Public debate: The endless precarity of Research fellowships contributions by ANIH, CAPS and ICoRSA

Public Debate

This workshop aims to shed light on the challenges faced by researchers in academia and other research institutions who are reliant on stipends and fellowships. By the end of this session, we hope to have a comprehensive understanding of these challenges and discuss potential solutions to improve the working conditions for these researchers.

The academic and research landscapes have long been seen as prestigious fields of endeavor, promising intellectual fulfillment and the opportunity to contribute to significant advancements in knowledge and technology. However, for many researchers, especially those dependent on stipends and fellowships, the reality is often fraught with financial insecurity, professional instability, and personal stress.

You can find the presentations here:

Precarity in Norway

Precarity in Portugal

Precarity in Spain

Improving the social benefits of research fellowships in Canada

Advocating for Postdocs in Germany: From Working Contracts to Science Policy

Research fellowships are typically forms of stipends for PhD work or to conduct research tasks for a short period of time. However, institutions tend to use fellowships to hire postdoctoral researchers to conduct highly qualified research work with a stipend to reduce costs associated with regular employment benefits and reduce bureaucracy.

Through this workshop, we will explore these issues in depth, share personal experiences, and collaboratively discuss potential solutions. By understanding the negative impacts on the working conditions of researchers under stipends and fellowships, we aim to advocate for better policies and support systems that can foster a more equitable and sustainable research environment.

Financial Instability and Insecurity

One of the most pressing issues is financial instability. Many stipends and fellowships provide financial support that is significantly below living wage standards. For instance, a survey in 2020 by the Canadian Association of Postdoctoral Scholars (CAPS) found that the average annual stipend for postdoctoral researchers in Canada was approximately $52,000 CAD while the living wage for a single adult in many metropolitan areas often exceeds $60,000 CAD. This discrepancy forces researchers to struggle with basic living expenses, impacting their overall quality of life.

Additionally, many stipends and fellowships do not include essential benefits such as health insurance, retirement plans, or paid leave. The same study by CAPS highlighted that 40% of postdoctoral researchers reported lacking access to extended benefits, further exacerbating financial and health insecurities. The absence of these benefits places researchers in a precarious position, often forcing them to choose between their research and personal well-being.

Professional Development and Career Progression

Financial instability is not the only challenge. Researchers on stipends and fellowships frequently encounter significant obstacles in their professional development and career progression. The short-term nature of many fellowships creates an environment of employment uncertainty. CAPS survey (2020) reported a decrease of 32% in interest in academia comparing with their previous studies.

Moreover, limited funding often restricts access to essential resources such as research materials, conference travel, and networking opportunities. This lack of support hampers professional growth and diminishes the ability to build a robust academic network, which is crucial for career advancement.

Work-Life Balance and Mental Health

The combination of financial stress and professional uncertainty significantly impacts the mental health and work-life balance of researchers. High expectations and workloads, often not aligned with the financial support provided, lead to overwork and burnout. According to CAPS survey (2020), 80% of postdoctoral researchers reported severe mental health issues. A report by the Wellcome Trust (2020) found that 70% of researchers reported high levels of stress, with many citing workload and financial concerns as primary factors.

This work-life imbalance not only affects researchers’ mental health but also their productivity and overall well-being. The lack of institutional support for mental health exacerbates these issues, leaving many researchers to cope with these challenges on their own.

Dissatisfaction with Research Careers

Due to these compounded issues, there is a growing dissatisfaction among researchers regarding their career prospects. CAPS survey (2020) found that 34% of respondents were dissatisfied with career options. This trend represents a significant loss of talent and potential within the research community.

Speakers

• Dr. Henny Bennett, Chair of the Canadian Association for Postdoctoral Scholars (CAPS) Improving the social benefits of research fellowships in Canada”  
• Dr. ​​Ana Ferreira, Assistant Researcher at NOVA FCSH, “Precarity in Portugal” 
• Dr. Tracy Wietecha, Max Planck PostdocNet  
• Mrs Jorunn Dahl Norgard, Head of international affairs, Norwegian Association of Researchers 
• Dr. Francisco Javier del Castillo, ANIH, Pathways to end precarity: Government incentives and the regulations in Spain. 

Henrietta Bennett

Dr. Henrietta Bennett is Chair of the Canadian Association of Postdoctoral Scholars (CAPS). CAPS is a researcher-led, professional association that aims to improve the lives of all Canadian postdoctoral researchers through evidence-based advocacy. Dr. Bennett is a US-trained cell and molecular biologist, with a PhD in Cancer Biology (Stanford University) and working experience as a consultant in biopharma. She moved to Canada to pursue postdoctoral research first at the Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto), and now at St. Michaels Hospital (Toronto), where she investigates the cellular and molecular basis of human health. 

Tracy Wietecha

Dr. Tracy Wietecha is a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, Germany, where they work within the interdisciplinary research group, “Experience in the Premodern Sciences of Body and Soul.” In 2020, they were awarded the prestigious Lorenz-Bausch Fellowship at the Leopoldina National Academy of Science. Dr. Wietecha earned their doctorate in philosophy from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, specialising in the history of science and philosophy.

Their research covers a wide range of historical and philosophical topics, from medieval ethics and politics to theological notions of mysticism, and the exploration of Latin America through natural history, medicine, and botany. Their core interests lie in two key areas: the ethics surrounding the knowledge required for moral responsibility and the history of botany and medicine through a philosophical lens.

Dr. Tracy Wietecha also serves as a guest lecturer at the Technical University of Berlin, where they teach courses in their areas of expertise. As the elected Spokesperson of the Max Planck Society PostdocNet, they are dedicated to advocating for postdocs, particularly in relation to mentorship, and have been actively involved in discussions around science policy, including the WissZeitVG amendments in Germany.

Ana Ferreira 

Ana Ferreira is an assistant researcher with a fixed-term contract working on sociology of science/ science and technology studies at the Interdisciplinary Centre of Social Sciences (CICS.NOVA) of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities of Universidade Nova de Lisboa. Currently, her research aims to understand how the increasing organizational and cultural alignment of academic organizations with corporate models frame, on the one hand, scientific knowledge production, and on the other, academic and life trajectories of researchers.  Among other references, in 2023, Almedina published her book «Nós somos os rankings!». Precariedade, reflexividade e acção social na academia neoliberalizada | «We are the rankings!» Precarity, reflexivity and social action in the neoliberalized academia.  

Recent Publications (selected)  

Ferreira, A. (2023). “Nós somos os rankings!”. Precariedade, reflexividade e acção social na academia neoliberalizada. Coimbra: Almedina 

Ferreira, A. (2023). Living on the edge: Continuous precarity undermines academic freedom but not academic identity in the neoliberal academia. In A. Vatansever & Y. Kölemen (Eds.), Free as a Bird: Academic Precariat and the State of Academic Freedom in the Global North. London and New York: Routledge. 

Ferreira, A. (2023). Modelling social action: From biological to social (re)constructions enabling, constraining, and motivating social decision-making. In N. Rezaei (Ed.), Brain, Decision Making and Mental Health. Cham: Springer. 

Jorunn Dahl Norgård

As Chief Advisor and head of international affairs in The Norwegian Association of Researchers (NAR), Jorunn Dahl Norgård is responsible for advocacy work on higher education and research policy, including working conditions and the precarity of research careers, institutional autonomy and academic freedom, public funding and quality in research, teaching and learning. She is a member of the National forum for Open Science and coordinates NAR´s advisory committee on open access and intellectual property rights. Norgård holds a degree in political science, with a specific emphasize on higher education reforms, cross-disciplinary collaboration, academic drift and teacher education.  

In her role as head of NAR´s international affairs, she has for the past several years been a member of ETUCE Standing committee for higher education and research (HERSC), which involves advocating the role of research and the attractiveness of the research career towards the EU and OECD. Norgård represents ETUCE in the BFUG WG on Teaching & Learning and is currently advocating the teachers´ workings conditions as a prerequisite for enhancing student centred learning. She is co-author of “Supportive working environment as key in Bologna beyond 2020 – narrowing the gap between rhetoric and reality”, published on the occasion of the Bologna Process Anniversary in 2019. She started her career as a researcher at The Nordic Institute for Studies of Innovation, Research and Education, where she conducted research on mergers in higher education, reforms in teacher education as well as scientific collaboration across epistemological cultures. Norgård is the author of several articles and reports on higher education and research. She has represented UEN in the Norwegian Research Council portfolio board of educational research and competence (Education 2020) and been involved in several national committees and working groups initiated by the Ministry of higher education and research.

Francisco Javier del Castillo

Dr del Castillo is a molecular geneticist from the Genetics Dept of Hospital Ramón y Cajal (Madrid, Spain), He has been investigating the mechanisms underlying inherited rare diseases for the last 25 years. After his PhD thesis on bacterial molecular genetics, he spent 4 years as postdoctoral fellow and 2 years as research associate before becoming the leader of his own research group, whose current focus are the genetic bases and disease mechanisms of lysosomal storage disorders. Since 2012, as part of the Board Of Directors of ANIH, he has been lobbying regional and national political groups and governments to improve the lot of hospital researchers in Spain, culminating in the successful 2022 reform of the Law of Science, which finally grants hospital researchers the same working rights than other researchers. 

Topics to be addressed during the debate

• Public funding to provide institutional support to replace fellowships.
• Regulations and changes in the law.

References

CAPS-ACPP. (2020). “The Canadian National Postdoctoral Survey Report: Ten Years of Longitudinal Data Analysis”. Retrieved from http://capsacpp.ca/en/resources/publications/surveys/2020-national-postdoc-survey/

Nature Editorial. (2023). Postdocs are pushing back against low pay and conditions – more institutions must take heed. “Nature”. Retrieved from https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03298-7

Wellcome Trust. (2020). “What researchers think about the culture they work in”. Retrieved from https://wellcome.org/reports/what-researchers-think-about-research-culture