1. 10 December 2015 –Parallel Session Career Tracking Pilot Project Siobhan Phillips, Senior Science Officer, European Science Foundation Synergies to fuel Researchers’ Careers Luxembourg, 10 – 11 December 2015 organised by

2. AIMS Develop an instrument for exploring investment in and outcomes from doctorate level education across international, institutional and sectoral settings Develop high quality partnership based methodology, platform and processes Explore mobility patterns, career/research outcomes and choices PROCESS High level of partner involvement at all stages Peer reviewed and validated instrument with implementation emphasis on high response rates (longitudinal study worthiness) and containing standardised items on demographics, geo, sectoral and occupational mobility and career outcomes Statistical (SPSS) analysis of trends across participating RFOs/RPOs Organisation-specific focus groups Production of organisation specific analysis and reports 2 Purpose of Career Tracking Pilot Study

3. Average response rates for graduate surveys are 25-35% Through a combination of rigorous cleansing & active involvement in follow ups by PO’s, conducted regularly, we achieved overall response rate of 59% Important because central to the confidence we can have in the results and ability to generalise the findings Also because it indicates that a longitudinal study of doctorate holders would be viable (attrition issue) Despite long and detailed questionnaire high level of willingness to complete a follow-up in three years (85%). 3 Responsiveness of Target Doctorate Holder Population

4. Highly Employable – 99% employed with 89% in full-time posts overwhelmingly in publicly funded research institutions High utility of doctorate level skills (85% use regularly) Low level of tenure (35%) more pronounced in Europe than other regions and age related (27% under 40 year olds compared to 73% of those over 40) High level of public sector research employment (82%), followed by non- profits (7%) with just 5% working in private sector. 4 Employment Trends

5. High levels geographic mobility: 90% worked or studied in another country for minimum of 3 months; 40% in multiple countries Within Europe, movement patterns tend to be from peripheral regions to Northern European countries; outside Europe pattern is to move north for doctorate level education and return to home country (TDR cohort/policy) Seemingly low level of inter-sectoral mobility; 15% involved in joint publications with industry; 20% collaborating at a distance and 12% on the web. 5 Mobility Patterns

6. Highest rated factors: Prestige of organisation Scientific Environment Contribution to society Research infrastructure Lowest rated factors: Career growth opportunities Organisational culture Career development support Job security stability 6 Satisfaction with Current Post

7. The uni-directional nature of geographic movements from peripheral to northern European economies – brain gain/brain drain phenomenon (other than in the case of TDR graduates) Increase in doctorate numbers - crushing competition for few positions, leading to instability, low salaries for extended periods, high levels of dissatisfaction and strong possibility (and evidence of) opt out Related issue of sectoral preference/bias towards academia despite over-supply The different outcomes and satisfaction levels as and between respondents with permanent and temporary contracts: While levels of peer reviewed publications and conference activity were equivalent, those on permanent contracts were: −Twice as likely to produce patents −Nearly three times as likely to have had a significant impact on policy or practice −Nearly twice as likely to have undertaken public engagement activities −More likely to have been awarded an academic prize (15% compared to 11% on temporary contracts) −Significantly more satisfied with scientific environment of their workplace, its organisational culture and career development support. 7 Policy Relevant Findings

8. Good rationale and scope to develop a ‘bottom up’ longitudinal European survey platform as a complement to a top down (national census/ministry led) model as initiated by OECD/Eurostat et. al. There are difficulties with availability, comparability and detail of national level surveys/other sources of data; It is not possible to compare career outcomes and achievements of this important group across time, sectors, economic contexts or regions and more nuanced factors like the extent to which job security and satisfaction underpins those achievements. If the interest is there, what we would like to do is build this study up to address these issues on a country by country basis, culminating in European wide coverage. It is a scalable activity, costs go down and the data improve as more institutions join. 8 Future Plans

9. Julien Desfloquet, AXA Research Fund “Overall we see this pilot as a success! We have obtained an excellent response rate with respondents ready to repeat the experience, and we are able to have first views on how our funding schemes have supported granted post-doctoral fellows in their career with benchmark information.” Ulrike Kohl, FNR, Luxembourg “Congratulations for this very good analysis and professionally conducted study.” Heike Zimmermann-Timm, GRADE-Goethe Graduate Academy, Germany “One of the tasks of an international graduate academy is to prepare doctoral candidates for the job market in academia, the economy and society. The Career Tracking Study of the European Science Foundation provides a valuable knowledge base for this.” Ines Günther-Leopold, Paul Scherrer Institute “PSI has now a broader sense on expectations of young scientists concerning career development offers, advice and perspectives (with respect to diversity – nationality / age / gender).” John Reeder, TDR, the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases “We were very pleased to see confirmation in this study of TDR’s success in helping researchers from low- and middle-income countries return home after study abroad. Building and retaining research capacity is a critical goal of ours, and this pilot study helps us in our continuing evaluation of what has the strongest impact.” 9 Participating Organisations and their Impressions

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