Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Herschberg, Channah
• Benschop, Yvonne
• van den Brink, Marieke

Titel

Precarious postdocs: A comparative study on recruitment and selection of early-career researchers

Ist Teil von

• Scandinavian journal of management, 2018-12, Vol.34 (4), p.303-310

Ort / Verlag

Elsevier Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

2018

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

ScienceDirect Journals (5 years ago - present)

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• •Numbers of externally funded, project-based postdoc positions have increased sharply.•Recruitment for postdoc positions is organised in a hasty and informal manner.•Selection criteria for postdoctoral positions are shaped by project conditions.•Ideal type postdocs should be value-added to the project instead of future talents.•Short-term thinking creates precarious positions and impacts the careers of postdocs. This paper investigates how the recruitment and selection for project-based postdoc positions are organised in the current academic landscape characterised by increasing temporary research funding and how principal investigators construct the ‘ideal’ postdoc. Our findings are based on a qualitative comparative multiple-case study in Social and Natural Sciences departments of universities in four European countries. This study contributes to the literature on the neoliberal university and academic staff evaluation by using a systemic, power-sensitive approach that examines how postdocs enter the academic system and how manifestations of precarity are exacerbated. Our critical analysis reveals three manifestations of precarity that the current academic system creates for postdocs, related to control, contracts, and careers. We discuss the effects for individual postdocs and their careers and the quality of knowledge production in public funded higher education institutions.