tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/phd-students-26706/articlesPhD students – The Conversation2024-01-09T17:02:29Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2177172024-01-09T17:02:29Z2024-01-09T17:02:29ZPhD students’ mental health is poor and the pandemic made it worse – but there are coping strategies that can help<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568210/original/file-20240108-17-dstswz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C0%2C5582%2C3732&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/tired-man-reading-book-library-85474546">ESB Professional/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733317300422">A pre-pandemic study</a> on PhD students’ mental health showed that they often struggle with such issues. Financial insecurity and <a href="https://theconversation.com/you-have-to-suffer-for-your-phd-poor-mental-health-among-doctoral-researchers-new-research-174096">feelings of isolation</a> can be among the factors affecting students’ wellbeing.</p>
<p>The pandemic made the situation worse. <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0291555#pone.0291555.ref018">We carried out research</a> that looked into the impact of the pandemic on PhD students, surveying 1,780 students in summer 2020. We asked them about their mental health, the methods they used to cope and their satisfaction with their progress in their doctoral study.</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, the lockdown in summer 2020 affected the ability to study for many. <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0291555#pone.0291555.ref018">We found that</a> 86% of the UK PhD students we surveyed reported a negative impact on their research progress.</p>
<p>But, alarmingly, 75% reported experiencing moderate to severe depression. This is a rate significantly higher than that observed in the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7783135/">general population</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733317300422">pre-pandemic PhD student cohorts</a>. </p>
<h2>Risk of depression</h2>
<p>Our findings suggested an increased risk of depression among those in the research-heavy stage of their PhD – for example during data collection or laboratory experiments. This was in contrast to those in the initial stages, or who were nearing the end of their PhD and writing up their research. The data collection stage was more likely to have been disrupted by the pandemic. </p>
<p>Our research also showed that PhD students with caring responsibilities faced a greatly increased risk of depression. In our <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0291555#pone.0291555.ref018">our study</a>, we found that PhD students with childcare responsibilities were 14 times more likely to develop depressive symptoms than PhD students without children.</p>
<p>This does align with findings on <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7783135/">people in the general UK population with childcare responsibilities</a> during the pandemic. Adults with childcare responsibilities were 1.4 times more likely to develop depression or anxiety compared to their counterparts without children or childcare duties.</p>
<p>It was also interesting to find that PhD students facing the disruption caused by the pandemic who did not receive an extension – extra financial support and time beyond the expected funding period – or were uncertain about whether they would receive an extension at the time of our study, were 5.4 times more likely to experience significant depression. </p>
<p><a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0291555#pone.0291555.ref018">Our research</a> also used a questionnaire designed to measure effective and ineffective ways to cope with stressful life events. We used this to look at which coping skills – strategies to deal with challenges and difficult situations — used by PhD students were associated with lower depression levels. These “good” strategies included “getting comfort and understanding from someone” and “taking action to try to make the situation better”. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Women talking" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568212/original/file-20240108-17-9rkc15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568212/original/file-20240108-17-9rkc15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568212/original/file-20240108-17-9rkc15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568212/original/file-20240108-17-9rkc15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568212/original/file-20240108-17-9rkc15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568212/original/file-20240108-17-9rkc15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568212/original/file-20240108-17-9rkc15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Reaching out is important.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-confident-african-american-businesswoman-explaining-1733598095">fizkes/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Interestingly, female PhD students, who were slightly less likely than men to experience significant depression, showed a greater tendency to use good coping approaches compared to their counterparts. Specifically, they favoured the above two coping strategies that are associated with lower levels of depression.</p>
<p>On the other hand, certain coping strategies were associated with higher depression levels. Prominent among these were self-critical tendencies and the use of substances like alcohol or drugs to cope with challenging situations.</p>
<h2>A supportive environment</h2>
<p>Creating a supportive environment is not solely the responsibility of individual students or academic advisors. Universities and funding bodies must play a proactive role in mitigating the challenges faced by PhD students. </p>
<p>By taking proactive steps, universities could create a more supportive environment for their students and help to ensure their success.</p>
<p>Training in coping skills could be extremely beneficial for PhD students. For instance, the University of Cambridge includes this training as part of its <a href="https://training.cam.ac.uk/course/gdp-persdev4">building resilience course</a>.</p>
<p>A focus on good strategies or positive reframing – focusing on positive aspects and potential opportunities – could be crucial. Additionally, encouraging PhD students to seek emotional support may also help reduce the risk of depression. </p>
<p>Another example is the establishment of <a href="https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/bitstream/handle/123456789/70808/Panayidou_Enhancing%20postgraduate%20researcher_Accepted_2021.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y">PhD wellbeing support groups</a>, an intervention funded by the <a href="https://officeforstudents.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/student-wellbeing-and-protection/student-mental-health/catalyst-fund-supporting-mental-health-and-wellbeing-for-pgr-students/">Office for Students and Research England Catalyst Fund</a>.</p>
<p>Groups like this serve as a platform for productive discussions and meaningful interactions among students, facilitated by the presence of a dedicated mental health advisor.</p>
<p>Our research showed how much financial insecurity and caring responsibilities had an effect on mental health. More practical examples of a supportive environment offered by universities could include funded extensions to PhD study and the availability of flexible childcare options.</p>
<p>By creating supportive environments, universities can invest in the success and wellbeing of the next generation of researchers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217717/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>PhD students with caring responsibilities faced an increased risk of depression during the pandemic.Maria Aristeidou, Senior Lecturer in Technology Enhanced Learning, The Open UniversityAngela Aristidou, Assistant Professor in Strategy and Entrepreneurship, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2160512023-12-22T12:05:24Z2023-12-22T12:05:24ZHow universities can address the lack of Black scholars in academia<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566868/original/file-20231220-17-u1d2j2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=65%2C8%2C4996%2C3432&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/african-american-female-professor-assisting-her-2060352932">Drazen Zigic/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the UK, out of 164 university vice-chancellors, only <a href="https://twitter.com/TheSBAAcademia/status/1681419068551712771">two are Black</a>. Professor David Mba was recently appointed as the first Black vice-chancellor at <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-67028237">Birmingham City University</a>. </p>
<p>There are <a href="https://www.hesa.ac.uk/news/17-01-2023/higher-education-staff-statistics-uk-202122-released#:%7E:text=233%2C930%20academic%20staff%20were%20employed,rising%20by%209%25%20to%2036%2C115.">165 Black professors</a> in the UK – out of 23,515. The disparity becomes even more alarming when examining the representation of Black female professors. Only 61 UK professors <a href="https://www.whenequality.org/100">are Black women</a>. </p>
<p>As the adage goes, you can’t be what you cannot see. Given that <a href="https://www.ucu.org.uk/media/8633/BME-doctoral-students-perceptions-of-an-academic-career/pdf/JA_BME_doc_students_report_Jun17.pdf">research has highlighted</a> how important having a BAME mentor can be to BAME students, it’s likely that the lack of representation in both professorial roles and senior university management could adversely affect the aspirations of young Black scholars. </p>
<p>In the three academic years from 2016-17 to 2018-19, UK research councils granted 19,868 funded PhD studentships – but <a href="https://leadingroutes.org/the-broken-pipeline">only 245 were allocated</a> to students of Black and mixed-Black heritage. </p>
<h2>Taking action</h2>
<p>From 2021, I have been the lead for the the Accomplished Study Programme in Research Excellence (ASPIRE) project, which works to address the underrepresentation of Black students at PhD level. The project is a collaborative effort between Sheffield Hallam University, Manchester Metropolitan University and charity Advance HE. </p>
<p>The programme offers classes and workshops on topics such as academic writing and research skills to scholars of Black and mixed Black heritage, and provides each student with a Black academic mentor. We have recently <a href="https://extra.shu.ac.uk/ppp-online/towards-widening-participation-in-post-graduate-research-the-aspire-programme/">published an article</a> on the project’s impact. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Group of people standing on stairs" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555575/original/file-20231024-17-7ikny5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555575/original/file-20231024-17-7ikny5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555575/original/file-20231024-17-7ikny5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555575/original/file-20231024-17-7ikny5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555575/original/file-20231024-17-7ikny5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555575/original/file-20231024-17-7ikny5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555575/original/file-20231024-17-7ikny5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Photo from an Aspire inspirational speaker event.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ifedapo Francis Awolowo</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The project has provided mentorship to 46 scholars so far, as part of two cohorts of students. Six have already started PhDs, and a further four have been accepted for PhD study. Overall, we found that the project increased the confidence of students who, at the beginning of the programme, rated their skills as lower than their peers. One student said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I have received an unconditional offer to pursue a PhD at Leeds University and all thanks to Aspire. I know for certain this would not be the case had I not joined the programme last year. The immense support we received, the talks, the community was just what I needed to believe in myself, that I am capable of achieving my goals. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The project was also beneficial to the academic staff who took part as mentors. One said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I now have a deeper understanding of the unconscious constraints that tends to limit Black and mixed-Black heritage students’ academic engagement. With this understanding, my zest for a more inclusive and culturally tolerant interaction has been rewarded with higher attendance and participation in classroom activities by my students. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Aspire is not the only project working to encourage Black students to consider academia. Others include the <a href="https://www.ntu.ac.uk/c/equity-in-doctoral-education-through-partnership-and-innovation">Equity in Doctoral Education through Innovation and Partnership</a> project. This works to improve the representation of minoritised groups in PhD study at at Nottingham Trent University, Sheffield Hallam University and Liverpool John Moores University. </p>
<p>Likewise, the <a href="https://ycede.ac.uk/">Yorkshire Consortium for Equity in Doctoral Education</a> is focused on improved access to PhD study for students from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds. Both programmes promote equality in access to research degrees and in university admissions. </p>
<p>We’re also witnessing a positive trend towards more ring-fenced scholarships <a href="https://www.granduniondtp.ac.uk/studentships-black-british-students">targeted specifically</a> for Black students to undertake PhD studies in our universities. </p>
<h2>Forward momentum</h2>
<p>But while these scholarships represent a positive step forward, they are not sufficient. It’s crucial for the sector to embrace an <a href="https://www.ucu.org.uk/media/8633/BME-doctoral-students-perceptions-of-an-academic-career/pdf/JA_BME_doc_students_report_Jun17.pdf">anti-racist stance</a> through both words and actions to lead to the change in representation and experience needed. </p>
<p>Universities can make this happen by promoting successful Black academics who have already met the requirements for becoming professors. There should also be a clear blueprint for professorial promotions, with consistent criteria for all academics.</p>
<p>Additionally, it’s important to enhance diversity in university leadership teams by appointing more Black academics to senior positions within universities. The increased presence of Black senior leaders within academia and Black professors will serve as an inspiring beacon for aspiring Black scholars.</p>
<p>A multiracial leadership team is essential for addressing the unique challenges of a diverse student body. We must take decisive steps to dismantle systemic barriers hindering Black people in academia. </p>
<p>By doing so, we can create a more racially inclusive, equitable and intellectually vibrant higher education sector that benefits all members of our society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216051/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ifedapo Francis Awolowo receives funding from the Office for Students (OFS) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). </span></em></p>You can’t be what you cannot see.Ifedapo Francis Awolowo, Senior Lecturer in Accounting, Sheffield Hallam UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2030572023-05-14T20:08:18Z2023-05-14T20:08:18ZAustralia has way more PhD graduates than academic jobs. Here’s how to rethink doctoral degrees<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525559/original/file-20230511-27-v87w49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C11%2C7513%2C4564&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This article is part of our series on <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/universities-accord-big-ideas-137143">big ideas for the Universities Accord</a>. The federal government is calling for ideas to “reshape and reimagine higher education, and set it up for the next decade and beyond”. A review team is due to finish a draft report in June and a final report in December 2023.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>One of the key reasons for doing a a doctoral research degree or PhD is to pursue an academic career. But this dream is becoming increasingly far-fetched, due to a decline in academic positions and a steady increase in Australians undertaking PhDs. </p>
<p>The number of <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://algorithm.data61.csiro.au/where-are-australias-phd-students/&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1681708626970840&usg=AOvVaw01YQTEBZci9FnFkXEQflUs">PhD completions</a> has been steadily growing over the past two decades, from about 4,000 to about 10,000 per year.</p>
<p>According to our calculations* based on the <a href="https://amsi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/advancing_australias_knowledge_economy.pdf">information available</a>, the cumulative number of people in Australia with a PhD has increased from about 135,000 in 2016 to about 185,000 in 2021.</p>
<p>But the number of academic positions has shrunk. Australia saw a <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/higher-education-statistics">significant decrease</a> in academic staff from 54,086 in 2016 to 46,971 in 2021 as universities cut costs during the pandemic.</p>
<p>As the <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/australian-universities-accord">Universities Accord review</a> examines how our higher education system needs to work, we need to rethink who is doing a PhD and how their degrees are structured. </p>
<h2>Why has the number of PhDs grown?</h2>
<p>There are plenty of incentives to keep PhD candidates coming through the system. Some federal government funding to universities is based on <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/research-block-grants/research-training-program">research degree completions</a>. PhDs are also free for domestic students. </p>
<p>On top of this, universities put pressure on academic staff to supervise successful PhD students. This is used as one of the criteria for promotions. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A PhD graduate in a graduation gown." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525560/original/file-20230511-15-l2mwz9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525560/original/file-20230511-15-l2mwz9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525560/original/file-20230511-15-l2mwz9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525560/original/file-20230511-15-l2mwz9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525560/original/file-20230511-15-l2mwz9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525560/original/file-20230511-15-l2mwz9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525560/original/file-20230511-15-l2mwz9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">PhDs do not have course fees for domestic students in Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Where do PhD graduates go?</h2>
<p>There is no official data on how many PhD graduates go on to work in academia. About <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03075079.2011.594596&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1681708626972643&usg=AOvVaw23LP-HDSETcTuK_lbuz3xk">25% of PhD graduates</a> got some employment in academia according to a small-scale survey in 2011. </p>
<p>Our estimates suggest this figure has not changed much as of 2021.
If there are about 185,000 people with a PhD, this is four times higher than the number of available academic positions (46,971).</p>
<p>We also know some PhD students struggle to get work outside of academia, despite the prestigious nature of their qualifications. </p>
<p>The 2022 <a href="https://www.qilt.edu.au/surveys/graduate-outcomes-survey-(gos)#anchor-2">Graduate Outcomes Survey</a> found 84.7% of research degree graduates (which includes masters degrees by research as well as PhDs) were in full-time employment within six months of completing their studies. This compares with 78.5% of undergraduates. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-unis-could-not-function-without-casual-staff-it-is-time-to-treat-them-as-real-employees-203053">Australian unis could not function without casual staff: it is time to treat them as 'real' employees</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Where do PhDs want to work?</h2>
<p>It is true not all PhD candidates and graduates want an academic career. </p>
<p>A 2019 <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://amsi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/advancing_australias_knowledge_economy.pdf&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1683187442095181&usg=AOvVaw39pEzv3rGEN5cpC55yVdPG">national survey</a> found 51% of all PhD students surveyed wanted to find a job in business or the public sector. </p>
<p>But here, students’ field of study makes a big difference. </p>
<p>Two-thirds of PhD students in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and maths) were hoping to work in industry. The banking, civil engineering, mining, energy and medical/pharmaceutical sectors are the <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://amsi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/advancing_australias_knowledge_economy.pdf&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1683187442091000&usg=AOvVaw0PQ6DhL4Bm2stNZ6OGdGbm">top employers of PhD graduates</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, two-thirds of PhD students in social sciences (including history, politics, education, sociology, psychology, economics, and anthropology) wanted to stay in academia. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-arts-degrees-and-other-generalist-programs-are-the-future-of-australian-higher-education-203046">Why arts degrees and other generalist programs are the future of Australian higher education</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Our study</h2>
<p>To understand how people with social sciences PhDs navigate employment, we conducted 23 in-depth interviews with doctoral graduates from five Australian universities. All interviewees graduated less than five years before the interviews. </p>
<p>Our research uncovered two distinct themes. </p>
<h2>1. A stable academic job is almost impossible to find</h2>
<p>Of the group, only one had gained a continuing academic position within five years of graduation. Thirteen were on precarious contracts (either casual or fixed-term) while three were doing a “postdoc” or research fellowship (which are also often a fixed-term contract). Six worked in either the private sector or government. </p>
<p>As one interviewee told us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>[PhD candidates should] put aside the assumption that […] because you’ve got a PhD, you will automatically get a job. That’s not the case. There are many many many PhDs out there who cannot find work or are working in what we call menial jobs or ‘survivor’ jobs. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another emphasised the <a href="https://theconversation.com/some-of-them-do-treat-you-like-an-idiot-what-its-like-to-be-a-casual-academic-201470">insecure nature</a> of working in academia: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’ve been working as a sessional [employed on contracts per semester] in higher education, basically full-time on a million contracts.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Some participants moved in and out of academia while holding a slim hope of finding a continuing position: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>If I don’t get an academic job within one year or two years, then it’s kind of over for me […].</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>2. There is not enough career support or preparation</h2>
<p>While ongoing academic jobs were very difficult to obtain, PhD graduates said they were not well-prepared for the labour market outside academia. </p>
<p>There is a sharp contrast between university and non-university occupations in terms of workplace cultures and employer expectations. For example, industry employers want skills needed for work rather than qualifications or publications. PhD graduates moving out of academia have had to re-train themselves.</p>
<p>As one participant told us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>They were less impressed by the publications. They were more interested in the skills that I got. […] So I did some online data courses [like] LinkedIn courses, and then I tried to apply for some jobs with these skills and in this direction.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another participant said they had to hide their doctoral degree for fear of being seen as overqualified. Meanwhile, meaningful career advice was thin on the ground. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>[My university] didn’t actually do anything to support me in getting my job.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/very-few-companies-are-open-for-international-students-south-asian-graduates-say-they-need-specific-support-to-find-jobs-200739">'Very few companies are open for international students': South Asian graduates say they need specific support to find jobs</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>How to rethink doctoral education</h2>
<p>The diverse and insecure employment outcomes of the PhD graduates in our study strongly point to a need for universities to rethink how they educate PhD students.</p>
<p>Firstly, this includes offering specific career education as part of PhD programs. This may require universities to be upfront about <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1474022219834448">the employment prospects</a> for PhD graduates and <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theage.com.au/national/desperate-despondent-ignored-australian-science-at-crisis-point-20220310-p5a3g2.html&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1681708626970206&usg=AOvVaw2wwZ-ZkjcFm4LFP2W4VhIx">research funding climate</a>.</p>
<p>Career consultations from both universities’ career centres and industry experts should be offered early in PhD programs to help students make informed decisions about future options. For those who would like to pursue a traditional academic career, it is important to have ongoing career guidance from their supervisors and research offices.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two students sit, talking in a library." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525806/original/file-20230512-23-edexpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525806/original/file-20230512-23-edexpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525806/original/file-20230512-23-edexpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525806/original/file-20230512-23-edexpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525806/original/file-20230512-23-edexpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525806/original/file-20230512-23-edexpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525806/original/file-20230512-23-edexpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">PhDs should also emphasise skills such like teamwork and leadership.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Yan Krukau/Pexels</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Secondly, there needs to be more structured work experience. Universities should strengthen their partnerships with industry to facilitate work experience. Those seeking academic jobs also need to be provided with meaningful opportunities to work alongside academic staff in both teaching activities and research projects.</p>
<p>Thirdly, universities need to ensure doctoral programs better prepare students for employment possibilities inside and outside academia. </p>
<p>This includes opportunities to build <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publications/phd-educated-employees-and-the-development-of-generic-skills&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1681708887086809&usg=AOvVaw2fi8AtSy1Waz3W7k5wlPgg">transferable skills</a> such as teamwork, communication, analytical skills, and leadership. </p>
<p>This specifically needs to include teaching students how to write and speak for different audiences beyond academia, including policymakers and the public.</p>
<h2>This needs to include admissions</h2>
<p>Lastly, we also need to take a hard look at PhD admissions. There is currently no limit on PhD numbers and the more admissions universities have, the more funding they will earn when students graduate. </p>
<p>To balance supply and demand, the government should consider quotas for funding PhD students in each field. This would also help select the most suitable PhD candidates, who are most likely to benefit from the rigours of doctoral study.</p>
<p>This may not be a popular move – but we have be more realistic about whether accepting more and more people into three-plus years of intense study is benefiting the students, or simply generating funds for universities.</p>
<p><em>*These figures have been adjusted for life expectancy and overseas PhD graduates returning to their home country.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203057/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New research highlights how a stable academic career is almost impossible to secure.Sam Hoang, Research Officer, Victoria UniversityBinh Ta, Lecturer, Monash UniversityHang Khong, Teaching Associate, Faculty of Education, Monash University, Monash UniversityTrang Thi Doan Dang, Teaching Associate, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1851382022-06-19T19:53:33Z2022-06-19T19:53:33ZHow are PhD students meant to survive on two-thirds of the minimum wage?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469173/original/file-20220616-9175-hex66r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C21%2C7040%2C4676&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the decades, supportive parents of Australian students on the cusp of graduating from their undergraduate studies have occasionally been struck by a bewildering decision by their pride and joy. Instead of pursuing an appetising salary in a prestigious company, their student has instead decided to do the unthinkable: they’re going to do a PhD. Where’s the money in that? What will we tell the neighbours?</p>
<p>A PhD program is foremost a training experience. A PhD student works a full-time apprenticeship (<a href="https://www.fairwork.gov.au/starting-employment/types-of-employees/full-time-employees#:%7E:text=Full%2Dtime%20employees%20usually%20work,on%20a%20fixed%20term%20contract.">38 hours a week</a> on average) in their chosen research field, guided by expert mentors along the way. While the choice to enter a PhD program is primarily based on a student wanting to upskill and learn, much like the choice to pursue an undergraduate degree, the starting point, method of study and outputs of a PhD are very different. </p>
<p>In Australia, the standard scheme to fund the living costs of PhD candidates is a tax-free stipend from their university. The university is allocated the funds via the <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/research-block-grants/research-training-program">Research Training Program (RTP)</a>. </p>
<p>This stipend is now $28,854 a year (indexed annually against inflation). That’s only two-thirds of the national minimum wage after last week’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/fair-work-commission-gives-a-5-2-40-a-week-increase-in-the-minimum-wage-185119">increase to $42,246.88</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/this-5-2-decision-on-the-minimum-wage-could-shift-the-trajectory-for-all-185117">This 5.2% decision on the minimum wage could shift the trajectory for all</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In weekly terms an income of $554.88 puts PhD candidates well below the <a href="https://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/4110912/Poverty-Lines-Australia-December-2021.pdf">poverty line of $608.96</a> for a single person if they have to pay for housing. Further, it’s close to an all-time low of 30% as a proportion of average full-time earnings. </p>
<p>In 2017 a sliding scale of stipends was introduced. Looking at the websites of the 39 members of Universities Australia in June 2022, it is encouraging to see a few universities offer higher rates than the required minimum for their PhD programs. However, most universities still mandate the lowest base rate.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469170/original/file-20220616-16-48586p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469170/original/file-20220616-16-48586p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=186&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469170/original/file-20220616-16-48586p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=186&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469170/original/file-20220616-16-48586p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=186&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469170/original/file-20220616-16-48586p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=233&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469170/original/file-20220616-16-48586p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=233&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469170/original/file-20220616-16-48586p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=233&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Advertised annual PhD stipend at 39 Universities Australia member institutions.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A fair shake of the sauce bottle</h2>
<p>This funding arrangement has been in place for some time, serving the community reasonably well. However, in the current economic climate of uncertainty, rising costs of living, skyrocketing rents and the Fair Work Commission’s decision to increase the minimum wage by 5.2%, it is worth comparing <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/research-block-grants/resources/historical-stipend-rates-postgraduate-scholarships">historical stipend rates</a>, dating back to 1959, with other relevant yardsticks of income.</p>
<p>To make a fair comparison, we could scale up historically recorded weekly <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/earnings-and-working-conditions/average-weekly-earnings-australia">average</a>, <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/earnings-and-working-conditions/employee-earnings-and-hours-australia">median</a> and <a href="https://www.oecd.org/els/emp/Bray%20Minimum%20Wage%20-%20%20working%20paper%20version.pdf">minimum</a> wages over a 52-week year, noting that most Australian PhD programs permit 20 days of paid personal leave per year. Below, we see how these annual incomes have evolved over time since the inception of the PhD stipend. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469175/original/file-20220616-10535-dqn04p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469175/original/file-20220616-10535-dqn04p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469175/original/file-20220616-10535-dqn04p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469175/original/file-20220616-10535-dqn04p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469175/original/file-20220616-10535-dqn04p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469175/original/file-20220616-10535-dqn04p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469175/original/file-20220616-10535-dqn04p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469175/original/file-20220616-10535-dqn04p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Historical PhD stipend rates in Australia, compared to average full-time earnings, minimum wage and median full-time earnings (where available) [Sources: ABS, OECD]</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Alternately, we can plot the PhD base rate and minimum wage as proportions of the average full-time income. Also shown is the <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/FP.CPI.TOTL.ZG?locations=AU">consumer price index (CPI)</a> as a standard measure of inflation, to give us some context – especially at this time of soaring living costs. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469176/original/file-20220616-12854-gw6x4q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469176/original/file-20220616-12854-gw6x4q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469176/original/file-20220616-12854-gw6x4q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469176/original/file-20220616-12854-gw6x4q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469176/original/file-20220616-12854-gw6x4q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469176/original/file-20220616-12854-gw6x4q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469176/original/file-20220616-12854-gw6x4q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">On the left hand axis, ratios of the PhD base rate and minimum wage against the average full-time income. On the right hand axis we show consumer price index (CPI) as a measure of inflation context. [Sources: ABS, OECD, World Bank]</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At present, PhD stipends languish far below the minimum wage, even allowing for tax on the minimum wage (take off roughly $4,600 for the new minimum wage). The PhD stipend is at a near historical low when compared to the average full-time annual income. </p>
<p>Clearly, from the historical trends in the above graphs, things weren’t always this bad. The minimum wage and PhD stipend values have been comparable, but now they are well and truly detached.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-it-a-good-time-to-be-getting-a-phd-we-asked-those-whove-done-it-159326">Is it a good time to be getting a PhD? We asked those who've done it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Most PhD candidates have already done four or five years of university studies and have advanced, valuable skill sets. Being asked to live far below minimum wage seems a little unfair. </p>
<p>It’s also worth considering the <a href="https://www.rff.org/publications/explainers/measuring-how-scientific-research-benefits-society-using-economics/">overall benefits and impacts of knowledge generated</a> a PhD student generates. They produce journal articles throughout their PhD project. Being told to survive well below minimum wage, while making <a href="https://theconversation.com/measuring-the-value-of-science-its-not-always-about-the-money-39361">valuable contributions</a> to society and the future of Australia, doesn’t sound like a fair go for those who have a go, as a former prime minister <a href="https://twitter.com/scottmorrisonmp/status/1125332350882029572">once said</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1125332350882029572"}"></div></p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/1-in-5-phd-students-could-drop-out-here-are-some-tips-for-how-to-keep-going-131902">1 in 5 PhD students could drop out. Here are some tips for how to keep going</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>But there is hope</h2>
<p>While these trends and current situations don’t make for happy reading, there is hope, and precedent for change. The above graphs show the Rudd-Gillard Labor governments arrested the free-fall in PhD stipend value around 2009. This happened in response to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2008-04-30/phd-students-living-below-poverty-line/2420670">a proposal</a> by the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations after PhD students fell below the poverty line for the first time. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.informatics-europe.org/data/higher-education/academic-salaries/phds-postdocs.html">Looking abroad to Europe</a>, countries like the UK, Germany and Italy show us it is possible to value the hard work of research students at universities.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469178/original/file-20220616-25-9civbh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469178/original/file-20220616-25-9civbh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469178/original/file-20220616-25-9civbh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469178/original/file-20220616-25-9civbh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469178/original/file-20220616-25-9civbh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469178/original/file-20220616-25-9civbh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469178/original/file-20220616-25-9civbh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Average PhD student salaries against average full-time salary in some European countries. [Source: Informatics Europe]</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-can-get-a-better-return-on-its-investment-in-phd-graduates-69560">Australia can get a better return on its investment in PhD graduates</a>
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</em>
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<hr>
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic allowed us to consider the immediate relevance of cutting-edge science, technology and medical research. As the world waited for an end to lockdowns and uncertainty, PhD students were making vital contributions to help find a way out of our global predicament. Although usually in a supporting capacity, their role required a significantly advanced and niche skill set. </p>
<p>Some of these PhD students across Australia probably could have made a bit more money working fewer hours if they did run off and join the circus instead, but we’re lucky they didn’t.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185138/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nathan Garland has previously received funding from an Australian Postgraduate Award.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shaun Belward works for James Cook University. He received an Australian Postgraduate Research Award to study a PhD in the 1990s and has also benefitted from federally funded learning and teaching grants.</span></em></p>PhD students draw on their specialised and advanced skills to make a vital contribution to Australian research. Putting them on an income that’s below the poverty line doesn’t reflect their value.Nathan Garland, Lecturer in Applied Mathematics and Physics, Griffith UniversityShaun Belward, Associate Dean Learning and Teaching, College of Science & Engineering, James Cook UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1739822022-01-18T01:32:08Z2022-01-18T01:32:08ZPandemic disruption to PhD research is bad for society and the economy – but there are solutions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441184/original/file-20220117-17-124p4cc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4265%2C2839&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every year thousands of students enrol in PhD degrees at universities in New Zealand. The government funds their degrees because the advanced knowledge and innovations they develop <a href="https://mbienz.shinyapps.io/research-science-innovation-report/">benefit our economy and society</a>. </p>
<p>But there is <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/generation-research-workers-atrisk-newzealand">growing concern</a> about the impact of COVID-19 on doctoral students. It’s feared some will abandon their degrees, with real implications for the potential future social and economic benefits of the research.</p>
<p>PhD students are required to do extensive research and document their findings in a thesis. Many do this using specialised equipment available only on university campuses. </p>
<p>Due to the lockdowns in the past two years, however, most were locked out of their labs for several months. Given the ongoing uncertainty, how can we help students whose degrees are being disrupted?</p>
<h2>The funding problem</h2>
<p>The government bases funding on the assumption a PhD takes three years to complete full-time, plus the time for thesis examination, meaning universities are funded for these degrees for four years. </p>
<p>Universities also award top students three-year scholarships to help pay their living expenses while they do their research. Some offer grants to students while they write their thesis and are examined during their fourth year.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-it-a-good-time-to-be-getting-a-phd-we-asked-those-whove-done-it-159326">Is it a good time to be getting a PhD? We asked those who've done it</a>
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<hr>
<p>But while scholarships and funding are time-dependent, progress depends on how much research a student gets done. They need to make enough discoveries to write a 100,000-word thesis. Despite completing annual (or six-monthly) reports on their progress, many find it <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07294360.2013.841649">hard to measure and plan</a> their research. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02602938.2017.1298717?journalCode=caeh20">One study</a> showed students took longer than expected to finish, even before the pandemic: 50% of full-time students took more than four years and one month to complete their degrees.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Otago University building" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441187/original/file-20220117-23-12t5nom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441187/original/file-20220117-23-12t5nom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441187/original/file-20220117-23-12t5nom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441187/original/file-20220117-23-12t5nom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441187/original/file-20220117-23-12t5nom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441187/original/file-20220117-23-12t5nom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441187/original/file-20220117-23-12t5nom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Health scientists at the University of Otago estimated the pandemic affected 95% of their projects.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Stalled research and disrupted study</h2>
<p>We don’t yet know how long PhDs will be extended as students try to recover time lost due to the pandemic. But closing university campuses during the lockdowns stalled many research projects. </p>
<p>Health scientists at the University of Otago, for example, estimated <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03036758.2020.1867202">95% of their projects were affected</a>. Like their <a href="https://www.bera.ac.uk/blog/postgraduate-research-students-experiences-of-the-coronavirus-pandemic">overseas counterparts</a>, even those who could work from home struggled to make progress due to limited access to supervisors and colleagues.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-19-has-changed-university-teaching-here-are-five-things-to-stick-with-in-the-future-152287">COVID-19 has changed university teaching – here are five things to stick with in the future</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Now back in their labs, students are having to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01898-1">adjust their research plans</a>. A study by Te Pūnaha Matatini <a href="https://www.tepunahamatatini.ac.nz/2020/10/31/impact-of-covid-19-pandemic-on-new-zealand-research-students/">highlighted</a> how vulnerable our doctoral students are to the ongoing crisis. Many need funded extensions to complete their research. They also face <a href="https://thespinoff.co.nz/science/04-05-2020/covid-19-isnt-quite-the-boon-for-science-researchers-it-might-seem">shrinking job prospects</a> in academia.</p>
<p>The danger is some will abandon their degrees. Surveys suggest up to 25% of PhD students in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jul/10/almost-half-of-australian-phd-students-considering-disengaging-from-studies-due-to-pandemic">Australia</a> and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02441-y">Canada</a>, for example, may halt their training. </p>
<p>Losing a similar proportion of students in New Zealand will disrupt the research workforce that supports economic growth and social development.</p>
<h2>The power of ‘small wins’</h2>
<p>These are big challenges. A report from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment identified that universities, policymakers, funders and the community will need to work together to <a href="https://www.mbie.govt.nz/dmsdocument/11628-a-resilient-research-science-and-innovation-sector-enabilng-post-pandemic-economic-transformation">protect the future of the research sector</a>. In the meantime, I think two smaller changes could make a difference.</p>
<p>Improving how students measure their progress will increase the rate at which they complete their degrees. It is natural for students to struggle. They are searching for new data and insights in their field – stuff that is hard to find. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10212-016-0290-0">recent survey</a> highlighted that students who feel stuck, and think they have no significant results, are less likely to finish.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/after-2-years-of-covid-how-bad-has-it-really-been-for-university-finances-and-staff-172405">After 2 years of COVID, how bad has it really been for university finances and staff?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Currently, there are two major milestones in most PhD programs. Students are assessed at the end of their first year and must have made enough progress developing their research project to continue their degree. After that, the next milestone for most is submission of their thesis.</p>
<p>Breaking thesis preparation down into manageable chunks during the years in between should help. Researchers following <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03075079.2020.1744125?casa_token=qpcFW4eRNuUAAAAA%3A3deDJ0-R31-D1FtSILx9YHij-S50qvo3BpCeRmpPMRuL9WAKRa1pWkPxC_x5uWb0bOKzqa9dI2mVfA">3,500 European students over 30 years</a> observed a jump in thesis completions when stricter deadlines for submission of thesis chapters were introduced. </p>
<p>Helping students make their progress tangible takes advantage of what we know about the <a href="https://hbr.org/2020/06/to-solve-big-problems-look-for-small-wins">power of small wins</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="lecturer speaking to students" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441188/original/file-20220117-25-1efmn3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441188/original/file-20220117-25-1efmn3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441188/original/file-20220117-25-1efmn3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441188/original/file-20220117-25-1efmn3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441188/original/file-20220117-25-1efmn3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441188/original/file-20220117-25-1efmn3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441188/original/file-20220117-25-1efmn3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">PhD students want academic careers, but a 2020 study showed around 75% of graduates are employed outside universities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Better career advice</h2>
<p>The second change involves upgrading the career advice offered to students. Around the world, PhD students aim for a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03459-7">career in academia</a>. They often rate the alternatives as second best. </p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.royalsociety.org.nz/assets/Research-Workforce-of-Aotearoa-NZ-briefing-paper-and-outcomes-Feb-2021.pdf">analysis of the national research workforce</a> in 2020 by the Royal Society of New Zealand showed around 75% of PhD graduates are employed outside universities. It’s vital, therefore, that students receive high-quality information about alternative careers. </p>
<p>Researchers at ANU have developed <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41307-018-0098-4?wt_mc=Internal.Event.1.SEM.ArticleAuthorOnlineFirst">artificial intelligence tools</a> that can analyse thousands of job advertisements and identify those suitable for PhD graduates. They found 80% of adverts for highly skilled researchers do not target people with PhD qualifications.</p>
<p>Taking advantage of the information provided by tools like this will improve how universities train students for their future careers. A better understanding of the demand for research skills should enhance the contribution PhD graduates make to the New Zealand economy. </p>
<p>And it will mean the next generation of researchers is ready to support the recovery from the pandemic.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173982/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Whitby does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>COVID-19 lockdowns have kept researchers from their labs and libraries and delayed projects. What can be done to reduce the likely impacts?Catherine Whitby, Postgraduate Lead in the School of Natural Sciences and Associate Professor in Chemistry, Massey UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1667112021-09-28T11:55:38Z2021-09-28T11:55:38ZHow better funding can increase the number and diversity of doctoral students<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419333/original/file-20210903-23-14msfgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=34%2C0%2C5716%2C3837&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Financial concerns are a big barrier for students wishing to apply to graduate school. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/training-class-students-learning-at-pc-discussion-royalty-free-image/607900886?adppopup=true">SilviaJansen/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take about interesting academic work.</em></p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>When a doctoral program in education introduced a comprehensive funding package that covered tuition, it led to an increase in the number of applicants. The increase in the share of Black applicants and enrollees was particularly notable. </p>
<p>That’s according to a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584211040485">new study</a> published in <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero">AERA Open</a>, a peer-reviewed, open-access journal of the American Educational Research Association. We did the study with co-authors <a href="https://chrisbennettedu.com/">Chris Bennett</a>, <a href="http://nienhusser.com/">Kenny Nienhusser</a> and <a href="https://education.uconn.edu/person/milagros-castillo-montoya/">Milagros Castillo-Montoya</a>. </p>
<p>The funding, which was offered to doctoral program applicants in the form of a fellowship during two application cycles, included four years of guaranteed free tuition. The applicants were trying to get into the college of education at a large public research university in the Northeast. Tuition at the college was $15,000 for in-state students and $35,000 for out-of-state students. In addition to covering their tuition, the fellowship included a guaranteed stipend of $22,000 to $24,000 for research assistant work as well as travel to conferences and highly subsidized health insurance. </p>
<p>Because of state budget constraints, university funding for this fellowship was available for only two cycles of applicant groups. Still, this enabled us to compare those two groups with those that came before and after. It also allowed us to compare them with applicants to other programs across the university who were not eligible for the fellowship. In the first year of the program, overall applications increased by 28%, from 133 to 170. Moreover, the share of program applicants who were Black grew from 4.5% to 11.2%.</p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>For students who are thinking about applying to a doctoral program, financial concerns can be among the most <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/Do-Graduate-Assistants-Earn-a/248169?cid=wcontentlist">significant</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3103241">barriers</a>. This is particularly the case for Black and Latino families with <a href="https://apps.urban.org/features/wealth-inequality-charts/">less</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.17016/2380-7172.2797">wealth</a>. Black students face far greater levels of <a href="https://ir.library.louisville.edu/jsfa/vol45/iss3/5/">student loan debt</a> on average than white students. Research has also shown that Latino students are generally <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858416683649">more averse to taking out student loans</a> than other groups. </p>
<p>Given the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-081715-074324">relative</a> <a href="https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf19304/digest/field-of-degree-women#mathematics-and-statistics">lack</a> of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2016.1272332">diversity</a> among <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-081715-074324">university faculty</a>, initiatives that attract students from groups that are currently underrepresented in doctoral education carry great benefits for society. This is because doctoral students often go on to positions that advance scientific knowledge and drive debates about culture, politics and more. Research has also shown that researchers from demographically underrepresented groups tend to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1915378117">innovate more</a> in research. </p>
<p>Moreover, some universities are located in states with affirmative action bans. Given the restrictive nature of such bans, it is worth noting that the doctoral fellowship program was race-neutral. That is to say, race and ethnicity did not determine who received the fellowship in this case. However, given the greater impact of the fellowship for Black students in particular, this doctoral fellowship may offer one way for colleges to increase student diversity in their doctoral programs, even in the face of limits imposed by affirmative action bans and other restrictions on initiatives that are more explicitly based on race or ethnicity.</p>
<h2>What still isn’t known</h2>
<p>After two years of the doctoral fellowship program, the college of education discontinued the fellowship for future groups because of financial constraints. </p>
<p>After the fellowship ended, application and enrollment numbers and racial or ethnic diversity returned to numbers similar to those beforehand. For example, the proportion of new enrollees who were Black declined from 22% to 10% in the first year after the fellowship ended. Given <a href="https://doi.org/10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.v13.i1.20">research</a> suggesting that Black and Latino students, in particular, value programs with inclusive and supportive environments when deciding where to apply, one thing to consider is whether doctoral programs might have become even more diverse if the fellowship had stayed in place longer.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166711/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When colleges and universities provide better funding for Ph.D. students, more students – especially students of color – apply.Shaun M. Dougherty, Associate Professor of Public Policy & Education, Vanderbilt UniversityWalter G. Ecton, Visiting Assistant Professor of Education Policy, University of PennsylvaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1593262021-06-01T04:40:58Z2021-06-01T04:40:58ZIs it a good time to be getting a PhD? We asked those who’ve done it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403494/original/file-20210531-15-dfgpy7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/selective-focus-concentrated-asian-young-phd-1145042171">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The number of Australian PhD graduates reached around <a href="https://algorithm.data61.csiro.au/where-are-australias-phd-students/">10,000 a year</a> in 2019, twice as many as in 2005. However, the number of PhDs has been exceeding the available academic positions since as early as the mid-1990s. In 2020, universities <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-universities-face-losing-1-in-10-staff-covid-driven-cuts-create-4-key-risks-147007">purged around 10%</a> of their <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/feb/03/more-than-17000-jobs-lost-at-australian-universities-during-covid-pandemic">workforce</a> due to the pandemic, and many university careers are <a href="https://theconversation.com/2021-is-the-year-australias-international-student-crisis-really-bites-153180">still vulnerable</a>. </p>
<p>Given these statistics, you might wonder if doing a PhD is still a good idea. Based on our discussions with PhD holders, there are still plenty of very good reasons, which is good news in 2021. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/2021-is-the-year-australias-international-student-crisis-really-bites-153180">2021 is the year Australia's international student crisis really bites</a>
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<p>In June 2020 we interviewed 12 PhD holders from multiple disciplines for our podcast <a href="https://www.careersessions.com">Career Sessions</a> to investigate the question: why do a PhD? </p>
<h2>Why do a PhD?</h2>
<p>The PhD is a mechanism for developing high-level research skills, learning about rigours of science or the development of theory. It sets you up with project management, problem-solving and analytical skills that are meaningful within and beyond academia. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“It just taught me all those transferable skills, project management, and also now starting businesses. I’m amazed at how close starting a business is to doing a science project.” – Dr Andy Stapleton</p>
</blockquote>
<p>For our interviewees, the PhD is an opportunity to dive deeply into a topic they are passionate about. They also considered contributing new knowledge to be a privilege. The process taught them to be better thinkers, critical thinkers, and to view the world through new eyes.</p>
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<p>“The mental fitness to work at a high level, to be able to think at a high level, to be able to write it […] The topic is less important.” – Dr Gareth Furber</p>
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<p>The PhD is a voyage of discovery to a better understanding of how things work. It gives them a credible platform from which their voice can be heard and respected, and they can contribute to change. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I think it’s definitely like a springboard or something. It launches you into a whole other place and it gives you […] more of a voice. It’s a political act for me. It’s about making change.” – Dr Elizabeth Newnham</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The PhD is a tough and sometimes painful journey, but ultimately rewarding. The extraordinary was tempered by frustration, and the experience shaped their lives, increasing self-confidence and leading to new self-awareness. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/phd-completion-an-evidence-based-guide-for-students-supervisors-and-universities-99650">PhD completion: an evidence-based guide for students, supervisors and universities</a>
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<p>When asked whether they would they do it again, no-one hesitated in saying “yes”. </p>
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<p>“You will never stretch your brain in a way that a PhD forces you to.” – Professor Kate Douglas.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The PhD is <em>not</em> necessarily a golden ticket to an academic career, but the experience and skills you develop will be meaningful for your future.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“What I’d done in my PhD gave me a lot broader sense than just my own personal experience. There were a lot of people that have heard me speak and a lot of that’s been informed by the PhD. So it might not be direct, but it’s informed who I am.” – Dr Susan Close </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Advice from our guests</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Checklist of honorific" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403490/original/file-20210531-15-1gdut1p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403490/original/file-20210531-15-1gdut1p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=700&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403490/original/file-20210531-15-1gdut1p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=700&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403490/original/file-20210531-15-1gdut1p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=700&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403490/original/file-20210531-15-1gdut1p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=880&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403490/original/file-20210531-15-1gdut1p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=880&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403490/original/file-20210531-15-1gdut1p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=880&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">It takes years of hard work to be able to tick the PhD box, so you have to be sure it’s right for you.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/dr-typography-illustration-phd-woman-1672169338">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Keep both your eyes and your mind open. Pick a topic you are passionate about. Speak to people both within and outside academia to find out where this could lead. Think about whether you actually need a PhD to get to where you want to be. </p>
<p>You’ll have to make some judgement calls about how a PhD can fit into your life. </p>
<p>And find the right supervisor! They are the most important relationship you will have throughout your candidature, and they are a solid reference for what comes next. Finding the right supervisor will always <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03098770701424983">enhance your PhD experience</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ten-types-of-phd-supervisor-relationships-which-is-yours-52967">Ten types of PhD supervisor relationships – which is yours?</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>A PhD isn’t right for everyone. Ask yourself, is it the right time for you and your research interests? Are you resilient? <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03489-1">Mental health among PhD students is poor</a> </p>
<p>Our podcast guests have witnessed PhD students’ struggles. The pathway of a PhD candidate is not linear. There are many ups and downs. You will meander in many unplanned directions and often take wrong turns. </p>
<p>When you have completed your PhD, the hard work is really just starting. It is a gateway, but there are a lot of PhDs out there. It is what comes next that really counts. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“It’s a gateway. You’re learning how to do research. But if you really want to be successful afterwards, you need to apply that, and be diligent about that as well, and have a good work ethic.” – Dr Mark Krstic</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/1-in-5-phd-students-could-drop-out-here-are-some-tips-for-how-to-keep-going-131902">1 in 5 PhD students could drop out. Here are some tips for how to keep going</a>
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<hr>
<p>A PhD in any field is an achievement. Even the most niche topics will contribute knowledge to a field that is important for many people. The reward is intrinsic and only you can identify how doing a PhD will contribute to your life. It gives you a great toolkit to identify the doors that are appropriate for you. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The first paper was the most exciting thing. […] at that time I thought of papers as like a version of immortality. My name is on something that will last forever. I think this is my legacy.” – Dr Cameron Shearer</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403732/original/file-20210601-21-1j9v6u3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Table showing guests of Career Sessions podcast, their PhD thesis titles, and what they are doing now" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403732/original/file-20210601-21-1j9v6u3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403732/original/file-20210601-21-1j9v6u3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403732/original/file-20210601-21-1j9v6u3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403732/original/file-20210601-21-1j9v6u3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403732/original/file-20210601-21-1j9v6u3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=648&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403732/original/file-20210601-21-1j9v6u3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=648&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403732/original/file-20210601-21-1j9v6u3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=648&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Guests of Career Sessions podcast and what they are doing now.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159326/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Career Sessions was sponsored by a grant from Inspiring SA (<a href="https://inspiringsa.org.au/">https://inspiringsa.org.au/</a>). </span></em></p>A PhD isn’t a golden ticket to success, but it is a brilliant opportunity to “flex your academic muscles and learn a lot about yourself”.Tamara Agnew, Researcher, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders UniversityStephanie Champion, Postdoctoral Research Associate, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1447992020-09-15T06:08:54Z2020-09-15T06:08:54ZPhD students need support at the best of the times. How can you help in a pandemic?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357630/original/file-20200911-20-k1bbqo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C6000%2C3979&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The loss of in-person contact with supervisors and peers has added to the challenges graduate students face.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A typical Australian PhD often involves a focused research project at one university, with one to two supervisors, and often far from your home or home country. It can be a quite isolating experience. </p>
<p>PhD students are also at great risk of mental health problems. A pre-COVID study from <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048733317300422">Belgium</a> found one in two PhD students experiences psychological distress. One in three is at risk of psychiatric disorder. </p>
<p>And this year a pandemic has been thrown into the mix.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-19-increases-risk-to-international-students-mental-health-australia-urgently-needs-to-step-up-137596">COVID-19 increases risk to international students' mental health. Australia urgently needs to step up</a>
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<p>The cross-institutional, collaborative nature of the <a href="https://www.arc.gov.au/grants/linkage-program/arc-centres-excellence">Australian Research Council (ARC) Centres of Excellence</a> has allowed a re-imagining of the Australian PhD experience. Here we outline the steps the <a href="https://climateextremes.org.au/about-us/">ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes</a> has taken to support our graduate students during COVID. There’s a checklist later in this article.</p>
<p>The graduate director, a dedicated academic position, leads the program and also acts as an advocate and mentor to our students. At any one time the centre has 100 graduate students, 60% of them international, enrolled in one of five universities across four cities.</p>
<h2>COVID added to existing needs</h2>
<p>The cross-institutional nature of our centre meant our students went into the pandemic already used to videoconference meetings, seminars and training. What was lost, however, was the important and often ad-hoc supportive and collaborative conversations with peers and colleagues. These chats could happen at conferences and workshops, or simply with office mates in the work kitchen. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357628/original/file-20200911-14-12yox89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Weary man leaning against shelf of books" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357628/original/file-20200911-14-12yox89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357628/original/file-20200911-14-12yox89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357628/original/file-20200911-14-12yox89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357628/original/file-20200911-14-12yox89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357628/original/file-20200911-14-12yox89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357628/original/file-20200911-14-12yox89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357628/original/file-20200911-14-12yox89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many PhD students feel the strain of juggling multiple challenges, often a long way from home.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/college-student-who-has-run-out-1209186">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Beyond the challenges of continuing their research under new, even more isolating, conditions, our students also have a range of individual factors to deal with in the current circumstances. These may include: caring responsibilities, challenging work-from-home environments, being far from family, or simply the mental load of undertaking a PhD during a pandemic.</p>
<p>Early on in the centre’s life we set up mental health initiatives to ensure centre-wide support and well-being. These initiatives range from weekly hump-day tips focused on mental well-being through to ensuring we had staff and students at each university trained in <a href="https://mhfa.com.au/">mental health first aid</a>. This sort of support has become increasingly important during the calamity 2020 has become. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/no-one-would-even-know-if-i-had-died-in-my-room-coronavirus-leaves-international-students-in-dire-straits-144128">'No one would even know if I had died in my room': coronavirus leaves international students in dire straits</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Help where you can, or call on others</h2>
<p>Importantly, we recognise as supervisors we cannot resolve all issues. While we can provide an empathetic ear, in many cases students need to be redirected to the mental health support our universities’ counselling services provide.</p>
<p>We realised early on in the pandemic leaders in the centre can only offer support when they themselves are supported. Therefore, members of our centre executive received guidance, and have undertaken training, on managing others in a time of crisis. This was offered via their universities’ employee assistance program.</p>
<p>Our researchers were specifically tasked with checking in on all their students. We asked questions about working-from-home environments to ensure students had the computing and internet resources needed to continue their research. We also made note of any circumstances that might affect progress, such as caring responsibilities. </p>
<p>Any issues the centre could resolve we did. Those we could not resolve we reported in student progress review documents. We ensured students were aware of extra support available such as university counselling services.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/3-ways-the-coronavirus-outbreak-will-affect-international-students-and-how-unis-can-help-131195">3 ways the coronavirus outbreak will affect international students and how unis can help</a>
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</em>
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<h2>Financial hardship increased</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357631/original/file-20200911-18-h0lj48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357631/original/file-20200911-18-h0lj48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357631/original/file-20200911-18-h0lj48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357631/original/file-20200911-18-h0lj48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357631/original/file-20200911-18-h0lj48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357631/original/file-20200911-18-h0lj48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357631/original/file-20200911-18-h0lj48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357631/original/file-20200911-18-h0lj48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Three-quarters of PhD students surveyed expected the pandemic to cause them financial hardship.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-student-worried-over-unpaid-bills-257244583">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A <a href="https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-36330/v2">recent study</a> of Australian PhD students showed 75% expected to experience financial hardship as a result of the pandemic, and we have seen that. Students close to completion were hit hardest. They were faced with the end of their scholarships at a time of employment uncertainty, often with no access to government support, and closed borders that prevented them returning home. </p>
<p>The centre quickly offered scholarships to provide bridging funds after thesis submission. These scholarships were offered once individual university support was exhausted and required a tangible outcome at the end, such as writing up a thesis chapter for submission to a journal.</p>
<h2>Working to stay connected</h2>
<p>At the same time as we dealt with the practical realities of student finances and research, we made every effort to keep everyone socially connected. </p>
<p>Our annual winter school, a cornerstone event of the graduate program, shifted online. To avoid Zoom fatigue we replaced the week-long face-to-face schedule with a winter school offered in two-hour slots. Sessions were recorded and breakout rooms used to focus student engagement with each other. When we saw how delighted students were to see each other in small groups and catch up, it was a sign for us to step out and let them engage with their peers.</p>
<p>We introduced additional Slack channels, held virtual morning and afternoon teas and put together a weekly centre-wide lunch for all early career researchers. The numbers in these virtual meet-ups declined as students settled into new routines. In contrast, our research meeting and seminar attendances went through the roof. We found if an event has a purpose people attend, even while social check-ups became less successful.</p>
<p>Finally, we continued to celebrate successes and PhD submissions in a long-running weekly email update. In these updates, we made it clear we understood the impacts of these uncertain times on students’ progress.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357632/original/file-20200911-22-fbgj2t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Checklist of ways to support grad students" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357632/original/file-20200911-22-fbgj2t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357632/original/file-20200911-22-fbgj2t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=849&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357632/original/file-20200911-22-fbgj2t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=849&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357632/original/file-20200911-22-fbgj2t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=849&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357632/original/file-20200911-22-fbgj2t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1067&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357632/original/file-20200911-22-fbgj2t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1067&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357632/original/file-20200911-22-fbgj2t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1067&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While not everything worked perfectly, our centre-wide relationship with students put us in an excellent position to respond quickly, transparently and with student input as the pandemic unfolded.</p>
<p>We do not know how long this pandemic will last. What we do know is all current and any incoming PhD candidates will feel the impacts in some way. With PhD students producing <a href="https://go8.edu.au/files/docs/the-changing-phd_final.pdf">more than half</a> of university research in Australia, this crisis illustrates the importance of ongoing development and support of higher-degree research students.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144799/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Melissa Hart does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Life for graduate students can be hard work and often isolating, and COVID-19 piled on the pressures. That’s when having an academic leader and program dedicated to supporting them proved its worth.Melissa Hart, Graduate Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1409882020-08-16T12:12:30Z2020-08-16T12:12:30ZPhD students can benefit from non-academic mentors’ outside perspectives<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352269/original/file-20200811-24-141ydpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C211%2C5215%2C3265&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Non-academic mentors, especially those familiar with the culture of academia, can offer empathy, validation and healthy perspectives.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Brooke Cagle/Unsplash)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A mentor is a professional who acclimates a protégé into a profession. In the <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Geography-of-Genius/Eric-Weiner/9781451691672">Bottegas of Renaissance Florence</a>, upstart Leonardo Da Vinci pulverized Tuscan stone and collected eggs <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/tempera-painting">to make tempera</a> for mentor <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Andrea-del-Verrocchio">Andrea del Verrocchio</a>, who might allow Da Vinci to assist Michelangelo with his paintings.</p>
<p>Although this model was adopted by the research laboratories of the Enlightenment through to postmodernism, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-03535-y">it is now faltering</a>. </p>
<p>With less than <a href="https://www.conferenceboard.ca/edu/research/valuing-preparing-phds-for-careers">20 per cent of PhD students</a> being able to transition into academia, the PhD is no longer a foremost career entree into the professoriate. Most PhD students no longer work alongside people whose career paths they will follow. In light of this, universities must do more to support non-academic mentorships for PhD students. </p>
<h2>Career confidence</h2>
<p>Some of my research focuses on the value of students <a href="https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/pplt/article/view/68677">procuring non-academic mentors through informational interviews</a>. By embedding informational interviewing into curriculum, I have studied how students can learn to explore non-academic careers, connect with working professionals, seek advice and cultivate professional, mentor-protégé relationships. Through this process, students learn the tacit knowledge they often are missing, showing substantial improvements in their career confidence and well-being. </p>
<p>Because linear career progression is ending, forcing people to change jobs frequently, students should be taught skills to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0894845317727616">adapt to uncertain labour markets</a>. Hence, it is important to teach students how to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1080569910376533">investigate, reflect on and test potential careers</a>. </p>
<p>The concept of a “future professional self” helps expand a student’s aspirations. Career reflection fosters innovative thinking about prospects, helping to build strategies and expectations that make ambitions real. Once students know what they want to do, they are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026423">more inspired to work towards reaching their goals</a>. </p>
<p>My daughter, Kate, also recently shared with me her experience as a non-academic mentor in Dalhousie University’s clinical psychology PhD program. She has also shaped my perspectives on how non-academic mentors offer PhD students the opportunity to develop meaningful perspectives and connections. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two women sit in an office with laptops having a discussion." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352264/original/file-20200811-24-offub0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352264/original/file-20200811-24-offub0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352264/original/file-20200811-24-offub0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352264/original/file-20200811-24-offub0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352264/original/file-20200811-24-offub0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352264/original/file-20200811-24-offub0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352264/original/file-20200811-24-offub0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Career reflection fosters innovative thinking about prospects, helping to build strategies and expectations that make ambitions real.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Christina Wocintechchat/Unsplash)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Competitive ethic</h2>
<p>PhD students who perceive a narrowing scope of opportunities as they advance may become disillusioned with their thesis work, thus limiting their productivity and <a href="https://cags.ca/documents/publications/working/completion_grad_studies_2004.pdf">increasing their completion time</a>. </p>
<p>PhD students are among the highest-achieving individuals in our society, which can be both a blessing and a curse. A focus on achievement is generally a necessary academic quality, as culture establishes researchers (and trainees by default) as “entrepreneurs” <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1404094111">responsible for their own survival</a>. A survival-of-the-fittest mentality has arisen in academia with the tremendous <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/14/upshot/so-many-research-scientists-so-few-openings-as-professors.html">surplus of talent in the professor pool</a>. </p>
<p>While competition helps to drive the university research agenda forward, we have found when we talk with current and recent PhD students and professors that this competition undermines the well-being of graduate students and faculty alike. </p>
<p>For many, the PhD becomes a bad deal because they do not see (and are not shown) <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/ph-d-attrition-how-much-is-too-much/">a way out of a horrible situation</a> — or they fear <a href="https://community.chronicle.com/news/417-adjuncts-and-the-sunk-cost-fallacy">the sunk cost</a>. PhD students often struggle to know how to navigate these situations, as the philosophy that guides their approach is often “work harder, and you will succeed.”</p>
<h2>Strain on professor-protégé relationship</h2>
<p>Yet, since the bare facts of the job market mean that even if PhD students demonstrate an outstanding work ethic, many will have to leave academia in search of other careers. This places tremendous stress upon the mentor-protégé relationship between PhD students and professors. </p>
<p>Because our universities have not systematically embedded entrepreneurship and career planning into doctoral studies, it’s not surprising if most professors believe they cannot acclimate their trainees into a profession outside of academia, like industry or government. Worse yet, some professors <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2020/02/26/should-professors-be-responsible-their-students-workplace">believe it’s not their responsibility</a>.</p>
<p>A professor’s very survival may be dependent on the productivity of their PhD students. Many professors buffer their own careers by securing students’ research help with their own publications, while de-emphasizing pursuits that can better prepare students for their own futures such as entrepreneurship, teaching, outreach or internships.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A young man and an older man chat in front of a bookcase with a laptop." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352279/original/file-20200811-20-axo2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352279/original/file-20200811-20-axo2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352279/original/file-20200811-20-axo2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352279/original/file-20200811-20-axo2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352279/original/file-20200811-20-axo2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352279/original/file-20200811-20-axo2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352279/original/file-20200811-20-axo2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Working harder is not the answer to securing future employment for PhD students.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Perfect storm for frustration, health issues</h2>
<p>The above factors generate a perfect storm for the development and/or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.4089">exacerbation of mental health problems among graduate students</a>. Students with a propensity for achievement find themselves in a culture that narrowly defines success, a career landscape that makes it nearly impossible to achieve this success and a profound lack of support given the challenges of navigating new opportunities after graduate school. </p>
<p>Combined with concerns of not knowing how to transition to the non-academic workforce, supervisor criticism and/or neglect may contribute to “locus of control” problems wherein students <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/moments-matter/201708/locus-control">do not feel they have control over the events that influence their lives</a>. Research shows that such perceptions of loss of control in students can contribute to the <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01430">onset of mental health issues</a>.</p>
<p>The primary consequence of this mentorship approach is that it undermines students’ self-confidence, leaving many to question their self worth, as though the inability to secure work as a professor is a personal failure. Non-academic mentors may be a means of mitigating the effects of this problem.</p>
<h2>Empathy, healthy perspectives</h2>
<p>In addition to providing mentorship around envisioning and navigating the transition, non-academic mentors are uniquely positioned to offset the potentially damaging effects of academic mentorship on students’ self-confidence. This may be especially true of non-academic mentors who themselves completed a PhD and transitioned into successful careers beyond academia.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/humanities-phd-grads-working-in-non-academic-jobs-could-shake-up-university-culture-127298">Humanities PhD grads working in non-academic jobs could shake up university culture</a>
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<p>Non-academic mentors, especially those familiar with university culture, can provide empathy, validation and healthy perspectives. Such experiences can protect students by showing them that self-worth is not contingent on achievement, self-care is not a sign of laziness and new experiences add value to one’s life. </p>
<p>They can also offer alternative points of view: that success is broadly defined, academic expectations are unrealistic and failure is necessary for development. These can act as a balm for times when students’ confidence or self-worth is otherwise challenged or bruised by academia. </p>
<p><em>Kate Rancourt co-authored this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140988/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Derrick Rancourt receives funding from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the Natural Sciences & Engineering Council and the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p>The realities of the job market mean most PhD students no longer work alongside people whose professional paths they will follow. Universities must do more to support non-academic mentorships.Derrick Rancourt, Professor, Cumming School of Medicine, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1319022020-07-14T20:01:20Z2020-07-14T20:01:20Z1 in 5 PhD students could drop out. Here are some tips for how to keep going<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347236/original/file-20200714-50-1bjste2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/selective-focus-concentrated-asian-young-phd-1145042171">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Doctoral students <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nbt.4089">show high levels of stress</a> in comparison to other students, and ongoing uncertainty in terms of graduate career outcomes can make matters worse.</p>
<p>Before the pandemic, <a href="https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-36330/v2">one in five research students</a> were expected to disengage from their PhD. Disengagement includes taking extended leave, suspending their studies or dropping out entirely.</p>
<p>COVID-19 has made those statistics far worse. In a <a href="https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-36330/v2">recent study</a>, 45% of PhD students surveyed reported they expected to be disengaged from their research within six months, due to the financial effects of the pandemic. </p>
<p>Many <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/07/why-do-so-many-graduate-students-quit/490094/f">factors influence</a> whether a student completes their doctorate. They include supervision support (intellectual and pastoral), peer support (colleagues, friends and family), financial stability and good mental health.</p>
<p>In our recently published book <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030181987">The Doctoral Experience
Student Stories from the Creative Arts and Humanities</a> – which we edited with contributions from PhD students – students outlined their experiences of doing a doctorate and shared some useful strategies for how to keep going, and ultimately succeed, in the doctoral journey. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347242/original/file-20200714-58-1c9d0c1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347242/original/file-20200714-58-1c9d0c1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347242/original/file-20200714-58-1c9d0c1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347242/original/file-20200714-58-1c9d0c1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347242/original/file-20200714-58-1c9d0c1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347242/original/file-20200714-58-1c9d0c1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1069&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347242/original/file-20200714-58-1c9d0c1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1069&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347242/original/file-20200714-58-1c9d0c1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1069&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Palgrave Macmillan</span></span>
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<h2>A deeply personal journey</h2>
<p>Completing a doctorate involves much more than generating knowledge in a specific discipline. It is a profoundly transformational process evolving over a period of at least four years — and often longer. </p>
<p>This entails <a href="https://nitro.edu.au/articles/2019/10/4/research-learning-complexity-and-autonomy-in-the-creative-doctorate">personal questioning</a>, development in many areas of life, and often a quite significant personal and intellectual reorientation. The PhD brings with it high expectations, which in turn creates high emotional stakes that can both inspire and derail students. This is coupled with coming to see and think about the world very differently — which for some can be a daunting prospect, as all previously held assumptions are thrown into disarray.</p>
<p>Such a profoundly existential process can itself engender anxiety, depression and trauma if students are not equipped with the self-care strategies that enable resilience. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/phd-completion-an-evidence-based-guide-for-students-supervisors-and-universities-99650">PhD completion: an evidence-based guide for students, supervisors and universities</a>
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<p>Every chapter in our book, written by a different student, emphasises the need to engage in deep thinking and planning regarding their personal goals, strengths and weaknesses, and ways of working before starting the PhD. </p>
<p>This is important preparatory work to ensure any challenges that arise are surmountable.</p>
<p>In her chapter, Making Time (and Space) for the Journey, AK Milroy writes she learnt to </p>
<blockquote>
<p>[…] analyse and break down the complicated doctoral journey into a manageable, achievable process with clear tasks and an imaginable destination. </p>
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<p>She writes this includes involving family and friends in the process because </p>
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<p>[…] it is paramount to ensure these people understand the work that lies ahead, and also that they too are being respected by being included in the planning.</p>
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<p>Relationships were, above all, a critical component of the experience for many of the student writers. The supervisory relationship is the most obvious one, which Margaret Cook describes as the student undertaking a form of academic apprenticeship. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ten-types-of-phd-supervisor-relationships-which-is-yours-52967">Ten types of PhD supervisor relationships – which is yours?</a>
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<p>The student authors also identify strategies for the “thinking” part of the research process once enrolled. These include acknowledging that the free and creative element of mind-wandering and downtime are as legitimate as the focused, task-oriented work of project management, such as preparing checklists and calendars. </p>
<p>AK Milroy calls these “strategic side-steps”. </p>
<p>Peter Mackenzie, who researched regional jazz musicians, went a step further to connect with his participants.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I felt like an outsider but once I started to play with the guys on the bandstand that night at the Casino, I sensed a different level of appreciation from them. After playing and taking on some improvisations, I could feel the group relax. I was no longer an outside musician. Even better, I wasn’t seen as an academic. I was one of them.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Struggling with self doubt</h2>
<p>The task of writing, of course, cannot be ignored in the long doctoral journey. </p>
<p>Drafting and redrafting, jettisoning ideas and arguments along the way, is acknowledged as a core component of the doctoral learning process itself, and the many attempts are not proof of failure. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347243/original/file-20200714-34-1v8hl2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347243/original/file-20200714-34-1v8hl2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347243/original/file-20200714-34-1v8hl2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347243/original/file-20200714-34-1v8hl2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347243/original/file-20200714-34-1v8hl2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347243/original/file-20200714-34-1v8hl2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347243/original/file-20200714-34-1v8hl2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347243/original/file-20200714-34-1v8hl2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">It’s important to employ healthy strategies, like exercise, during your doctoral journey.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/dog-walker-strides-his-pet-on-1399290365">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Gail Pittaway writes about extending networks beyond one’s supervisors and university to collaborate with those in the discipline nationally and internationally. </p>
<p>This can be productive and lead to co-written articles and editing special issues of journals, which can positively influence the PhD thesis.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[…] by developing confidence in sharing ideas, seeking peer review feedback and editorial advice from a wider range of readers as some of these sections are submitted for publication, the writing of the thesis is encouraged and energised.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Many of the student authors acknowledge questioning, self-doubt and fear of the unknown are central to creating and performing research. While this might be frightening, they say it should be embraced as this is where innovation and novelty can arise. </p>
<p>Charmaine O'Brien writes about how transformative learning is dependent on this period of complexity and not-knowing. While “failure to make experience conform to what we already know is threatening because it destabilises a sense of how we know the world, and ourselves in it, resulting in psychological ‘dis-ease’”, staying with it – and having supportive supervisors – ensures the student becomes a doctoral-level thinker. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/mindfulness-can-help-phd-students-shift-from-surviving-to-thriving-106608">Mindfulness can help PhD students shift from surviving to thriving</a>
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<p>Lisa Brummel writes of extending requirements of occupational health and safety into her own life. This takes forms such as family, friends and exercise, assisting with work-life balance and good mental health. </p>
<p>After all, two of the most significant resources PhD students possess to do the work required are their physical and mental capacity.</p>
<p>Finally, students must love their topic. Without an innate fascination for the field in which they are researching, this often tumultuous intellectual, emotional and personal journey may derail.</p>
<p>In the four-plus years spent doing a doctoral degree, any range of major life events can occur. Births, deaths, marriages, separations and divorces, illnesses and recovery, are all possible. Being willing to seek help and knowing who to ask can be the difference between completing and collapsing. </p>
<p>There is no pleasure without pain in the doctoral journey, but with the right frame of mind and supportive supervisors, the joys certainly outweigh the suffering.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/131902/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alison Owens works for the Australian Catholic University.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Craig Batty, Donna Lee Brien, and Elizabeth Ellison do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There is no pleasure without pain in the doctoral journey, but with the right frame of mind and supportive supervisors, the joys certainly outweigh the suffering.Craig Batty, Professor of Creative Writing, University of Technology SydneyAlison Owens, Senior Lecturer, Learning and Teaching Centre, Australian Catholic UniversityDonna Lee Brien, Professor, Creative Industries, CQUniversity AustraliaElizabeth Ellison, Senior Lecturer, Creative Industries, CQUniversity AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1272982020-01-07T17:11:58Z2020-01-07T17:11:58ZHumanities PhD grads working in non-academic jobs could shake up university culture<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306411/original/file-20191211-95135-152iozh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C107%2C7928%2C4309&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Canadian universities need to reform the culture of the humanities so that careers outside the university are seen as just as valuable as tenure-track jobs.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Annie Spratt/Unsplash)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>PhD graduates in the humanities need to cultivate more varied career paths. Canadian universities need to reform the culture of the humanities so that careers outside the university are seen to be just as valuable as permanent, tenure-track professorships. Changes like these will be good for the graduates, the universities and for Canadian society itself. </p>
<p>For the past five years, I’ve directed a series of PhD grad tracking projects called <a href="http://tracemcgill.com/">TRaCE (Track, Report, Connect, Exchange)</a>. The <a href="http://tracephd.com/">TRaCE pilot project (2015-16) and TRaCE 2.0 (2017-19)</a> recruited graduate student researchers from across Canada. We followed up on more than 4,000 PhD grads, mostly from the humanities, by finding them and their present jobs online. We produced statistical reports on where the grads were finding employment.</p>
<p>And we did something that, to our knowledge, other tracking projects don’t do. We reached out to the grads, interviewed 450 of them and posted their stories on the TRaCE website. One thing, however, aroused our concerns: we found it was mostly those in tenure-track jobs who wanted to talk to us. Why was it mostly these young professors who were keen to tell their stories?</p>
<h2>Don’t want to leave</h2>
<p>TRaCE 2.0 showed <a href="http://tracemcgill.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/TRaCE-2.0-quant-report-june-20-2019.pdf">that 66 per cent of the 1,500 grads (about 990 grads) we tracked are employed in higher education</a>. That would be OK, except that most PhD grads who choose to stay have been transformed into something like indentured servants in <a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/july-2019/the-phd-employment-crisis-is-systemic/">precarious jobs</a>. Approximately 450 grads are in tenure-track positions, and 540 grads — or more than one-third of the total grads we tracked — are mostly in adjunct teaching positions. </p>
<p>The large number of PhD grads willing to work as adjunct teachers means that universities can run their undergraduate programs with huge cost savings. In the U.S., <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/04/adjunct-professors-higher-education-thea-hunter/586168/">70 per cent or more of teaching faculty are adjuncts.</a></p>
<p>In Canada, <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/contractually-bound/contractually-bound-welcome-to-a-new-space-for-adjunct-faculty/">about 50 per cent of university teachers are adjunct instructors</a>. These instructors are paid a stipend of $4,000 to $7,000 per one-term course, without benefits. They aren’t permanent employees. Some of them need to teach at more than one institution to get by. And most of them, <a href="http://tracephd.com/trace-qualitative-summary-insight-from-our-interviews/">as we know from our research, don’t want to leave the university</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306634/original/file-20191212-85412-1uwkz36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306634/original/file-20191212-85412-1uwkz36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306634/original/file-20191212-85412-1uwkz36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306634/original/file-20191212-85412-1uwkz36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306634/original/file-20191212-85412-1uwkz36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306634/original/file-20191212-85412-1uwkz36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306634/original/file-20191212-85412-1uwkz36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Humanities grads non in tenure-track careers were mostly unwilling to share their stories.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Non-academic employment</h2>
<p>According to a Conference Board of Canada report, “<a href="https://www.conferenceboard.ca/temp/8a9e77c1-b59b-4403-aa0a-3d306ffe2fa7/7564_Inside%20and%20Outside%20the%20Academy_RPT.pdf">the often isolated nature of PhD studies and the stigma that some students feel in pursuing a non-academic career can make networking especially difficult</a>.” The report says PhD students may also be unsure of where to look for non-academic jobs and unsure about the most effective methods of pursuing those jobs.</p>
<p>Nichole Austin, the TRaCE pilot project quantitative analyst, determined that of the approximately 2,800 tracked grads, <a href="http://tracephd.com/trace-quantitative-summary-what-did-we-learn-and-where-do-we-go-from-here/">about 26 per cent (728 people) were in non-academic sectors</a>, with 167 of these being self-employed and the others having jobs in a range of non-academic sectors.</p>
<p>Are young researchers graduating from humanities PhD programs moving forward into rewarding careers outside the academy? Couldn’t PhD graduates bring their research and communication skills, as well as their historical knowledge and big-picture thinking, to many sectors of work in Canada and beyond? If not, what is preventing the realization of this happy and just state of affairs? </p>
<p>One reason could be that many employers in the non-academic world <a href="https://www.conferenceboard.ca/temp/8a9e77c1-b59b-4403-aa0a-3d306ffe2fa7/7564_Inside%20and%20Outside%20the%20Academy_RPT.pdf">do not think that PhDs are the kind of people they want to hire.</a> Managers should certainly become more open-minded about the value of hiring humanities PhDs. But the one thing the managers need in order to begin to open their minds about the skillfulness, industry and initiative of humanities PhD grads is the opportunity to connect with more of them. </p>
<p>Beyond this reason, we don’t really know: We found that <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/opinion/in-my-opinion/tracking-humanities-phd-outcomes-trace-project/">the humanities grads not in tenure-track careers were mostly unwilling to share their stories.</a> </p>
<p>Given that a principal goal of TRaCE has been to banish the word “failure” as a descriptor of anyone who has successfully completed a PhD, we found it ironic that PhD grads with tenure-track jobs were happy to share their stories with us, but few other grads were willing to do so. </p>
<p>Could it be that they, those without tenure-track positions, felt like failures? I hope that is not the case, but if it is, the academy is partly to blame. The academy has to change in order to both expand the career mobility of humanities PhD grads and to enhance their sense of self-worth. No one who has completed a PhD is a failure. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306409/original/file-20191211-95138-qptvei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=38%2C302%2C4982%2C3569&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306409/original/file-20191211-95138-qptvei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306409/original/file-20191211-95138-qptvei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306409/original/file-20191211-95138-qptvei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306409/original/file-20191211-95138-qptvei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306409/original/file-20191211-95138-qptvei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306409/original/file-20191211-95138-qptvei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">PhD grads working outside the academy could mentor PhD students.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(unsplash/Mimi Thian)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Ideas for bridging</h2>
<p>Why not invite back <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/four-phd-grads-in-the-humanities-tell-their-stories/">numbers of PhD grads, those who are cultivating non-academic careers,</a> to take part in mentoring PhD students? Depending on the discipline, could they be invited to act as guest lecturers or co-teach parts of the introductory courses all new doctoral students have to take? </p>
<p>Bringing them into the conversation may broaden the career horizons for the in-program PhD students. PhD students might develop a understanding of how a PhD can lead to multiple career pathways rather than to only one. They would begin to learn how their knowledge and skills might flourish outside as well as inside the university. The grads from outside the academy could provide career networking and perhaps even work opportunities for new graduates. </p>
<p>Grads from non-academic sectors of work willing to lead workshops with faculty members could also begin to educate faculty about the potential mobility of humanities research and researchers. </p>
<p>The presence of grads from the non-academic world might remind those inside the academy that, for more than two millennia in the west, it was the humanities that served to prepare people for work in the public sphere. </p>
<p>Finally, inviting back the PhD grads from outside the university would help to reorient the academic humanities toward a far more varied and active engagement with the world beyond the gates. </p>
<p>[ <em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127298/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Yachnin has received funding from SSHRC.</span></em></p>With the support of universities, PhD graduates working beyond the academy could bring their knowhow into PhD seminars or classrooms to help current students expand their career horizons.Paul Yachnin, Tomlinson Professor of Shakespeare Studies, McGill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1155062019-10-14T10:54:53Z2019-10-14T10:54:53ZMatthew Hedges: my UAE spy arrest shows universities must do more to protect academics working in the field<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279838/original/file-20190617-118522-1qdom3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Matthew Hedges with his wife Daniela Tejada.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This article is part of a series on <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/academic-freedom-series-76963">academic freedom</a> where leading academics from around the world write on the state of free speech and inquiry in their region.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Last year I was <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-46288510">imprisoned</a> for nearly seven months in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). I was held predominantly in solitary confinement, endured heavy interrogations, with my human rights violated on a daily basis. </p>
<p>During my imprisonment I was force fed drugs, battled depression and thoughts of self-harm. Later, having endured nearly half a year of isolation and mistreatment, I wrestled with thoughts of suicide. </p>
<p>Eventually, in a trial lacking all due process and disregard for international legal standards, I was handed a life sentence. My crime? Undertaking academic research for my doctoral thesis. </p>
<p>My research examines the evolving national security strategy of the UAE, and my knowledge has evolved from years of professional work and research in the UAE and the wider Middle East and North Africa. </p>
<p>I had no reservations about conducting research in the UAE. And I underwent a rigorous ethical and fieldwork assessment and was sure to follow established protocols before and during my trip.</p>
<p>I complied with the university’s requirement to remove all Emirati research subjects as it was assessed that these nationals would not be safe nor trusted when engaging in security-related academic research. And I was happy to go along with the university and the third-party risk firm employed to assess any other risks for researchers travelling overseas. But unfortunately, as my experience proved, this was simply not enough to protect me or my integrity as an academic. </p>
<h2>A vulnerable position</h2>
<p>It became clear there was a lack of understanding by the Emirati authorities about what a legitimate academic is, and about how research is carried out. Standard actions needed to complete field research – such as interviewing sources, researching books, articles and maps along with taking notes – were very quickly taken out of context and distorted by the UAE security authorities. I routinely battled to explain how information cited in my thesis was referenced from publicly available academic books and not from “secret intelligence sources” as the interrogators would often claim. </p>
<p>Following my release, I have had the opportunity to reflect upon my experience. I have also been lucky to travel to academic institutions in the UK and US to discuss the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/mideast/jailed-spy-freed-british-grad-student-warns-uae-repression-n960066">ramifications of my experience</a> upon academic research. </p>
<p>When discussing how academic fieldwork actually works, my main observation has been that beyond the academic community, there is a very limited understanding of what academic research actually consists of. As such, there is little understanding of the risks it entails. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277882/original/file-20190604-69075-rp8yko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277882/original/file-20190604-69075-rp8yko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277882/original/file-20190604-69075-rp8yko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277882/original/file-20190604-69075-rp8yko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277882/original/file-20190604-69075-rp8yko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277882/original/file-20190604-69075-rp8yko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277882/original/file-20190604-69075-rp8yko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ilham Tohti, a Uyghur economist, is serving a life sentence in China. He is held on separatism-related charges after his criticism of the Chinese government’s policies toward Uyghurs in Xinjiang.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://pen-international.org/news/china-free-ilham-tohti">PEN International</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This leaves academics engaging in fieldwork research in a particularly vulnerable position. It can even lead to a situation, like in my case, where their integrity and legitimacy as an academic is under question. </p>
<p>Indeed, I believe that this lack of information on academic practice exacerbated my situation. Trying to speak reason to the authorities holding me captive, and to those with the power to intervene diplomatically and politically on my behalf, went nowhere. And baseless accusations cast a shadow of doubt upon the legitimacy of my work. </p>
<h2>Safety and security</h2>
<p>For researchers and academics at all levels, the problem of misinformation has consequences extending to the very institutions to which they are affiliated. My experience demonstrates how bureaucracy-led universities are not equipping their students and staff with the appropriate skills and competencies needed to undertake their job in today’s world. Ultimately, effective instructions for fieldwork safety and security are lacking. Furthermore, as the technical capabilities of many states improve, there is an increased risk of deployed researchers <a href="https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-spying-raven/">falling victim</a> to surveillance and unjust prosecution. </p>
<p>Another issue widely under-reported is that while researchers may be somewhat supported by their university, their human subjects are not. This leaves many academics, including myself, questioning whether it’s even possible or ethical to engage in fieldwork in the current age. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277887/original/file-20190604-69095-1k220y9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277887/original/file-20190604-69095-1k220y9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277887/original/file-20190604-69095-1k220y9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277887/original/file-20190604-69095-1k220y9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277887/original/file-20190604-69095-1k220y9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277887/original/file-20190604-69095-1k220y9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277887/original/file-20190604-69095-1k220y9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Niloufar Bayani, a researcher, conservationist, and scholar, was arrested in January 2018 on charges of espionage in Iran. She recently reported being subjected to torture.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Twitter/@Omid_M</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Having heard testimony from academics with diverse research backgrounds, it is abundantly clear that my experience was not isolated. <a href="https://www.scholarsatrisk.org/2018/10/free-to-think-2018-new-report-documents-global-crisis-of-attacks-on-higher-education/">Hundreds of scholars</a> around the world are targeted and prosecuted for their research. Yet, while their cases are of great concern within the academic community, they continue to rest dormant in the public eye, the political arena and higher education boards. </p>
<p>If academics and universities are to continue to contribute to the generation of knowledge, then research practice and its risks must be acknowledged and respected. The freedom to research is paramount for knowledge creation. And if it is not protected, we risk being accomplices to those who wish to silence us. </p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Read more from our series on <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/academic-freedom-series-76963">Academic Freedom</a>.</strong></em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115506/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Hedges does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As I found, academics engaging in fieldwork research are in a particularly vulnerable position.Matthew Hedges, Doctoral Research Candidate in the School of Government and International Affairs, Durham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1233282019-10-09T22:35:45Z2019-10-09T22:35:45ZPhD students should prepare for careers beyond becoming professors<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295902/original/file-20191007-121092-1s6jvje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=581%2C0%2C4161%2C3063&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The burden should not rest solely on graduate students to map out their careers beyond academia. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pexels)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every year, a new wave of students begin PhD programs in Canada, often aiming for a future academic career. Yet despite hopeful beginnings, large numbers don’t achieve this goal. <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/opinion/margin-notes/phd-completion-rates-and-times-to-completion-in-canada/">Many PhD students do not complete their programs</a>, often dropping out after investing years of time. </p>
<p>Those who do finish face a highly competitive academic employment market, as the number of annual PhD graduates exceeds the number of available academic openings in all but a few specialized areas of study. </p>
<p>Universities are increasingly aware of this imbalance. But their responses are slow and uneven. <a href="http://journals.sfu.ca/cjhe/index.php/cjhe/article/view/188226">Our research helps to explain why</a>, and we argue that PhD students must take their own initiative to prepare for diverse career outcomes.</p>
<h2>One-fifth in academic positions</h2>
<p>A 2015 Conference Board of Canada study <a href="https://www.conferenceboard.ca/e-library/abstract.aspx?did=7564">found that only about one-fifth of Canada’s PhDs end up in academic positions</a>. Another study found that <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/more-phds-finding-jobs-as-tenure-track-professors-study-says/article28367087/">only one-third of recent Ontario PhDs found academic jobs anywhere in the world</a>. </p>
<p>While some PhDs quickly find satisfying work in other fields, many graduates end up in precarious limited-term or part-time teaching positions, <a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/july-2019/the-phd-employment-crisis-is-systemic/">increasingly disillusioned by the diminishing hopes of landing the full-time academic job they so desire</a>.</p>
<p>This cycle continues year after year with new cohorts. Somewhat perversely, universities and colleges have also become increasingly reliant on this part-time, flexible workforce <a href="https://www.policyalternatives.ca/newsroom/news-releases/contract-jobs-now-account-majority-university-faculty-appointments-canada">to deliver more and more of their teaching</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295913/original/file-20191007-121060-oorbxo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295913/original/file-20191007-121060-oorbxo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295913/original/file-20191007-121060-oorbxo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295913/original/file-20191007-121060-oorbxo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295913/original/file-20191007-121060-oorbxo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295913/original/file-20191007-121060-oorbxo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295913/original/file-20191007-121060-oorbxo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The picket line at York University in 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Youngjin/Wikipedia)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This imbalance between the number of PhDs and available full time positions has become disruptive. <a href="https://www.macleans.ca/education/how-the-longest-canadian-university-strike-in-history-changed-life-at-york/">In 2018, part-time instructors paralyzed York University</a> in a strike over demands for more full-time faculty positions. <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ontario-college-strike-what-you-need-to-know/article36598186/">The 2017 Ontario college strike was driven by similar issues</a>.</p>
<h2>PhD competencies still valuable</h2>
<p>Yet <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/opinion/in-my-opinion/canada-needs-more-phds/">Canada still needs PhDs</a> — just not exclusively for academic jobs. The deep skills and competencies <a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/august-2019/end-the-phd-bashing-to-end-the-phd-problem/">developed in doctoral programs are of value in today’s complex workforce</a>. </p>
<p>The challenge is shifting PhD students and programs away from a narrow focus on academic careers. Further, many PhDs need assistance to match the skills that they’re developing to non-academic career paths.</p>
<p>Universities and academic bodies are responding to this challenge in several ways. The Canadian Association of Graduate Studies (CAGS) has called for a <a href="https://cags.ca/rethinkingphd-dissertation/">rethinking of how PhD programs are designed</a>. <a href="http://www.ca.cags.ca/gdps/index.php">Professional development programming</a> for PhD students has also increased, helping them <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-universities-can-really-help-phd-grads-get-jobs-118241">build their job skills</a> and career aspirations beyond academia. </p>
<p>Some universities are also investing resources to follow where their PhD students end up. The <a href="https://www.sgs.utoronto.ca/about/10000-phds-project-overview/10kphds-dashboard/">University of Toronto</a> and the <a href="http://outcomes.grad.ubc.ca/">University of British Columbia</a> tracked the career outcomes of their recent PhD graduates, publishing the results online.</p>
<h2>Slow and uneven response</h2>
<p>But the overall response remains slow and uneven. Our research <a href="http://journals.sfu.ca/cjhe/index.php/cjhe/article/view/188226">identifies two reasons for this</a>. The first is organizational. </p>
<p>Universities are <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2391875?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">decentralized institutions with many autonomous parts</a>.
Even when the motivation for change exists, resources are dispersed and co-ordination is challenging. Departments, graduate faculties, career centres and other bodies, <a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/march-2019/were-missing-a-potent-plan-to-train-the-next-generation-of-researchers/">including governments and research councils</a>, all hold different parts of the puzzle. With different missions and resources, they struggle to fit them together.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295919/original/file-20191007-121051-1nrjz82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295919/original/file-20191007-121051-1nrjz82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295919/original/file-20191007-121051-1nrjz82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295919/original/file-20191007-121051-1nrjz82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295919/original/file-20191007-121051-1nrjz82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295919/original/file-20191007-121051-1nrjz82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295919/original/file-20191007-121051-1nrjz82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An ‘academia first’ mentality dilutes any commitment to making structural changes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The second factor we find in our research is attitudinal. Since most faculty have spent their own careers inside academia, it is difficult for even the most well-meaning to advise students on other options. This contributes to a mindset, conscious or not, that career success is defined primarily by becoming a professor. </p>
<p>Most professors are aware that the number of PhD students graduating exceeds available academic jobs. But there is still a strong <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/beyond-the-professoriate/addressing-the-academia-first-mentality-in-phd-programs/">“academia-first” mentality</a> that sees other options strictly as Plan B backups. This dilutes any commitment to making structural and programmatic changes. </p>
<h2>No incentive to close admissions</h2>
<p>Even if some institutions or faculty decide that they’re taking on too many students, there’s little incentive to be the first to stop. Universities increase their prestige and rankings by bolstering their graduate research activity. And individual faculty gain status by supervising more students. </p>
<p>Finally, universities are responding to market demand. After all, students continue to apply for PhD programs. As top students who did well in their earlier studies, many believe they can beat the academic job odds. Not until later do they realize that everyone else is thinking the same way. So the system perpetuates itself, but for many reasons, none of which are easy to change.</p>
<p>All this leaves students in a challenging position, <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/are-there-too-many-phds-turns-out-maybe-not-a-look-at-where-phds-end-up-after-leaving-the-ivory-tower">because doing a PhD can still be a good option</a>, and Canada needs skilled researchers and a more educated workforce. </p>
<h2>Don’t postpone planning</h2>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295905/original/file-20191007-121065-1fgccim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295905/original/file-20191007-121065-1fgccim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295905/original/file-20191007-121065-1fgccim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295905/original/file-20191007-121065-1fgccim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295905/original/file-20191007-121065-1fgccim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295905/original/file-20191007-121065-1fgccim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295905/original/file-20191007-121065-1fgccim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Work Your Career by Loleen Berdahl and Jonathan Malloy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(University of Toronto Press)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Consequently, <a href="https://utorontopress.com/us/work-your-career-2">we argue in our book</a> <a href="https://utorontopress.com/us/work-your-career-2"><em>Work Your Career</em></a> that it is critical for PhD students to make the most of their personal opportunities and prepare for a greater diversity of career options. </p>
<p>Students should inform themselves about doctoral job market realities as early as possible — ideally before deciding to start a PhD. They should also be skeptical of any contemporary rosy forecasts, such as those the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada offered in 2008 when projecting a <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/faculty-hiring-boom-likely-to-continue-says-new-trends-report/">faculty hiring boom</a>. </p>
<p>Students must also recognize and resist the pervasive “academia first” culture that lead many to postpone preparing for a broader range of careers until later, and purely as a backup. </p>
<p>Actively seeking and pursuing professional development opportunities as early as possible in their programs, along with conducting <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2018/03/01/how-network-effectively-opinion">informational interviews</a>, especially through alumni networks, is crucial. So is pursuing non-academic writing and research opportunities. These activities give students options and empower them to prepare simultaneously for both academic and other careers.</p>
<p>Ultimately it is up to universities to create a more sustainable model of PhD education; the burden should not rest solely on students. </p>
<p>Universities and governments also have an opportunity to play a more co-ordinated role, reconciling the demands for ever-greater research intensity and a more educated workforce with the realities and current state of doctoral education. </p>
<p>Yet students cannot afford to wait for this to happen. By exercising their own agency, students can avoid resting their career prospects solely on the fickle academic job market.</p>
<p>[ <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=expertise">Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter and get a digest of academic takes on today’s news, every day.</a></em> ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123328/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Malloy receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Loleen Berdahl receives funding from SSHRC and the Kule Institute for Advanced Studies.</span></em></p>PhD students can’t wait for universities and governments to reconcile the demands for a more educated workforce and a scarcity of academic jobs – they should plan their own careers.Jonathan Malloy, Professor of Political Science, Carleton UniversityLoleen Berdahl, Professor and Head, Department of Political Studies, University of SaskatchewanLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1233742019-09-12T00:44:40Z2019-09-12T00:44:40Z‘There is a problem’: Australia’s top scientist Alan Finkel pushes to eradicate bad science<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292020/original/file-20190911-190065-16xm35j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australia's Chief Scientist Alan Finkel</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the main, Australia produces high-quality research that is rigorous and reproducible, and makes a significant contribution towards scientific progress.
But that doesn’t mean we can’t do it better.</p>
<p>In the case of the research sector here and abroad, we need to acknowledge that as good as the research system is, there is a problem.</p>
<p>There are a significant number of papers that are of poor quality, and should never have made it through to publication. In considering why this might be the case, I have found myself reflecting on the role of incentives in the research system. </p>
<p>Because incentives matter, as we have seen through the findings of the Royal Commission into the banking sector led by Kenneth Hayne.</p>
<p>The commission shone a light on how the sector incentivises its employees. And there are some incentives in the research community that, in my view, need to be looked at.</p>
<p>We may be inadvertently encouraging poor behaviour. And to ensure research remains high-quality and trustworthy, we need to get the incentives right.</p>
<h2>Lessons from the banking Royal Commission</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292027/original/file-20190911-190065-1hxdgl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292027/original/file-20190911-190065-1hxdgl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=794&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292027/original/file-20190911-190065-1hxdgl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=794&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292027/original/file-20190911-190065-1hxdgl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=794&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292027/original/file-20190911-190065-1hxdgl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=998&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292027/original/file-20190911-190065-1hxdgl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=998&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292027/original/file-20190911-190065-1hxdgl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=998&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Parallels can be drawn between inappropriate incentives in both the banking and research sectors, Dr Finkel says.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The commission showed that over the past decade or two, the banking sector moved from salary-based to bonus-based remuneration. But those bonuses have been mapping to the wrong values: to sales and profit instead of compliance with the law and net benefit to customers.</p>
<p>Similarly in the research sector, we can’t ignore that there are many incentives pushing some to cut corners and lower their standards.</p>
<p>The competition for funding is fierce and is increasing every day. The temptation to judge a researcher’s performance through simple metrics, such as the number of published research papers, is strong. These metrics are incentives that drive behaviour - not all of it good. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/finkel-students-focus-on-your-discipline-then-youll-see-your-options-expand-107440">Finkel: students, focus on your discipline then you’ll see your options expand</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We all know of instances of poor research practice. Selective publication of results to support a hypothesis. HARKing: hypothesising after results are known. Manipulating data and research methods to achieve statistical significance.</p>
<p>If we can focus on improving the quality of research in general, we can achieve broad and long-lasting benefits. And I think the best way to do this is to look at the incentives.</p>
<h2>Quality should trump quantity</h2>
<p>Publication is a principal criterion for career advancement in the research sector. And I don’t want to change that. However, the institutionalisation of performance metrics has created incentives for researchers to publish as many papers as possible.</p>
<p>There shouldn’t be an incentive for a researcher to salami-slice their results into three or four separate publications, rather than one meaningful publication. If the purpose of publication is to share your results in a way that can be built on by other researchers, this kind of practice completely defeats that purpose.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292030/original/file-20190911-190050-1kpy5jz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292030/original/file-20190911-190050-1kpy5jz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292030/original/file-20190911-190050-1kpy5jz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292030/original/file-20190911-190050-1kpy5jz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292030/original/file-20190911-190050-1kpy5jz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292030/original/file-20190911-190050-1kpy5jz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292030/original/file-20190911-190050-1kpy5jz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Perverse incentives can encourage the manipulation of research results, Dr Finkel says.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One model that places the focus on quality over quantity is the “Rule of Five”.
With this rule, a researcher’s performance for grant funding or promotion is judged on their best five publications over a five year period, accompanied by a description of its impact and the researcher’s individual contribution.</p>
<p>The exact number of publications or years isn’t important, as long as it is less than ten.</p>
<p>Of course, there are disciplinary differences that may need to be taken into account. But what matters is the emphasis on the significance of the research.</p>
<h2>Researchers must undergo integrity training</h2>
<p>Unlike other professions, there are no national competencies and no national
recognition of education and training in research integrity. While many institutions in Australia do provide training programs for their PhD students, these programs vary in quality, content and reach.</p>
<p>And, to the best of my knowledge, no Australian institutions have a training
requirement for their existing research workforce.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-science-is-clear-we-have-to-start-creating-our-low-carbon-future-today-104774">The science is clear: we have to start creating our low-carbon future today</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>I strongly believe the overall quality of research in Australia would be strengthened by research integrity training for all researchers.</p>
<p>Training puts a spotlight on expectations for the whole community and
encourages consistent behaviour. It also removes that old chestnut of plausible deniability: “Honest, officer, I didn’t know it was wrong!”</p>
<p>The training must be accredited, and must be high quality. It should not be a
“tick the box” exercise. And if we circle back to incentives, the best way to encourage researchers to undertake the training is to make proof of training a requirement for obtaining a grant. </p>
<p>To those naysayers who say it will never happen, let me tell you that it already has. The Irish Health Research Board has recently implemented such a scheme. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292033/original/file-20190911-190007-1qlk67q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292033/original/file-20190911-190007-1qlk67q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292033/original/file-20190911-190007-1qlk67q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292033/original/file-20190911-190007-1qlk67q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292033/original/file-20190911-190007-1qlk67q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292033/original/file-20190911-190007-1qlk67q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292033/original/file-20190911-190007-1qlk67q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Finkel: research integrity training should be mandatory for all researchers, and tied to grant funding.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Predatory, evil’ scholarly journals</h2>
<p>Finally, I am concerned that the incentives in the research system are not just
driving bad behaviour for researchers, but are also creating a market for
criminals to enter scholarly publishing.</p>
<p>What is motivating the crooks is the pay-per-page system that has come with
the introduction of open access publishing.</p>
<p>Now, open access publishing has many benefits and I support the move towards it. But I remain concerned that it has opened the door for predatory, evil, crooked journals.</p>
<p>It is just too easy to set up a journal and a website with a highfalutin title, and appropriate the biographies of leading researchers for the editorial board – without their knowledge or permission. Before you know it, huge numbers of papers are being published without any rigour.</p>
<p>And there are researchers who are knowingly paying to publish in journals that have no peer review, even though they claim to. Journals that have no ethics. Not even an editorial team to consider the submitted paper.</p>
<p>These researchers might just be naïve, but we have to acknowledge that the current incentives reward this behaviour.</p>
<p>While this is not a major problem in Australia, emerging research nations are
really struggling with this. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292034/original/file-20190911-190021-1jyabgw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292034/original/file-20190911-190021-1jyabgw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292034/original/file-20190911-190021-1jyabgw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292034/original/file-20190911-190021-1jyabgw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292034/original/file-20190911-190021-1jyabgw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292034/original/file-20190911-190021-1jyabgw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292034/original/file-20190911-190021-1jyabgw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Finkel: a new publishing standard should be introduced to weed out unscrupulous research journals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In my conversations with senior research leaders around the world, they are
looking for ways to improve performance metrics in a way that does not drive
their researchers to these journals.</p>
<p>I propose a rigorous quality assurance system, designed to inform
stakeholders that a particular journal’s processes for assessing a paper meets
agreed publishing standards. I like to call it Publication Process Quality Assurance, or PPQA.</p>
<p>Compliance with PPQA would indicate to researchers, research institutions,
libraries and granting agencies that the journal follows internationally accepted guidelines for the publication process.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/science-isnt-broken-but-we-can-do-better-heres-how-95139">Science isn't broken, but we can do better: here's how</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Granting agencies are best placed to provide the incentive for researchers to only publish in PPQA-compliant journals by enforcing it through their grant application process.</p>
<h2>Follow the money</h2>
<p>You might have picked up by now a common thread; that in each of my three
recommendations, I am looking to take the responsibility back to the granting
agencies. It’s a concept referred to by others as “follow the money”.</p>
<p>If the granting agencies put in place these measures, they will ripple through
into the research institutions and mitigate the ongoing risks of poor quality research.</p>
<p>It will change the culture and ensure that last century’s academic rigour
continues for the 21st century research workforce and beyond. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>This is an edited version of a speech Dr Finkel will deliver in Melbourne on September 12 at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, to mark its fifth anniversary.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123374/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan Finkel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Australia’s top scientist Alan Finkel says too many poor quality research papers are being published in Australia, and the system may inadvertently encourage academics to behave badly.Alan Finkel, Australia’s Chief Scientist, Office of the Chief ScientistLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1066082018-11-25T19:05:18Z2018-11-25T19:05:18ZMindfulness can help PhD students shift from surviving to thriving<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246340/original/file-20181120-161633-k6lyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Self-help strategies such as mindfulness now have a proven place for supporting the PhD journey.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Undertaking a PhD can be very stressful, due to a range of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2018.1425979">challenges</a>. These include having to develop discipline expertise as well as generic skills (such as academic writing and maintaining motivation) during a largely solo pursuit. </p>
<p>Concern has been growing about the prevalence of mental health issues (such as depression and anxiety) among PhD candidates. A <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nbt.4089">survey</a> of more than 2,000 graduate research students from 26 countries published this year found they were six times as likely to experience depression or anxiety as the general population.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/doing-a-phd-can-be-a-lonely-business-but-it-doesnt-have-to-be-19192">Doing a PhD can be a lonely business but it doesn’t have to be</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>A <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/515b/5cc53ff418e226ccb64ad8d8238508bb5075.pdf">study</a> of PhD students in the United States showed that of those who identified as experiencing depression or anxiety, 84% did not seek help from university support services. Perhaps, then, the best way to help PhD candidates is to give them the skills and strategies to manage their stress.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, we published a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2018.1515760">study</a> in the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vach20">Journal of American College Health</a>. It provides evidence that practising mindfulness can help reduce stress, improve levels of depression and anxiety, and enhance feelings of hope, optimism, resilience and self-efficacy about completing a PhD. </p>
<h2>How mindfulness can help</h2>
<p>In recent years, <a href="https://www.mindful.org/what-is-mindfulness/">mindfulness</a> has become increasingly popular as a method for managing feelings of stress and distress. </p>
<p>Mindfulness research has exploded in the past five years. A medline (the major medical literature search engine) keyword search on the topic today reveals 5,815 search results, with more than 70% of these in the last five years. The quality of this research is also increasing, with 584 systematic reviews (the strongest level of evidence that combines lots of similar studies) included in these results. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246967/original/file-20181123-149721-1l72065.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246967/original/file-20181123-149721-1l72065.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246967/original/file-20181123-149721-1l72065.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246967/original/file-20181123-149721-1l72065.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246967/original/file-20181123-149721-1l72065.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246967/original/file-20181123-149721-1l72065.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246967/original/file-20181123-149721-1l72065.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mindfulness techniques like meditation or guided breathing activities can help PhD students manage stress and anxiety.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our research is the first to examine the psychological impacts of mindfulness in a controlled trial with PhD students. It followed the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2010.03877.x">findings</a> of a randomised controlled trial conducted at our institution by Emma Warnecke. </p>
<p>Her study showed that a guided mindfulness practice could significantly decrease perceived stress and anxiety among 66 undergraduate medical students. This is a relatively small study, but it used the gold standard design of a randomised controlled trial, and showed statistically and clinically significant results. </p>
<p>Our new study used the same <a href="http://www.utas.edu.au/health/students/medicine/stress-management">guided mindfulness practice</a> over an eight-week period as a daily intervention in a randomised control trial design. More than 80 students at our university volunteered to take part, and were randomly allocated to a control or intervention group. </p>
<h2>How we measured stress</h2>
<p>Psychological distress was measured before and after the eight-week trial period using the <a href="https://www.mindgarden.com/132-perceived-stress-scale">perceived stress scale</a> (PSS) and the <a href="http://www2.psy.unsw.edu.au/dass/over.htm">Depression, Anxiety and Stress scale</a> (DASS). </p>
<p>We also measured levels of <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-032516-113324">psychological capital</a>, which is a positive psychological state of development composed of four psychological resources: feelings of hope, optimism, resilience, and self-efficacy. </p>
<p>Psychological capital was originally developed in the field of positive organisational behaviour, and previous research has primarily explored how psychological capital influences workplace attitudes, behaviours and performance. In recent years, scholars have begun to explore how it may also influence educational performance. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246968/original/file-20181123-149724-1tbqsy1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246968/original/file-20181123-149724-1tbqsy1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246968/original/file-20181123-149724-1tbqsy1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246968/original/file-20181123-149724-1tbqsy1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246968/original/file-20181123-149724-1tbqsy1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246968/original/file-20181123-149724-1tbqsy1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246968/original/file-20181123-149724-1tbqsy1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">PhD students are six times more likely than the general population to experience depression or anxiety.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock.com</span></span>
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<p>Pre- and post-intervention surveys collected from both groups provided data on the stress candidates experienced, how it affected their studies, the strategies they used to manage things that stressed them out, and their experiences of completing the intervention. Some 14 members of the intervention group also volunteered to be interviewed about their experiences. </p>
<p>For some candidates, mindfulness practice provided a period of peace and calm which gave them a time to relax, regroup, and recharge their batteries. For others, it provided an opportunity to deal with negative feelings and then shake them off. Some said the practice gave them more clarity and focus, new ways to deal with challenges, or enabled more productive work. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/phd-completion-an-evidence-based-guide-for-students-supervisors-and-universities-99650">PhD completion: an evidence-based guide for students, supervisors and universities</a>
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<p>Several candidates felt increased confidence in their ability to complete their PhD, for example by giving them a tool to deal with challenging times. Candidates also reported that completing the practice regularly had its own particular benefits, such as by helping them become more disciplined and structured in their habits.</p>
<h2>Room for improvement</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07448481.2018.1515760">study</a> showed completing the mindfulness practice significantly reduced candidates’ reported levels of depression and improved their psychological capital. Perhaps just as importantly, these effects occurred even though study participants actually practised the mindfulness meditation much less often than requested. </p>
<p>The intervention group was asked to complete the 30-minute mindfulness intervention daily, a total of 56 practices over eight weeks. But the average number of sessions completed was 35. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ten-types-of-phd-supervisor-relationships-which-is-yours-52967">Ten types of PhD supervisor relationships – which is yours?</a>
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<p>An even greater effect may be possible if students practised more often. Alternatively, a daily practice may not be required in participants who are used to learning new complex skills so often. Or, shorter practices (such as 5-10 minutes) could be used with similar effect, such as those available through apps such as <a href="https://www.smilingmind.com.au/">smiling mind</a>. </p>
<p>Placing attention not only on the academic but also the psychological aspects of learning is key to successful outcomes and well-being. Self-help strategies such as mindfulness now have a proven place for supporting the PhD journey. Integration of these approaches with peer support programs such as the <a href="http://www.mentalhealthcrc.com/education/write-smarter-feel-better">Write Smarter Feel Better</a> program developed by the CRC for Mental Health provides a win-win to reduce loneliness on the journey to a PhD, and turn surviving into thriving.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106608/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Mindfulness exercises can help PhD students manage the stress of completing their thesis.Karen Barry, Senior Lecturer, Plant Pathology, University of TasmaniaEmma Warnecke, Associate Professor, Director, Student Development and Support, School of Medicine, University of Tasmania, University of TasmaniaMegan Woods, Senior Lecturer in Management, Tasmanian School of Business and Economics, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/996502018-07-12T20:01:49Z2018-07-12T20:01:49ZPhD completion: an evidence-based guide for students, supervisors and universities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226833/original/file-20180709-122265-nliw74.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Philipp Mandler/Unsplash</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many students enrol in a Master or PhD postgraduate research degree, but few complete them. <a href="http://highereducationstatistics.education.gov.au/">From 2010-2016</a>, 437,030 domestic and international students enrolled in postgraduate research programs in Australian public universities. Only 65,101 completed within the same six year period.</p>
<p>This discrepancy does not necessarily mean postgraduate research students “failed” their degree. Common <a href="http://grad.uga.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Haynes.pdf">reasons</a> not completing a degree include changes of career goals, work-family conflicts, poor health or financial strain. Alternatively, some students remain enrolled in their degree for long periods without making significant progress.</p>
<p>Even so, the discrepancy is large enough for universities to be concerned. Nobody wants a student to suffer through years of hard work and frustration without achieving their goal.</p>
<h2>What does research say about completion rates?</h2>
<p><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2456-8_11">Research</a> has identified several factors that make students more likely to persist with their degrees. These factors are related to the students themselves, their supervisor, and the university environment.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226889/original/file-20180710-70063-baqlf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226889/original/file-20180710-70063-baqlf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226889/original/file-20180710-70063-baqlf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226889/original/file-20180710-70063-baqlf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226889/original/file-20180710-70063-baqlf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226889/original/file-20180710-70063-baqlf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226889/original/file-20180710-70063-baqlf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Many students enrol in a Master or PhD postgraduate research degree, but few complete them.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/education-career-opportunities-concept-group-graduating-382309411?src=fNMfdmWJ2YNAJcXJOzRmzw-1-99">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Psychological studies of postgraduate students find the more successful ones tend to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2015.03.004">perceive themselves as competent</a> and be <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2015.05.006">intrinsically motivated</a>. These are students who enjoy their topic area, perceive their postgraduate studies as a valuable learning experience, and who strongly identify with being a career researcher. Students who are motivated by external factors (such as pursuing a prestigious academic role) are more likely to say they want to quit.</p>
<p><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2017.1298717">Scholarship holders</a> are more likely to complete their degrees. This is likely because they are academically stronger than non-scholarship holders and are less vulnerable to financial strain. Students can support themselves financially through teaching, research assistant roles or other work, but this must be balanced carefully. Part-time students are less likely to complete their degrees.</p>
<p>Students’ <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2456-8_11">field of study</a> also affects completion rates. A higher proportion of students in sciences tend to complete their degrees than those in arts and humanities. This is likely because students working in the sciences are more often involved in laboratory-based work in teams, where there is greater social support and knowledge exchange. People studying humanities more often work on their research alone.</p>
<p>A positive student-supervisor <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03098770701424983">working relationship</a> is critical. A good supervisor should be an expert in the student’s subject of choice and a supportive mentor. They should help the student navigate through the frustrations and uncertainties of writing a thesis, and help students adjust to the world of academia.</p>
<p>Students are also more likely to finish their research degrees if they have <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2456-8_11">strong connections with their peers</a>. Such connections help students develop their <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03075070903501887">professional identity</a> as researchers, as well as providing opportunities for social support and <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ace.5">informal learning</a>.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226891/original/file-20180710-70057-fxf4je.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226891/original/file-20180710-70057-fxf4je.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226891/original/file-20180710-70057-fxf4je.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226891/original/file-20180710-70057-fxf4je.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226891/original/file-20180710-70057-fxf4je.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226891/original/file-20180710-70057-fxf4je.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226891/original/file-20180710-70057-fxf4je.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Students are also more likely to finish their research degrees if they support from their peers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/university-students-sitting-together-table-books-508251865?src=fNMfdmWJ2YNAJcXJOzRmzw-1-3">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2456-8_11">quality of associated coursework</a> is also important. Ideally, postgraduate programs should provide students with a sound foundation of research skills and content knowledge, and facilitate ongoing communication with their faculty.</p>
<p><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2015.03.004">Involvement</a> in formal and informal professional activities is also important. Students who complete tend to participate in departmental events, such as research seminars and professional development workshops. They also tend to participate in academic conferences. These events allow students to learn and expand their networks.</p>
<h2>What students and their supervisors should do</h2>
<p>First, given the importance of the student-supervisor relationship, universities can provide advice to students about <a href="http://www.iotimlabs.com/2018/06/22/how-to-approach-a-potential-phd-supervisor/">locating and approaching</a> a suitable supervisor. Specifically, students should consider the research area they wish to work in and locate a supervisor with relevant expertise. They should approach supervisors with an openness to negotiating a research topic.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ten-types-of-phd-supervisor-relationships-which-is-yours-52967">Ten types of PhD supervisor relationships – which is yours?</a>
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<p>Both students and supervisors should be upfront about their expectations about how the supervision will work. An excellent starting point for discussion is the <a href="https://www.adelaide.edu.au/graduatecentre/forms/supervision/docs/scales.pdf">Expectations in Supervision</a> questionnaire. Students and supervisors sometimes have mismatched expectations about how often they should meet, the amount of feedback the supervisor should provide on drafts, and how much counselling and emotional support the supervisor should provide.</p>
<p>Supervisors have an important role in providing a realistic preview of academic life. One useful exercise is to review an academic competency model, such as the <a href="https://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers-professional-development/about-the-vitae-researcher-development-framework">Vitae Researcher Development Framework</a>, to discuss which skills academics need. In addition to knowledge of their topic area and research methods, academics increasingly need to be good at managing complex projects, working in multidisciplinary teams, and engaging with industry and media.</p>
<p>This discussion should enable supervisors and students to plan how students will develop their capabilities. Alternatively, it could prompt some students to opt out of a research degree if they think an academic role is not compatible with their goals.</p>
<h2>What universities should do</h2>
<p>As well as providing research training, universities can also increase the capabilities of students by helping them understand self-handicapping patterns. These include busyness, procrastination and disorganisation. </p>
<p>Students can be guided to replace these with more helpful actions such as scheduling dedicated writing time, reframing difficult tasks as learning opportunities, and developing a work routine. This could be done as part of a <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07294360701658781">workshop</a> or supervisory relationship.</p>
<p>Universities should also encourage greater connectedness between research students to build social support. This could be accomplished through team-based activities or face-to-face events. </p>
<p>For instance, some universities offer <a href="https://threeminutethesis.uq.edu.au/">Three Minute Thesis</a>, a research communication competition where students present their work in under 180 seconds. </p>
<p>Some universities organise <a href="https://thesiswhisperer.com/shut-up-and-write/">Shut Up and Write</a> sessions, which turns writing into a social experience and limits distractions. These activities can be complemented by encouraging students to become involved in <a href="https://theconversation.com/doing-a-phd-can-be-a-lonely-business-but-it-doesnt-have-to-be-19192">supportive online communities and blogging</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-rise-of-writing-events-gives-phd-students-the-support-often-lacking-in-universities-50250">The rise of writing events gives PhD students the support often lacking in universities</a>
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<p>Finally, universities should be dedicated to helping academics develop as supervisors through ongoing training and coaching. Departments could consider <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/04/13/improve-phd-completion-rates-australian-universities-use-metrics-their-supervisors">tracking the progression of students</a> and ensuring supervisors have the time and skills to take on new students. </p>
<p>Completing a dissertation can be richly rewarding, but it’s the endpoint of a process that’s often long, frustrating and uncertain. Helping students achieve their research aspirations makes academic life a better experience for all involved.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99650/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy Colin Bednall does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Completion rates for PhD courses are very low. Here are some things students, supervisors and universities can do to help support these students through to completion.Timothy Colin Bednall, Senior Lecturer in Management, Fellow of the APS College of Organisational Psychologists, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/986422018-06-25T13:55:08Z2018-06-25T13:55:08ZForeign doctorates are attractive – but don’t write off homegrown PhDs<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224392/original/file-20180622-26564-12jk5i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Obtaining a foreign PhD is seen as attractive but data suggests local alternatives shouldn't be dismissed.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Introducing more skilled employees into the economy is an important path to development for many middle income countries. That’s why increased and improved training at the top end of the education level – PhDs – is <a href="https://era.ideasoneurope.eu/2014/03/11/the-value-of-the-phd-in-a-knowledge-based-economy-beyond-financial-and-career-gains/">considered so vital</a>.</p>
<p>Many countries encourage students to pursue their PhDs abroad in nations with well ranked universities, particularly in Europe and North America, on the presumption that what’s offered in the developed world is better quality. They know that some of those students won’t return after graduating, but take the risk since they believe those who do return will bring with them the necessary qualities for future growth.</p>
<p>But until now there’s been little concrete evidence that would allow one to judge whether this is an effective approach. Does encouraging students to obtain their PhDs elsewhere improve the quality or quantity of scientific output in their home country?</p>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733318300453">Our recent research</a> sought to address this gap. In our study, we found that an individual who goes abroad to do a PhD and returns to his or her home country – South Africa in this case – has a more productive academic career than an individual who does his or her advanced schooling in South Africa.</p>
<p>There are at least two possible sources of advantage. First, it could simply be that better students are selected to enter foreign PhD programmes. If that’s the case, these people would have better careers regardless of their alma mater. Second, foreign programmes might provide superior training to those offered in South Africa. That would mean it’s the foreign aspect of the PhD that drives higher performance later in someone’s career. </p>
<p>The data we used in this study allowed us to separate the selection from the training effects, so we could identify the source of future performance. </p>
<h2>What the data reveal</h2>
<p>Our data were drawn from the <a href="http://www.nrf.ac.za/rating">National Research Foundation’s</a> rating system of South African researchers. This gives most of the country’s research-oriented academics a grade that describes the quality and quantity of their research output. We then correlated this grade with individuals’ educational profiles.</p>
<p>Looking at those who returned to South Africa, we found that the quality of the institution from which academics received their PhD was correlated with future career success. </p>
<p>It is clear from our analysis that the globally top institutions, commonly perceived as offering the best training, exert a very strong selection and self-selection effect. The best students are attracted to and are found attractive by, top universities. </p>
<p>This is true even for foreign universities from the second or third tier. This effect seems to be driven by reputations of countries rather than of universities. Education scholar Simon Marginson has noted this trend, <a href="https://melbourne-cshe.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/1664315/HEd_2006_national_and_global_competition.pdf">writing that</a> “for the foreign graduates returning home to Thailand or Tajikistan, all reputable foreign degrees provide positional value”. “Foreign” does seem to be closely associated with “desirable”.</p>
<p>This suggests that those with the resources to make studying abroad possible, will see it as an attractive alternative to working towards a PhD at a domestic institution. But our findings don’t suggest a simple equation of foreignness with high quality. </p>
<h2>The effectiveness of local universities</h2>
<p>While foreign universities are perceived as attractive, there’s strong evidence that, all things being equal, leading South African universities provide “world class” training at the PhD level.</p>
<p>This is not a universal statement: it applies to a comparison of academics working in South Africa after the completion of their PhD either in South Africa or abroad. Despite that disclaimer, it’s a striking finding.</p>
<p>It has long been thought that the role of local universities in an emerging economy is essentially to train technicians or teachers rather than researchers pushing the knowledge frontier. As scholar Richard R. Nelson <a href="https://epdf.tips/technological-change-and-economic-catch-up-the-role-of-science-and-multinational.html">puts it</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Indigenous universities will play a key role as the source of students who take advanced training abroad, and as the home of faculty who have been trained abroad.</p>
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<p>In other words, local universities have long been expected to produce functionaries, not to generate new knowledge or thinking. But our research suggests that local scholars are doing the kind of work that puts them among the top tiers.</p>
<p>This permits a certain cautious optimism about universities in emerging economies catching up with their “first world” counterparts. There are already very good local universities in developing economies. With policy support these could well produce research and training that are as good as any generated elsewhere. </p>
<h2>Policy and possibility</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733318300453">Our results</a> suggest there’s a valuable place for local universities in the development processes that emerging economies are trying to foster. </p>
<p>Investment in local science will indeed produce the good technicians and teachers as others have discussed. But there is more there: local universities can also provide advanced training that meets global standards, as well as producing frontier science. </p>
<p>And it’s useful to remember that while local students benefit from going abroad to obtain PhD degrees, not all foreign universities provide the same value. </p>
<p>This implies that a certain selectivity should be applied when policy makers are designing support structures for students who wish to study abroad. Our results suggests that the appropriate distinction is not between local and foreign universities – but rather a distinction drawn along the lines of the roles they play in their economies.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98642/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robin Cowan receives funding from Institut Universitaire de France. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helena Barnard and Moritz Mueller do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There’s strong evidence that, all things being equal, leading South African universities provide “world class” training at PhD level.Helena Barnard, Director: Doctoral Programme, Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of PretoriaMoritz Mueller, Assistant Professor at University of Strasbourg and researcher at BETA (CNRS), Université de StrasbourgRobin Cowan, Professor of Economics, Université de StrasbourgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/921882018-02-25T07:33:56Z2018-02-25T07:33:56ZWant to solve complex health issues? Train scholars to think across disciplines<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207268/original/file-20180221-132670-19epm5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When people work together and learn about each other's research methods, great things can happen.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In this complex world a number of factors affect both the distribution and prevalence of disease and the effectiveness of interventions to prevent or reduce disease. These factors are social, physical, environmental and historical. It follows, then, that challenges in public health require a multidisciplinary approach.</p>
<p>This means that if researchers want to make an impact on public health they can’t just have a thorough grounding in their own discipline. They also need to be literate in other research approaches and methods. Knowledge generated from various theories of learning suggest alternative insights and interventions that may be effective in making this a reality.</p>
<p>Various programmes have been developed to help scholars engage in multidisciplinary research. One of them is the <a href="http://cartafrica.org/">Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa</a> (CARTA). The aim of the programme is to build a critical mass of effective researchers to improve health outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa. And, since there’s <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21085517">a scarcity</a> of African-led public health research, it’s also working to develop researchers with cross-disciplinary competencies. Once their training is done, these scientists should be capable of heading multidisciplinary research teams.</p>
<p>The programme is focused on scholars in sub-Saharan Africa. But the model has international relevance. Globally, there are major health challenges that need to be addressed by innovative research. The approach developed under CARTA could be adapted to other contexts and would prepare PhD candidates to address complex health problems in different countries and geographies.</p>
<h2>Teaching differently</h2>
<p>The consortium brings together nine African universities, four African research centres and a number of partners from the global North. Since 2011, a cohort of new PhD students have joined the programme each year making a total of 165. They have all received structured, supplementary training over a three-year period. This supplements the PhD training they’re receiving at their home universities, which is almost always discipline-specific. The programmes’ focus, on the other hand, is multidisciplinary. </p>
<p>One of the key parts of their training is a series of joint advanced seminars. There are four of these for each cohort, and they’re residential; the fellows gather in different countries and locations for four weeks at a time. The seminars promote knowledge sharing and they also provide a supportive network of researchers within and between cohorts. </p>
<p>One of the most important elements of the seminars is how they’re taught. Many <a href="http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/213061468002160411/Retaining-teaching-capacity-in-African-Universities-problems-and-prospects">sub-Saharan universities</a> are poorly funded and classes are huge, especially at undergraduate level. This means that didactic teaching is often the norm: the lecturer is the “sage on a stage” who talks without letting students engage.</p>
<p>By contrast, the seminars use participatory and experiential learning. Teaching sessions are informal, inviting critique and robust discussion. They challenge hierarchy – for example junior lecturers are encouraged to debate professors. Value is measured by the coherence of an argument or the robustness of evidence, not on the status of the person making the point. This encourages fellows to use evidence and theory to defend their argument; it reinforces that there is no hierarchy between disciplines.</p>
<p>CARTA’s approach to teaching also shows how a multidisciplinary approach can work in practice. For example, sessions can be co-facilitated by an epidemiologist and an anthropologist. </p>
<h2>A valuable experience</h2>
<p>So, is all of this working? To provide some answers, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28026701">data has been drawn</a> on from across the cohorts. The fellows were asked questions about their experiences and learning.</p>
<p>The evidence suggests that the seminars, and the broader programme, is bearing fruit. PhD students who have attended the programme show that they are able to think and work across disciplines.</p>
<p>Some have made changes to their research question, choice of literature, study design and analysis plan. One, from the second cohort, wrote: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I never thought of how law could influence healthcare provision for the aged, especially in terms of access to postreproductive care services. … I am trying to expand my research … in this direction. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another wrote that after the second seminar “I joined the social science network at my home institution and I actively participate with the hope to learn and acquire more skills in qualitative research”. </p>
<p>Three fellows also reported that they were using mixed methods in research outside of their PhD studies:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Training on mixed methods has influenced me. I applied for a local institution competitive grant using mixed methods approach to explore noise pollution in a teaching hospital. I won the grant and I have already completed the qualitative aspect of the study – my first attempt at qualitative research.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Fellows also reported that they’d found ways to communicate better to a wider range of disciplinary colleagues. </p>
<h2>Some unanswered questions</h2>
<p>There are gaps in the data. A way to assess whether each PhD fellow gained sufficient breadth and depth has not yet been found. There is confidence that the PhD fellows can engage meaningfully across disciplines, but it has not assessed whether multidisciplinary training makes for a better statistician or social scientist. </p>
<p>It is also unknown if the ability to work across disciplines or maintain anti-hierarchical values will be sustained. The world of science, government, funding agencies, universities and research institutions is largely still structured around scholarly disciplines. Most institutions remain conservative when it comes to hierarchy, so fellows may find it hard to sustain anti-hierarchial approaches.</p>
<p>And longer-term follow up to assess the impact of the programme on the production of research evidence and its impact will need to be done.</p>
<p>Still, the process evaluation suggests the path is the right one. And there is no reason that other organisations or institutions can’t adopt and adapt the model for their own contexts.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92188/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sharon Fonn works at the University of the Witwatersrand and money raised by CARTA benefits the university as it does all universities who are part of the consortium. The project described in this article is supported by the Carnegie Corporation, Swedish International Cooperation Development Agency (SIDA), the Wellcome Trust, DFiD, AESA; with additional grants from the Ford Foundation, Google.org, MacArthur Foundation, and the British Council.</span></em></p>If researchers want to make an impact on public health they can’t just have a thorough grounding in their own discipline.Sharon Fonn, Professsor of Public Health; Co-Director Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa; Panel Member, Private Healthcare Market Inquiry, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/689722016-11-18T00:25:51Z2016-11-18T00:25:51ZIt’s time to reduce the number of PhD students, or rethink how doctoral programs work<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146480/original/image-20161117-19361-1d8ojlz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Redesigning the PhD in Australia is a big task.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There are not enough academic jobs vacant in Australia each year to employ all our PhD graduates. </p>
<p>This imbalance risks training an increasing numbers of doctoral students on a promise that cannot be fulfilled: that is future academic employment. </p>
<p>We need to accept a hard truth that Australia needs to rethink the design of the PhD and the expectations around it, or radically reduce intake to doctoral programs.</p>
<p>In 2015, Australia graduated over <a href="http://highereducationstatistics.education.gov.au/">10,000</a> postgraduate research students – the vast majority of these were doctoral students. There were over 65,000 research higher degree students enrolled at Australian universities last year with most full or part time PhD students.</p>
<p>The number of PhDs in Australia will continue to grow. Enrolments in higher degrees have increased by almost half since 2001, and although much of this has been through more international doctoral students, domestic student numbers continue to grow year on year.</p>
<p>Most of these PhD graduates do not end up in a career of teaching or research at a university, or even teaching or research somewhere else. </p>
<p>There are currently over 50,000 staff employed in full-time or fixed-term academic roles in Australian universities. The number of positions vacant each year is nowhere near enough to accommodate even a small proportion of new Australia PhD graduates, let alone those who completed in prior years.</p>
<p>If the majority of PhD students, then, do not end up in ongoing academic employment, are designs for doctoral program right? Are student expectations realistic if they enter the degree with aspirations for a teaching and research career as many, perhaps most, do?</p>
<p>The Australian government recently accepted the excellent report from <a href="http://acola.org.au/index.php/projects/securing-australia-s-future/saf13-rts-review">ACOLA</a> on doctoral training. This looks at many of these challenges. There are broad issues related to research training and the academic workforce that the sector must now face.</p>
<h2>Rethinking the PhD</h2>
<p>There is a real need to think about the prospect of academic employment for PhD graduates. Much of the teaching in Australian higher education is delivered by sessional staff at universities. </p>
<p>Australian universities now depend on sessional teachers, short-contract researchers and other casualised and fixed-term staff to operate. </p>
<p>Many universities wouldn’t be viable without these staff. But for most academics, sessional employment is not a replacement for an ongoing position, offering little in the way of development of career progression. </p>
<p>Sessional work itself is not a problem unless it shows that many doctoral graduates find this as their only option. Or if it shows that students are being set up with unrealistic expectations of their future prospects for permanent academic employment.</p>
<p>We risk an unsustainable academic <a href="https://theconversation.com/an-academic-ponzi-scheme-22252">Ponzi scheme</a>. This is not just an Australian trend, the US faces a similar challenge for large numbers of <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/09/higher-education-college-adjunct-professor-salary/404461/">sessional staff</a>.</p>
<p>But thinking through doctoral programs is more than just about managing PhD candidate expectations. </p>
<p>It is about doctoral training in a mode which combines the apprenticeship model, learning how to research, with more formal components of the other areas of learning that work in non-academic environments. </p>
<p>They need to be able to leverage the broad range of skills acquired through doctoral training, such as project management and strong writing skills.</p>
<p>Many students contribute as junior researchers to projects. This is critical to student research training and the overall research effort. However, to ensure they finish their degree with the right skills set will likely require a more diverse set of experiences and training. We need to avoid at worst viewing PhD students as a cheap research workforce.</p>
<p>Redesigning the PhD in Australia is a big task. It requires an ongoing discussion about enrolling such a large cohort of doctoral students who will not work in academia.</p>
<p>In an age of the innovation economy and government focus on thinking past the mining boom, there is much to be said for doctoral trained workers. </p>
<p>They are a great national resource to be celebrated, where time spent in PhD research is recognised for the skills developed beyond an area of deep expertise.</p>
<p>But the decisions we make now about how we train PhDs will be with Australia for a long time. If we don’t change, we need to consider training fewer of them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/68972/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<h4 class="border">Disclosure</h4><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gwilym Croucher is Principal Policy Adviser in the Chancellery at the University of Melbourne and Senior Lecturer in the Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education.</span></em></p>There are currently far too few vacant academic jobs in Australia each year to employ all our PhD students. It’s time to rethink the training of doctoral students.Gwilym Croucher, Senior Lecturer, Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/622322016-07-13T20:56:54Z2016-07-13T20:56:54ZWant to do your PhD in Africa? Here’s what you need to know<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129845/original/image-20160708-24067-lrhpc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Embarking on the path to a PhD is a scary business.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A Doctor of Philosophy, which most people know as a PhD, is the highest academic accolade. It demands a substantial investment of time, equipment, meticulous supervision and conscientiousness.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.scidev.net/global/education/multimedia/map-phd-enrolment-africa.html">More and more students</a> are registering for doctoral studies across Africa. They’re doing so in pursuit of higher qualifications and better future career opportunities. But many are left floundering when they try to actually get working on their PhDs. Masters’ programmes simply don’t equip students with the research skills they need, nor the conceptual thinking and critical analysis that’s so important for PhD study.</p>
<p>So what is holding Africa’s PhD candidates back and what can be done differently? To answer these questions, I’ve drawn from lessons learnt while working with a group of fellows in the <a href="http://cartafrica.org/">Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa</a> (CARTA). This is a consortium of nine African public universities that supports 140 fellows who are pursuing PhDs in population and public health. Their experiences and concerns may help others who are embarking on the tough, sometimes lonely journey to obtaining a PhD.</p>
<h2>The dark alleys of research</h2>
<p>The CARTA fellows are mostly full-time faculty members, usually assistant lecturers or lecturers. They are talented, well respected and have the potential to be developed into research leaders. But evaluations conducted with the latest cohort reveal that none of these factors keep them from battling with even the basics of starting their PhD work.</p>
<p>One of the problems lies with the structure of masters’ programmes in Africa. These tend to last for two or three years. They’re traditionally assumed to be the foundation for career advancement in academia. But their focus tends to be on a strong component of course work, with limited opportunities for serious research. And research, of course, is the backbone of any PhD degree.</p>
<p>When research is included in masters’ programmes, the scope of the work is narrow and the quality of supervision is poor. Candidates are left to flounder in the dark alleys of research. In Kenya, where I am based, it is very rare for masters’ students to produce work that’s good enough to publish in peer-reviewed journals. Their work doesn’t influence policy- and decision-making. Masters’ graduates get a feather in their cap, but that’s really all.</p>
<p>During their evaluations, the fellows said they were struggling to comprehend the philosophical underpinnings of their research topics. They seem not to know that research methodologies are informed by diverse paradigms. Those from “hard” sciences backgrounds indicated that they didn’t understand philosophy nor see its value to research.</p>
<p>Most have difficulty in identifying the research gap in their topic of interest and insist that the topic has not been studied in the geographical area they’re focusing on. They fail to appreciate that the essence of PhD research is to generate new knowledge and that one cannot contribute to this without a clear understanding about the current state of affairs in their subject.</p>
<p>Our work has found that many PhD students are apathetic about searching for and reading relevant articles. They don’t have the basic software skills needed to search databases and often haven’t heard of open-source software that might make their task easier and cheaper.</p>
<p>Without reading and a critical appraisal of sources, the students really battle to develop a workable research question. A good number end up joining sentences derived from various journals conveniently to create what is submitted as the literature review. The write-up lacks logic and coherence, and is marked by high levels of plagiarism.</p>
<p>One problem leads to another: most students struggle to understand and develop theoretical and conceptual frameworks for their proposed study.</p>
<p>Some of the approaches we’re trying through CARTA might really improve people’s experiences of their PhDs. They have certainly boosted the fellows’ experience of this challenging academic journey.</p>
<h2>Jump-starting the journey</h2>
<p>CARTA has developed a month-long residential seminar during which new students are equipped with the necessary skills and competencies to jump-start their doctoral journey.</p>
<p>Topics in the curriculum include knowledge philosophy; reading, writing and referencing; and how to develop a good research question and a conceptual framework. The seminars are learner-centred, with space for group work and one-on-one consultations. Since the seminars are residential, the fellows also get to spend lots of time with each other, sharing ideas and advice, and with mentors.</p>
<p>Feedback from previous seminars has suggested that this approach is really working. Fellows say that they find the sessions very helpful and this is obvious in the quality of their work. Some have even changed their PhD topics because of the seminars and are comfortable defending their new ideas when they return to their institutions.</p>
<p>Of course, PhD students must bear a great deal of the responsibility for bringing their research to life. They ought to know that one cannot lead a pedestrian life and expect to receive the highest possible academic accolade. It requires hard work, commitment and developing the skills I’ve outlined here.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62232/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Ngure is the Programme Manager of the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA) at the Africa Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) in Nairobi.</span></em></p>Many people are left floundering when they try to get working on their PhDs. In Africa, this is often because the skills they need haven’t been developed earlier in their academic careers.Peter Ngure, Associate Professor of Parasitology and Entomology, African Population and Health Research CenterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/599592016-06-29T01:06:53Z2016-06-29T01:06:53ZIs it time to eliminate tenure for professors?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128401/original/image-20160627-28362-mh9bsu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Is tenure outdated?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/merrimack/8782450939/in/photolist-eo5mFV-eoE6Ls-eoZXxa-eo5m2M-eoZWex-eoE6WS-epWaVC-epWasG-epWbCW-eoE6UJ-eo5mKc-a1JSoT-eoE8d7-8UeCdm-eo5kUF-eoE6CY-eoE6rY-epWbvW-eoE6nd-eoE6no-eo5k62-eoZXmP-epWbgA-eo5mHD-eoE6Fb-eoE6w7-eo5mor-eoZWUv-eoawkP-epWbD7-eoE6MU-eo5k4V-eoE6Rs-eoZXtk-eoZXf8-eoE6tb-epWbXu-eoKgX9-eo5mBx-epWc71-epWbYd-epWc6h-eoZWXF-epWbAG-eo5mGT-eoE6wU-epWbnb-eoZXJX-epWbSu-eoZXoH">Merrimack College</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The State College of Florida <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/09/24/state-college-florida-eliminates-continuous-contracts-puts-all-faculty-members-one">recently scrapped tenure</a> for incoming faculty. New professors at this public university will be hired on the basis of annual contracts that the school can decline to renew at any time.</p>
<p>The decision has been highly controversial. But this is not the first time tenure has come under attack. In 2015, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-else-will-we-lose-when-wisconsin-faculty-loses-tenure-42929">called for a reevaluation of state laws</a> on tenure and shared governance. As of March 2016, a new policy at the University of Wisconsin <a href="http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/education/university/regents-approve-new-policies-for-uw-tenure-over-professors-objections/article_e0aa29b5-438b-5182-8870-5cd76fb80144.html">has made faculty vulnerable to lay offs. </a></p>
<p>The tenure system <a href="https://www.aaup.org/report/1940-statement-principles-academic-freedom-and-tenure">provides lifetime guarantees</a> of employment for faculty members. The purpose is to protect academic freedom – a fundamental value in higher education that allows scholars to explore controversial topics in their research and teaching without fear of being fired. </p>
<p>It also ensures that faculty can voice their opinions with university administration and ensure that academic values are protected, particularly from the increasingly <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/academic-capitalism-and-new-economy">corporate ideals invading higher education institutions.</a></p>
<p>Our research on the changing profile of university faculty shows that while the university enterprise has transformed dramatically in the last hundred years, the tenure employment model remains largely unchanged. So, has the tenure model become outdated? And if so, is it time to eliminate it altogether?</p>
<h2>Growth of adjunct faculty</h2>
<p>The demographic of higher education faculty has changed a lot in recent years. To start with, there are <a href="http://www.uscrossier.org/pullias/research/projects/delphi/">very few tenured faculty members</a> left within higher education. </p>
<p>Tenure-track refers to that class of professors who are hired specifically to pursue tenure, based largely on their potential for producing research. Only 30 percent of faculty are now on the tenure-track, while 70 percent of faculty are <a href="https://www.aaup.org/report/contingent-appointments-and-academic-profession">“contingent”</a>. Contingent faculty are often referred to as “adjuncts” or “non-tenure track faculty.” They are usually hired with the understanding that tenure is not in their future at that particular university, and they teach either part-time or full-time on a semester-to-semester or yearly basis. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128525/original/image-20160628-7840-14z3nm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128525/original/image-20160628-7840-14z3nm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128525/original/image-20160628-7840-14z3nm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128525/original/image-20160628-7840-14z3nm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128525/original/image-20160628-7840-14z3nm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128525/original/image-20160628-7840-14z3nm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128525/original/image-20160628-7840-14z3nm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There are fewer tenured faculty in the higher education system.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/queensucanada/10088223925/in/photolist-gnsMvg-gntarD-ayha1Q-fhkLKb-mfmDv2-ptQ96-5zqnrm-mfmFk4-8tjn4j-bvqVw3-nBfP4i-9eb3iA-njLSMC-bJkEU8-dBZUWD-a6ncMu-8y32yB-fhg82y-6TpM8i-8Hpynr-q5PjAp-kFXkQZ-egkvkz-kFVUSr-r48VyF-kFUNBR-6feAz2-cjtoSE-nsgQhu-gntaWg-ajJeYQ-fgBjaD-kbKRQP-7Cs5gQ-6fiMoo-mfmFUR-mZJX9M-6XtWzW-dyyyYU-fvrqUB-dx5GKi-kFWyyh-jKSgJP-cjt6MU-mZJKp2-mxHweV-cjt43h-cjtqpd-dx5F7e-eepnwh">St. Ambrose University</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Most contingent faculty have short-term contracts which may or may not be renewed at the end of the contract term. As of 2010, <a href="http://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/aa_partimefaculty0310.pdf">52 percent of contingent faculty</a> had semester-to-semester part-time appointments and 18 percent had full-time yearly appointments. </p>
<p>Researchers suggest that the <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/teaching-without-tenure">increase in contingent appointments</a> is a <a href="http://crw.sagepub.com/content/36/1/5.abstract">result of the tenure model’s failure to adapt</a> with the significant and rapid changes that have occurred in colleges and universities over the last 50 years. </p>
<p>The most significant of these changes is the rise of teaching-focused institutions, the largest growth being in the community college, technical college and urban institutions that have a primary mission to educate students with little or no research mission. Between 1952 and 1972 the number of community colleges in the United States nearly <a href="http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED389384.pdf">doubled</a>, from 594 to 1141, to accommodate a large increase in student enrollments, leaving four-year institutions to focus on research and development.</p>
<h2>Campuses changed, not tenure system</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.tiaainstitute.org/public/pdf/changing-faculty-workforce-models.pdf">Most commentators</a> have described the growth of contingent faculty as a response to financial pressures in the 1990s. </p>
<p>But our research shows that this growth actually began in the 1970s when <a href="http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ810310">market fluctuations</a> caused unexpected growths in college enrollment. Between 1945 and 1975, college enrollment increased in the United States by 500 percent. However, rising costs and a recession in the late 1970’s forced administrators to seek out part-time faculty to work for lower wages in order to accommodate these students. The practice increased dramatically thereafter. </p>
<p>In addition to enrollment changes, government funding for higher education <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/teaching-without-tenure">decreased</a> in the late 1980s and ‘90s. The demand for new courses and programs was uncertain, and so campuses needed more <a href="http://www.tiaacref.org/ucm/groups/content/@ap_ucm_p_tcp_docs/documents/webcontent/tiaa02029947.pdf">flexibility</a> in faculty hiring. </p>
<p>Further, over the last 20 years new technologies have created new learning environments and opportunities to teach online. </p>
<p>Tenure-track faculty incentivized to conduct research were typically not interested in investing time to learn about <a href="http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ746693">new teaching technologies</a>. Consequently, a strong demand for online teaching pushed institutions into hiring contingent faculty to fill these roles. </p>
<p>As a result, what we have today is a <a href="https://www.tiaainstitute.org/public/pdf/changing-faculty-workforce-models.pdf">disparity</a> between the existing incentive structures that reward research-oriented, tenure-track faculty and the increased demand for good teaching. </p>
<h2>Why the contingent faculty model hurts</h2>
<p>Critics of tenure argue that the tenure model, with its <a href="http://www.ipr.northwestern.edu/about/news/2013/figlio-schapiro-tenure.html">research-based incentives</a>, does little to improve student outcomes. But the same can be said of the new teaching model that relies so heavily on contingent faculty – it is not necessarily designed to support student learning. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.tiaainstitute.org/public/pdf/changing-faculty-workforce-models.pdf">Research</a> on contingent faculty employment models illustrates that they are poorly designed and lack many of the support systems needed to foster positive faculty performance.</p>
<p>For example, unlike tenure-track faculty, contingent faculty have little or no involvement in curriculum planning or university governance, little or no access to professional development, mentoring, orientations, evaluation, campus resources or administrative support; and they are often unaware of institutional goals and outcomes. </p>
<p>Furthermore, students have limited access to or interaction with these faculty members, which research suggests is one of the most <a href="http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1118002660.html">significant factors</a> impacting student outcomes such as learning, retention and graduation.</p>
<p><a href="http://abs.sagepub.com/content/55/11/1485.short">Studies</a> have shown that student-faculty interaction provides students with access to resources, mentoring and encouragement, and allows them to better engage with subject material.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128527/original/image-20160628-7815-2melqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128527/original/image-20160628-7815-2melqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128527/original/image-20160628-7815-2melqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128527/original/image-20160628-7815-2melqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128527/original/image-20160628-7815-2melqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128527/original/image-20160628-7815-2melqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128527/original/image-20160628-7815-2melqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Studies show lower graduation rates as a result of the faculty workforce model.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sakeeb/4647211575/in/photolist-85Eb6v-9Hm4GQ-jHNzvP-jHQFGW-4ShTvQ-qvVyex-cmufUE-cmtSrQ-cmtR8o-fbdVsP-Rd8H8-4Rq9qA-CR4PQ-ePSA8R-cmtMxU-ePSAjr-9JoeC6-2K6HUd-9dfH2D-6oSuFo-cfi8rA-9JoezX-egnTku-4HNZBr-rCWcoo-rCW9CU-fbdVxP-9H5zai-eAgvxd-roDhTm-qJdXQd-cfqro5-qJrfTM-TEV9t-roEo8Q-rCWbQ9-rFdP3e-KNdgr-yyA6-roLM2H-9H8qM3-egh93M-82pwxj-egnR9d-egh5Gg-9Ha8Yj-9H8quN-Rd8CB-6oS96o-roEqBN">Sakeeb Sabakka</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Recent research on contingent faculty has also identified some <a href="http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ825258">consistent and disturbing trends</a> related to student outcomes that illustrate problems related to new faculty workforce models. These include poor performance and lower graduation rates for students who take more courses with contingent faculty, and lower transfer rates from two-year to four-year institutions.</p>
<p>Using transcripts, faculty employment and institutional data from California’s 107 community colleges, researchers <a href="https://ced.ncsu.edu/people/ajjaeger/">Audrey Jaeger</a> and <a href="https://gseis.ucla.edu/directory/kevin-eagan/">Kevin Eagan</a> found that for every 10 percent increase in students’ exposure to part-time faculty instruction, <a href="http://crw.sagepub.com/content/36/3/167.abstract">they became 2 percent less likely</a> to transfer from two-year to four-year institutions, and 1 percent less likely to graduate. </p>
<p>Additionally, studies of contingent faculties’ instructional practices suggest that they tend to use <a href="http://abs.sagepub.com/content/55/11/1485.short">fewer active learning, student-centered teaching approaches</a>. They are also less engaged with new and culturally-sensitive teaching approaches (strategies encouraging acknowledgment of student differences in a way that promotes equity and respect).</p>
<p>Consequently today, when the pool of Ph.D. students is growing, the number of <a href="http://icorsa.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Too-many-phds-Nature-2015.pdf">tenure-track positions</a> available for graduates is shrinking. As a result, a disconnect has evolved between the types and number of Ph.D.s on the job market in search of tenure, and the needs of, and jobs available within, colleges and universities. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/its-a-mess-graduate-schools-are-failing-to-prepare-students-for-jobs-43565">Some estimates</a> show that recent graduates have less than a 50 percent chance of obtaining a tenure-track position. Furthermore, it is graduates from the top-ranked quarter of graduate schools who <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/1/e1400005">make up more than three quarters of tenure-track faculty</a> in the United States and Canada, specifically in the fields of computer science, business and history.</p>
<h2>A new tenure system?</h2>
<p>We appear to be at a crossroads. The higher education enterprise has changed, but the traditional tenure model has stayed the same. The truth is that universities need faculty who are dedicated to teaching, but the most persuasive argument in support of tenure – its role in <a href="http://www.aaup.org/report/tenure-and-teaching-intensive-appointments">protecting academic freedom</a>– has come to be too narrowly associated with research.</p>
<p>Academic freedom was always meant to extend to the classroom – to allow faculty to teach freely, in line with the search for truth, no matter how controversial the subject matter. Eliminating tenure completely will do little to protect academic values or improve student performance.</p>
<p>Instead, the most promising proposal that has emerged many times over the last 30 years is to <a href="http://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9781137506108">rethink the traditional tenure system</a> in a way that would incentivize excellent teaching, and create teaching-intensive tenure-track positions.</p>
<p>Under an incentive system, when considering whether to grant tenure, committees can take into account excellence in teaching, by way of student evaluations, peer review, or teaching awards. For faculty on a teaching-intensive track, tenure decisions would be made based primarily on their teaching, with little or no weight given to research.</p>
<p>Though not every contingent faculty member would be eligible for such positions, these alternative models can change the incentive structures inherent in the academic profession. They may be able to remove the negative stigmas surrounding teaching in the academy and may eliminate the class-based distinctions between research and teaching faculty that have resulted from the traditional tenure model.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59959/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adrianna Kezar received funding from Teagle, Spencer and Carnegie foundations for Delphi Project on Changing Faculty and student success. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samantha Bernstein does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With 70 percent adjunct faculty, who work on a semester-to-semester basis, the current system is not helping students. What can replace the traditional tenure system?Samantha Bernstein, PhD Student, University of Southern CaliforniaAdrianna Kezar, Professor of Higher Edcuation, University of Southern CaliforniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/579722016-04-19T05:04:05Z2016-04-19T05:04:05ZHow to improve research training in Australia – give industry placements to PhD students<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119039/original/image-20160418-23649-34jf2q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">One in five research graduates is dissatisfied with the supervision they received.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The skilled graduate must become the most important outcome of research training in Australia – as it is in many other parts of the world – urges a <a href="http://acola.org.au/PDF/SAF13/SAF13%20RTS%20report.pdf">new report</a> by the Australian Council of Learned Academies (ACOLA).</p>
<p>The findings from the ACOLA review of the Australian research training system suggest that universities need to better serve the needs of doctoral graduates. The report provides recommendations for how to help better connect research students and graduates with industry. </p>
<p>With fewer <a href="http://acola.org.au/PDF/SAF13/SAF13%20RTS%20report.pdf">than 50%</a> of Australian doctoral graduates being employed in the university sector, industry experience and training that better equip graduates for jobs beyond universities are essential.</p>
<p>The report calls for transferable skills to be central to the training of doctoral candidates. Such skills development must be flexible and candidate-directed, and build on the diverse backgrounds and experience of candidates.</p>
<h2>Improve industry-university research collaboration</h2>
<p>Industry placements are at the heart of this model. Industry is defined broadly as: businesses, governments, government business enterprises, non-government organisations, not-for-profit organisations and community organisations. This needs to include research students in the social sciences and humanities as well as those in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines.</p>
<p>Australia has been slow to adopt such initiatives. This failure is likely to have contributed to our lacklustre performance in research collaborations between higher education providers and industry. Our poor performance is <a href="http://acola.org.au/PDF/SAF13/SAF13%20RTS%20report.pdf">illustrated by several indicators</a>. </p>
<p>For example, Australia ranks last out of 30 OECD countries on the proportion of small and medium enterprises collaborating with higher education and public sector institutions on innovation. It is second-last on the same indicator for large businesses. </p>
<p>Encouraging PhD students to form a bridge between academia and industry will bolster collaborations and be a win-win for all. </p>
<h2>Improve PhD supervision</h2>
<p>The review also calls for more professional supervision through recognising excellence, driving metrics and providing high-quality training and ongoing professional development for supervisors.</p>
<p>While rates of satisfaction with supervisory experience for research students have <a href="http://www.graduatecareers.com.au/Research/ResearchReports/PostgraduateResearchExperience">steadily increased</a> over the past 14 years, surveys reveal that one in five research graduates is dissatisfied with the supervision they received. Negative <a href="https://theconversation.com/ten-types-of-phd-supervisor-relationships-which-is-yours-52967">expectations of cloning</a> (creating graduates in the image of the supervisor) and cheap labour still linger.</p>
<p>Research training needs to be valued as the human capital development required to build our innovation economy as well as for the research that research students produce. Increased emphasis on the skilled graduate as the major outcome of research training will require cultural change in supervisory practice. </p>
<h2>What other countries are doing</h2>
<p>In 2002 in the UK, the <a href="http://www.stfc.ac.uk/skills/impact-of-our-skills/postgraduate-training-and-skills/transferable-skills-development/">Roberts Review</a> catalysed a policy initiative that provided £120 million in new government funding for skills development of research higher degree candidates and postdoctoral research staff in STEM disciplines.</p>
<p>This program was a major cultural change in the provision of skills and career support for researchers in UK higher education institutions. It championed the value of investing in the development of individual researchers. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/documents/skills/independentreviewhodge-pdf/">A review</a> of the program in 2010 confirmed that it had resulted in major improvement in the way career development and transferable skills training were provided for researchers. It was unable, however, to provide quantitative metrics of success because of the absence of baseline data. </p>
<p>Although no such dedicated funding has been available in Australia, many universities have invested in the delivery of transferable skills training to higher degree research (HDR) candidates. However, transferable skills development is not as strongly embedded in our research training system as in the UK and some other similar countries.</p>
<p>In 1999, Canada <a href="https://www.mitacs.ca/en">established Mitacs</a> as a part of its Network Centre of Excellence Program. Mitacs started as an initiative in mathematics, prompted by the loss of Canadian mathematics PhD graduates to the US.</p>
<p>The program expanded from 17 internships in 2003 to almost 3,200 in 2014-15. By 2020, 10,000 internships are expected to be delivered per year.</p>
<p>Although Australia has several small internship schemes for research students, we estimate that fewer than 120 of more than 20,000 HDR candidates undertook an internship in 2015. A Canadian HDR candidate is 16 times more likely to undertake a placement than their Australian counterpart.</p>
<p>Mitacs has 14 government partners including the federal government, most of the provincial governments and more than 60 universities. In 2014-15, Mitacs collaborated with 1,065 partners in Canada and 23 partners outside Canada; 79% were small to medium enterprises.</p>
<p>In 2014-15, it enabled two million hours of research work by interns for industry and not-for-profit partners, underpinned by an investment of C$22 million. </p>
<p>Mitacs surveys of their partners indicate that 82% have continued collaborations with the academic supervisor, 66% of the products of the collaborations have been commercialised and 47% have hired at least one intern. The majority of participating interns feel more employable as a result of their internship.</p>
<p><a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/main_report_final_20160112.pdf">The 2015 Review of Research Policies and Funding</a> recommended that Australian government funding of $12.5 million per year be provided to create a program to support universities to increase numbers of industry placements for PhD students. </p>
<p>The ACOLA review recommends that this funding be used to seed a national program of placements for research doctoral candidates, along the lines of Mitacs.</p>
<p>Certainly, some Australian research students already obtain experience by working on externally defined research problems, in non-academic settings with non-academic supervisors, especially as part of the Co-operative Research Centre system. </p>
<p>However, the review did not have enough data to evaluate the significance of such partnerships at a comprehensive national scale. This is an example of the inadequacy of the data available to determine the performance of the research training system and its value to Australia’s economic and social well-being.</p>
<p>The review calls for a longitudinal national data-collection exercise to monitor course satisfaction, course completions and career outcomes for HDR training. </p>
<p>Without such data, it is impossible to determine the return on this almost A$1 billion annual government investment in the development of the human capital required for the innovation economy.</p>
<hr>
<p>• <em>This piece was co-authored by John McGagh, chair of the ACOLA review expert working group. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Queensland.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/57972/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helene Marsh was one of the Deputy Chairs of the Expert Working Group for the ACOLA Review of Research Training.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span><a href="mailto:m.western@uq.edu.au">m.western@uq.edu.au</a> receives funding from Department of Education and Training. Mark Western was Deputy Chair of the Expert Working Group for the ACOLA Review of the Research Training System.</span></em></p>A new review of research training in Australia calls for transferable skills to be central to the training of PhD students.Helene Marsh, Dean, Graduate Research , James Cook UniversityMark Western, Director, Institute for Social Science Research, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.