Since its founding in 2002, Eurodoc has been advocating for the stability of employment and the sustainability of the careers of early career researchers. With the establishment of the European Research Area in 2000, the European Commission has had the goal of making research careers attractive.However, the conditions in the sector offered to early and mid-career researchers remain less competitive than what is offered in other public and private sectors, to the detriment of the individuals, the institutions, and ultimately society.
It is well known that many doctoral candidates are not employed nor fully recognized as professionals. What is often overlooked, however, is that these conditions remain a reality, or indeed are even further exacerbated, for many postdocs: fragmented employment contracts, work under free-lance conditions, financing through stipends and scholarships are wide-spread. Due to the so-called atypical nature of their employment, data remain sparse and incomplete.
Often, it is assumed that precarity for postdoc refers solely to the widespread use of (short) time-limited contracts. Yet, precarity is not only a question about the length of a contract, it is equally a question about the general employment and working conditions, social security, and the pressure to be internationally mobile. Precarious employment often renders postdocs invisible to their hosting organisations, even as they are required to perform the core work of research, teaching, and outreach for their institutions while being put under extreme pressure to still singularly focus on the numbers for career advancement (number of publications, impact factors, etc).
Eurodoc collected the data presented in the report in 2018-2019 among our member organisations. The aim was and is to better understand the working conditions of researchers at the postdoctoral stage working in Europe. Initially delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, then further delayed by the reality of Eurodoc volunteers on this project themselves being precariously employed, it is sobering to realise that the report as well as the underlying data remain as relevant today as when it was collected over five years ago. Data on and awareness of the conditions of postdocs in Europe remain sorely lacking.
In recent years, and perhaps particularly during the spring of 2025, the future of the European Research Area has become a focal point of discussion. Yet, there is no research nor higher education without the people, without the researchers, lecturers, academics. Research conditions thus always means working conditions. Public spending on research and higher education is crucial to set the standards for the working conditions of researchers: Thus, moving forward it should no longer be possible to use the European funding schemes to finance early career researchers on stipends or on freelance-type contracts; the funds need to be tied to provisions that ensure competitive employment contracts (on par with other sectors).
As this report highlights, the problems are multidimensional and only concerted action will ensure the much-needed change in today’s hypercompetitive and performance (rather than quality)-based research culture and environment. Research, innovation, higher education, and the principle of academic freedom are intimately connected with and play key roles in our democracies. Governments and public institutions must protect and promote higher education, research, and academic freedom. This means in particular ensuring that the legal framework for employment conditions extends to early career researchers and that all monitoring mechanisms for the conditions in the sector include a specific focus on early career researchers.
You can read the full report here.