Too many PhDs, too few research positions
Working Scientist18 Nov 2019

Too many PhDs, too few research positions

Students need to be clear about their reasons for pursuing a PhD and the career options open to them, Julie Gould discovers.


In 2015, labour economist Paula Stephan told an audience of early career researchers in the US that the supply of PhD students was outstripping demand. “Since 1977, we've been recommending that graduate departments partake in birth control, but no one has been listening.


"We are definitely producing many more PhDs than there is demand for them in research positions,” she said.

In this first episode of this five-part series about the future of the PhD and how it might change, Julie Gould asks Stephan, who is based at Georgia State University, if her view has altered.


Anne-Marie Coriat, head of UK and EU research landscape at the Wellcome Trust in London, says students need to be clear about why they want to pursue a PhD. "Look at what you're getting into, try and understand that, and then network," she says.


Forty per cent of respondents to Nature's 2019 PhD survey, published this week, said that their programme didn’t meet their original expectations, and only 10% said that it exceeded their expectations — a sharp drop from 2017, when 23% of respondents said that their PhD programme exceeded their expectations.


Despite a global shortage of jobs at universities and colleges, 56% of respondents said that academia is their first choice for a career. Just under 30% chose industry as their preferred destination. The rest named research positions in government, medicine or non-profit organizations. In 2017, 52% of respondents chose academia and 22% chose industry.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episoder(221)

Why I study trauma's genetic legacy

Why I study trauma's genetic legacy

Rana Dajani studies epigenetics of trauma in vulnerable communities around the world. A molecular biologist based at the Hashemite University in Zarqa, Jordan, her research explores what genes are tur...

14 Jul 202518min

The Māori values that make good sense in science

The Māori values that make good sense in science

In her role as director of Bioprotection Aotearoa, a New Zealand Centre of Research Excellence, Amanda Black works with local communities to protect the country’s natural and food-producing ecosystems...

7 Jul 202522min

Celebrating researchers who make the scientific workplace more inclusive

Celebrating researchers who make the scientific workplace more inclusive

Nature's 2022 special issue on racism in science spawned a follow-up Q&A series with researchers who champion inclusion in their workplace or community.Now eight of the 21 Changemakers who have appear...

4 Jul 20254min

Why science recruiters struggle to find high-calibre candidates

Why science recruiters struggle to find high-calibre candidates

In the final episode of this six-part podcast series about hiring in science, Julie Gould asks what it takes to be the perfect candidate for a science job vacancy.Lauren Celano, a careers coach who co...

13 Jun 202517min

Should I use AI to help draft my science job application?

Should I use AI to help draft my science job application?

In the penultimate episode of this six-part podcast series about hiring and getting hired in science, Julie Gould investigates how artificial intelligence (AI) is being used by recruiters to draft job...

7 Jun 202514min

Salary negotiations: a guide for scientists

Salary negotiations: a guide for scientists

Three researchers and a career coach discuss if there as much scope to negotiate salaries in academia as there is in industry.In either setting, they say, negotiation should not be a battleground. Hir...

30 Mai 202519min

How to delight your future boss at a science job interview

How to delight your future boss at a science job interview

Should you tailor your job interview style based on the age, gender and cultural background of the person asking the questions?Margot Smit and Dietmar Hutmacher compare their approaches to hiring and ...

23 Mai 202535min

Seeking a job in science? How hiring practices across industry and academia compare

Seeking a job in science? How hiring practices across industry and academia compare

Julie Gould compares hiring practices across industry and academia by seeking perspectives from Tina Persson, an organic chemist-turned-careers coach based in Malmö, Sweden, and Lauren Celano, a recru...

15 Mai 202518min

Populært innen Business og økonomi

lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
stopp-verden
dine-penger-pengeradet
e24-podden
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
rss-borsmorgen-okonominyhetene
pengepodden-2
pengesnakk
livet-pa-veien-med-jan-erik-larssen
finansredaksjonen
tid-er-penger-en-podcast-med-peter-warren
utbytte
stormkast-med-valebrokk-stordalen
morgenkaffen-med-finansavisen
rss-politisk-preik
liberal-halvtime
rss-markedspuls-2
rss-sunn-okonomi
lederpodden
rss-pa-konto