Overview
Get the findings from UK-HyRES’s national surveys of PhD and early career researchers and join the discussion about what needs to change
UK-HyRES recently surveyed doctoral and early career researchers at universities across the UK. We asked them what is holding their careers back, what is working, and what would make them stay in research.
The answers were remarkably consistent across institutions and provide a stark insight into some of the challenges they face. Join us to hear the findings and discuss what should change.
Snapshot of the findings
- 73% of early career researchers have considered leaving academia. The main reasons were job insecurity, limited progression and salary, not a loss of interest in research.
- Around 4 in 5 PhD researchers named funding, stipends or the cost of living among their most significant challenges.
- Short-term contracts are the biggest concern for postdocs. For international researchers, a contract ending can also put their visa at risk, which doubles the precarity.
- Researchers are not mainly asking for more training. They want leadership and authorship opportunities, access to funding, industry engagement and a clear route to independence.
- Support depends heavily on the individual supervisor or Principal Investigator (PI). This creates unequal access to opportunities, mentoring and career conversations.
What you'll hear
- The headline findings from both surveys
- The experiences of international researchers, who face additional visa, cost and mobility barriers
- What researchers say works well, including supportive supervision, leadership opportunities and external networks
- Recommendations for funders and government, universities, doctoral training programmes and PIs
- An open Q&A
Who should attend
- PhD researchers, postdocs and early career academics, especially in energy and net-zero research
- PIs and supervisors
- Doctoral training and researcher development staff
- Funders, policymakers and anyone with an interest in keeping research talent in the UK