Eager to enhance the working lives of postdocs? Ask them what they need

Postdoctoral researchers conduct analysis, train college students and assist the rising administrative burden in academia. Nevertheless, as a result of they’re employed on short-term, momentary contracts, postdocs are compelled to maneuver on a semi-regular foundation. Understanding their wants, needs and considerations is essential to creating an educational panorama that works higher for everybody.

To do this, we’d like high-quality knowledge. However there have been no sturdy knowledge units on the postdoc panorama in Germany, the place we’re primarily based, as a result of many establishments both don’t survey their postdocs recurrently or, in the event that they do, seldom publish these knowledge. To handle this, researchers on the Max Planck Society (MPG) and the Leibniz Affiliation arrange the Max Planck PostdocNet and the Leibniz PostDoc Community, which we’re a part of, and began conducting common surveys and publishing the findings^1,2,3. The MPG’s first survey began in 2019; Leibniz’s biennial surveys started a 12 months later. The most recent survey stories are due out within the coming months.

Our previous surveys present that postdocs are comparatively pleased with their advisers and institutes, however that many are nervous about future profession unpredictability, and that this leads them to think about careers exterior academia. Others need higher profession steering. The surveys additionally confirmed that some teams battle extra with their psychological well being than others — significantly postdocs who’re on a fellowship or stipend, and people with caring duties for youngsters and different members of the family.

Profession sources for postdoctoral researchers

The surveys additionally revealed variations between the postdoc communities at two of Germany’s largest analysis organizations. From the responses, we now know, for instance, that round 20% of Leibniz postdocs come from overseas, in contrast with 75% at MPG^1,2. This data will allow us to tailor future inquiries to our establishments and determine native issues. Each the MPG and Leibniz postdoc networks come collectively to be taught from one another’s surveys and to find out what is particular to our personal establishments and what issues persist all through the German tutorial system.

Analysing the information from these surveys permits us to make suggestions to enhance the working lives of postdocs at our respective establishments. These vary from comparatively minor adjustments to extra vital departures from present working practices. These require usually frank and tough conversations with the management at our respective analysis organizations.

An instance of this arose in 2020, when the MPG PostdocNet Survey investigated rumours that postdocs who had accomplished their PhDs in international locations aside from Germany had decrease beginning salaries than did colleagues who had accomplished their PhDs within the nation. The survey outcomes substantiated these rumours³. Consequently, the MPG president established a job pressure, which has mounted many postdocs’ contracts. Subsequent surveys proceed to watch whether or not the duty pressure’s laws are being enforced pretty. Total, evidently they’re.

In our view, any enhancements to postdocs’ working lives profit each the people involved and academia as an entire. In case you’re contemplating operating a postdoc survey at your establishment, right here’s a guidelines to get you began.

Who do you wish to attain?

Reaching your target market isn’t all the time simple. You should outline what a postdoc is after which discover a approach to get the survey to them, for instance, by way of e-mail lists. Don’t underestimate the issue of this job. Neither Leibniz nor MPG had a freely out there, centralized, complete record of all postdocs, so remember that you just may need to trace down postdoc colleagues or generate your individual record — after which discover inventive methods to distribute and promote the survey. Each networks used the institutes’ postdoc representatives to get a listing of postdoc e-mails after which ship across the survey hyperlinks, whereas additionally promoting it on social media.

What do you wish to know?

You would possibly wish to concentrate on particular facets of postdoc life — resembling pay or profession growth — to attempt to affect a change in coverage. Alternatively, you would possibly simply wish to perform a common survey, taking a look at a number of facets of postdoc life.

In both case, be sure you ask the questions vital to achieve your objective. Too many superfluous questions generally is a headache each for respondents and for these analysing the information in a while. Our early surveys had a broad scope to get an outline of demographics and postdocs’ common working conditions, however, over time, the questions have tended to develop into extra detailed. As a result of MPG has a big worldwide inhabitants, the most recent MPG PostdocNet Survey requested questions on immigration and tutorial mobility. The Leibniz PostDoc Community added questions on psychological and bodily well being, and additional explored postdocs’ working circumstances.

The place are you able to get questions from?

This ought to be a prime precedence. Are you taking questions from different research or designing your individual? Test first if there are any current, well-established questions in different surveys that serve your functions. This protects time and enhances knowledge high quality. For instance, within the newest MPG and Leibniz postdoc surveys, we carried out questions on psychological well being from beforehand printed analysis^4,5,6. It’s price talking to different survey groups to share concepts and finest practices. If you need to publish your findings, you should inform the individuals on how you’ll use the information. It’s vital to incorporate a knowledge consent type, and you may additionally wish to contemplate acquiring approval out of your establishment’s ethics committee, because the Leibniz PostDoc Community does.

What number of questions do you have to ask?

There isn’t a one reply to this query. For the Leibniz PostDoc Survey, we requested round 100 questions — however filters meant not all individuals have been requested the complete set. The final MPG PostdocNet Survey had round 120. Each surveys have been fairly giant. Some would-be individuals crammed out a part of the survey, however by no means completed it, and others didn’t begin in any respect. In mild of this, when a brand new query is proposed, we now drill down into what the query will inform us, why it’s related (for example, may the information be used to tell coverage choices?) and whether or not the postdoc survey is the appropriate car by way of which to ask it. Using filters will also be useful — the Leibniz PostDoc Survey, for instance, has a piece aimed particularly at worldwide postdocs. This might help to shorten surveys, however isn’t a cure-all. Attempt to make your survey as compact and concise as potential, it will assist to spice up your accomplished survey knowledge. If it’s not too time-consuming, individuals will likely be extra keen to take outing of their busy day to do the survey, and to suggest that others do the identical.

How will you already know that your survey is sweet?

We suggest pre-testing your survey with a choose group of individuals. They’ll show you how to to find out whether or not your questions are clearly worded and to determine any errors. Ours are examined on 10–20 postdocs, often members of our respective steering committees. We additionally suggest involving a survey professional, both in your survey group or to behave as a crucial good friend. At MPG, we focus on our questions with employees at MPG headquarters who’ve expertise of operating surveys, and not less than one member of the Leibniz survey group is a survey professional.

How will you talk the findings?

Give early consideration to how you’ll use the survey findings. For instance, each of ours are publicly out there as stories. These take a very long time to write down, edit and publish. In case you are naming an institute, community or group, you have to to offer them ample alternative to touch upon the findings of the report, and you may additionally wish to embody their responses. This, together with the entire survey course of, may take longer than you would possibly assume, relying on the survey’s measurement and scope.

Do you have to make the information publicly out there?

One benefit of constructing the information set publicly out there is to assist guarantee continuity. If, for instance, a number of of the survey group strikes on, their successors can simply see what questions have been requested in earlier surveys, and repeat or modify these accordingly. For the Leibniz PostDoc Survey, we publish an anonymized knowledge set after the discharge of the survey report. The MPG PostdocNet doesn’t publish its knowledge set. Both choice is okay, however you should make sure that any printed knowledge set doesn’t threat figuring out individuals.

What impression may your survey have?

Each networks arrange conferences far upfront with varied administrative departments to debate the findings which are most necessary to us.

At Leibniz, we current the outcomes at one of many quarterly conferences of the Leibniz Affiliation Präsidium (the manager board), which incorporates the overarching Leibniz Affiliation president, the vice-presidents and a choice of different senior representatives. This physique oversees the event of the Leibniz Affiliation’s 96 particular person analysis institutes and eight analysis museums, that are thematically organized into 5 Leibniz sections. These Leibniz sections additionally meet regularly and, following completion of our report, we current our findings to every part, sometimes within the autumn. This takes up fairly a little bit of time, so we have a tendency to separate the conferences between us. On the entire, these conferences are optimistic and the suggestions we get from senior management is especially gratitude, for highlighting areas wherein institutes can enhance.

Equally, on the MPG, a number of departments have been grateful for our findings, as a result of they will use our work to advocate for change. For instance, our work aided the Planck Academy, a career-development programme at MPG, to assemble seminars and programs extra related to postdocs, and likewise helped the academy higher promote its personal companies, in order that postdocs know in regards to the varied career-development alternatives at their disposal.

It’s necessary to recollect the impression your findings can have when they’re made public. The 2022 MPG PostdocNet Survey was publicized fairly closely after an article in Der Spiegel quoted our mental-health statisticsan article in Der Spiegel quoted our mental-health statistics. This had each optimistic and adverse results, and resulted in some tense conversations with MPG’s management. Our targets are by no means malicious, however surveys — significantly public ones — can have unintended penalties, particularly for those who don’t have an efficient media technique.

It is usually necessary to place your outcomes into context whenever you write your report. We printed a web page of continuously requested questions (FAQs) with the report, explaining our key findings and placing them into context, each in academia and in society as an entire, and these FAQs have been utilized in some media stories. Whether it is out there to you, the communications division at your society or institute would possibly be capable to help it is best to there be extra media protection than anticipated, both optimistic or adverse. Lastly, it would profit you to supply a public presentation of your knowledge on-line and report any shows, in order that your work is put into context by way of a distinct medium.