) have the potential to accelerate research in ecology and evolution, cultivating new insights and innovation. However, whilst revelling in the plethora of opportunities, researchers need to consider that LLM use could also introduce risks. An important piece of context underpinning this perspective is the pressure to publish, where research careers are defined, at least partly, by publication metrics like number of papers, impact factor, citations etc. Coupled with academic employment insecurity, especially during early career, researchers may reason that LLMs are a low‐risk and high‐reward tool for publication. However, this pressure to publish can introduce risks if LLMs are used as a shortcut to game publication metrics instead of a tool to support true innovation. These risks may ultimately reduce research quality, stifle researcher development and incur reputational damage for researchers and the entire scientific record. We conclude with a series of recommendations to mitigate the magnitude of these risks and encourage researchers to apply caution whilst maximising LLM potential.

Obtaining Academic Employment Within the U.S. Context: The Experiences of Strugglers

In the present study, we explored the experiences of Ph.D. graduates in navigating the U.S. academic job market. Using interpretative phenomenology and interview data from 15 Ph.D. graduates, we found that while pursuing academic positions, the Ph.D. graduates faced concerns about the best-fit qualities, negotiated their failures with a flexible mindset, and introspected to restore their academic identity. These internal struggles suggest the challenges of validating doctoral employability in a highly competitive academic job market. This paper discusses the findings and offers recommendations for further research and for doctoral students/graduates and academic institutions.

Training Outcomes and Satisfaction in Canadian MD/PhD and MD/MSc Programs: Findings from a National Survey.

Despite the impact of physician-scientists on scientific discovery and translational medicine, several reports have signalled their declining workforce, reduced funding, and insufficient protected research time. Given the paucity of outcome data on Canadian MD/PhD programs, this study presents a national portrait of the sociodemographic characteristics, training trajectories, productivity, and satisfaction in trainees and alumni from Canadian MD/PhD and MD/MSc programs. Quantitative data were collected in a national survey launched in 2021. Respondents included 74 MD/PhD alumni and 121 trainees across 12 Canadian MD/PhD and MD/MSc programs. Among MD/PhD alumni, 51% were independent practitioners/researchers while others underwent residency training. Most trainees (88%) were in MD/PhD programs. Significantly more alumni identified as men than did trainees. Significantly more alumni conducted clinical and health services research, while more trainees conducted basic science research. Average time to MD/PhD completion was 8 years, with no correlation to subsequent research outcomes. Self-reported research productivity was highest during MD/PhD training. Concerning training trajectories, most alumni completed residency, pursued additional training, and practised in Canada. Finally, regression models showed that trainees and alumni were satisfied with programs, with significant moderators in trainee models. Survey findings showed Canadian MD/PhD and MD/MSc programs recruit more diverse cohorts of trainees than before, provide productive research years, and graduate alumni who pursue training and academic employment in Canada. Both alumni and trainees are largely satisfied with these training programs. The need to collect in-depth longitudinal data on Canadian MD/PhD graduates to monitor diversity and success metrics is discussed.

Why Opportunities for Tenure Matter for Minoritized Faculty in Academic Medicine.

Academic medicine continues to characterize the experiences of Black and other minoritized faculty in medicine to enhance their careers and promote their advancement. An issue of discussion is tenure and its role in the advancement and retention of this group. Tenure is a sign of national presence, command of an area of study, and can demonstrate support from the institution in terms of permanent employment, eligibility to apply for awards, sit or vote on certain committees or qualify for certain leadership opportunities. Anecdotally there have been reports that tenure is a thing of the past that has lost relevance prompting some to end tenure in their institutions. Reasons for this are complex, however the literature does not include minoritized faculty as a reason for the need to revise or eliminate tenure and tenure earning tracks. The authors discuss 3 reasons why Black and other minoritized faculty should be afforded the opportunity to achieve permanent status in their academic health centers. They include histories of being denied freedom, having information concealed or being giving false information, and being denied permanent academic employment status.

The Drivers of Academic Novelty in Digital Capitalism: Job Insecurity, Mental Illness and Time Poverty

The present-day digital capitalist academy increases novel academic results by leveraging factors such as precarious academic employment, time poverty, and mental illness. This paradigm reveals a confluence that turns seemingly negative aspects into productive elements. The consequence of this hypothesis is that by enhancing work, time and mental health conditions, there may be a reduction in the number of novelties, with an enhancement of academic's role as producers of truth.

Team Climate and Academic Aspiration of Chinese PhD students: The Mediating Roles of Research Engagement and Academic Adaptability

This study aims to examine the mediating roles of research engagement (RE) and academic adaptability (AD) on the relationship between team climate (TC) and academic aspiration (AS). Few studies are found in this field. A questionnaire research was conducted in Z university, a double first-class university with a complete range of doctoral disciplines in China. 419 valid online questionnaires were obtained, with an effective rate of 94.2%. ANOVA, a T-test and a chain mediation effect test were used to analyze data. The results show that the AS of the doctoral students in Z University is at middle level, and there is a significant difference in grades and major; TC positively predicts AS; RE and AD have a complete mediating effect on the positive impact of TC on AS, but have no chain mediating effect on the relationship between TC and AS. Suggestions are provided for improving doctoral students' AS and promoting their academic employment.

Forecasting first-year student mobility using explainable machine learning techniques

In the context of regional sciences and migration studies, gravity and radiation models are typically used to estimate human spatial mobility of all kinds. These formal models are incorporated as part of regression models along with co-variates, to better represent regional specific aspects. Often, the correlations between dependent and independent variables are of non-linear type and follow complex spatial interactions and multicollinearity. To address some of the model-related obstacles and to arrive at better predictions, we introduce machine learning algorithm class XGBoost to the estimation of spatial interactions and provide useful statistics and visual representations for the model evaluation and the evaluation and interpretation of the independent variables. The methods suggested are used to study the case of the spatial mobility of high-school graduates to the enrolment in higher education institutions in Germany at the county-level. We show that machine learning techniques can deliver explainable results that compare to traditional regression modeling. In addition to typically high model fits, variable-based indicators such as the Shapley Additive Explanations value (SHAP) provide significant additional information on the differentiated and non-linear effect of the variable values. For instance, we provide evidence that the initial study location choice is not related to the quality of local labor-markets in general, as there are both, strong positive and strong negative effects of the local academic employment rates on the migration decision. When controlling for about 28 co-variates, the attractiveness of the study location itself is the most important single factor of influence, followed by the classical distance-related variables travel time (gravitation) and regional opportunities (radiation). We show that machine learning methods can be transparent, interpretable, and explainable, when employed with adequate domain-knowledge and flanked by additional calculations and visualizations related to the model evaluation.

Conditions and Specifications in the International Competitions for Academic Employment

The academic labour market in Europe and worldwide is increasingly dynamic and competitive in terms of offering positions and requirements for candidates. The competitions are public and international. The paper’s goal is to outline the parameters of these trends. The requirements and conditions for international academic staff hiring are not a subject that is often discussed in Bulgaria, and the paper’s task is to fulfil this deficiency. This is achieved through а sample of international academic job offers published between 2021 – 2022 which is followed by empirical, comparable and content analysis of them. As a result, the actual characteristics of the international academic labour market are outlined based on 105 job offers from 91 universities in 6 continents. Examples of one scientific field (political science) are used in order to achieve a higher comparability of the results

Retainment of U.S. Orthopaedic Surgeons in Academia from 2016 to 2022.

Academic medical centers greatly benefit from retaining their physicians; that ensures continuity in patient care, enhances resident education, and maintains a pool of experienced clinicians and researchers. Despite its importance, little research has been published on the retainment of academic faculty in orthopaedics. To address this gap, this study investigates the demographic trends of academic orthopaedic surgeons from 2016 to 2022. By analyzing data pertaining to gender distribution, years of practice, research productivity, and institutional rankings, we aimed to gain insights into the factors influencing faculty retainment, institution changes, and new entrants into academic orthopaedics. A retrospective cross-sectional analysis of U.S. academic orthopaedic surgeons affiliated with programs under the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) in 2016 and 2022 was performed. Faculty present in both the 2016 and the 2022 data were classified as being "retained" in academia; those present only in 2016, as having "left" academia; and those present only in 2022, as being "new" to academia. The retained group was then divided into movers (those who moved to other institutions) and non-movers. Retained orthopaedists had fewer years of practice, a higher h-index (Hirsch index), and more publications. Non-fellowship-trained orthopaedists had less retainment in academia, and orthopaedists with fellowships in oncology had more retainment in academia. Additionally, movers also had fewer years in practice but an equal level of scholarly productivity when compared with non-movers. Lastly, higher-ranked academic programs retained a greater proportion of orthopaedic surgeons. Over the study period, a majority of orthopaedists (56.99%) chose to remain in academia. Those retained tended to be in the earlier stages of their careers, yet demonstrated higher research output. Notably, the representation of female orthopaedists in academic orthopaedics is on the rise. Conversely, lower-ranked programs faced higher turnover rates, highlighting the challenges that they encounter in retaining faculty members. Academic medical centers benefit from retaining orthopaedic surgeons by maintaining patient relationships, having consistency in resident education, and building on clinical and research expertise. Likewise, orthopaedists benefit from understanding the trends in current academic employment, in order to optimize career planning decisions.

The Class of 2019: Academic Employment Prospects for Counselor Education Doctoral Graduates

The Class of 2019: Academic Employment Prospects for Counselor Education Doctoral Graduates

Managerialism, accreditation and insecure academic employment across different higher education traditions

ABSTRACT Through multilevel regression analysis, we examine the impact of managerialism, particularly accreditation practices, on the increasing job insecurity in universities. We find that universities that are accredited, private, secular or non-Catholic are more likely to offer insecure jobs, but that the relevance of these factors depends on each country’s academic tradition. Universities in the USA tend to offer more job security, whilst those in Chile are the only ones with a trend toward increasing the proportion of permanent positions. Accreditation is a good predictor of job insecurity in the USA, yet it is unrelated in Colombia and Germany, and it has an inverse effect in Chile. In the USA, we argue that accreditation serves as a conduit for managerial pressure, forcing universities to invest more in administrative bureaucracies to legitimise their academic quality, often at the expense of job stability. In Colombia and Germany, we argue that universities may hire administrators responsive to accrediting agencies that do not promote nor strengthen the academic profession. The concept of decoupling allows describing these countries' inverse relationship, or lack of direct relationship, between accreditation and job security. In contrast, Chilean universities show an integration between accreditation rituals and contracting practices aimed at job security. Our findings advance our knowledge of managerialism and higher education expansion by revealing its links to academic employment.

Identifying disability-related barriers to academic employment

ABSTRACT This study sought to increase understanding on barriers to securing academic employment met by people with disabilities. Lindsay and Fuentes [2022. “It is Time to Address Ableism in Academia: A Systematic Review of the Experiences and Impact of Ableism among Faculty and Staff.” Disabilities 2 (2): 178–203] pointed out the paucity of research on disability in academia. We surveyed over 5,000 authors of scholarly articles with ‘disab’ in the title and with UK or USA academic email addresses. People with disabilities were asked to describe barriers they met, and people without disabilities to describe barriers they believed that people with disabilities faced. The responses were classified according to the category of barrier. We found examples of 11 categories of barrier, indicating that a wide range of factors contribute to barriers to academic employment. The most common categories of barrier in responses by people with disabilities were attitudinal barriers, inadequate provision of reasonable adjustment, and excessive workload. Moreover, the frequencies of categories of barrier vary greatly with impairment. We consider the possible ramifications of our study for addressing the barriers to academic employment, the understanding of the nature of disability and methodology. Our study is the first investigation of the relative frequencies of barriers to academic employment.

Gender Bias in Letters of Recommendation: Relevance to Urology Match Outcomes and Pursuit of Fellowship Training/Academic Career

To review applications to a single urology residency program to determine application characteristics predictive of (1) successful match into urology residency and (2) pursuit of fellowship training and/or academic practice after completion of residency. Our principal variables of interest were gender bias as assessed in letters of recommendation (LOR), personal statements, Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE), race, and gender. Applications submitted to our urology residency program in the 2014 cycle were reviewed. Twenty-three variables were analyzed, including applicant demographics, application materials, and gender bias. Deidentified text from LOR, personal statements, and MSPE was evaluated for gender bias using an open-source gender bias calculator. A subanalysis of applicants who matched at a top 25 urology program was performed. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify applicant variables associated with (1) match success and (2) fellowship training or academic employment as of September 2021. Two hundred and twenty-two completed applications were analyzed. First authorship of a published manuscript was significantly associated with greater odds of matching. Female gender and top 25 medical school attendance were both significant predictors of matching at a top 25 urology program. The number of first-author publications was associated with completion of fellowship training or current employment in an academic position. First-author publications are the most important preinterview determinant of match success and subsequent pursuit of academic practice/fellowship training. Certain applicant characteristics are associated with matching at highly ranked programs. Gender bias in application materials (including LOR) does not appear to exert a significant influence on match and early career outcomes.

The gender gap in PhD entrepreneurship: Why balancing employment in academia really matters

The gender gap in PhD entrepreneurship: Why balancing employment in academia really matters