Postdoctoral Training and Employment Outcomes

EIP 01/10

John Thompson
Margot Pearson
Gerlese Akerlind
John Hooper
Nicole Mazur

Centre for Educational Development and Academic methods Australian National University

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This report is funded under the Evaluations and Investigations Programme of the Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs.

The views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs.

Executive Summary

This report explores postdoctoral training and employment outcomes in the Australian higher education system. The overall aims of the study, the primary sources of data and how study subjects were defined are outlined in Chapter One. The ways in which a 'postdoctoral researcher' (PDR) is conceived in various schemes and industrial awards is detailed, and national and international research and policy initiatives relating to postdoctoral training and employment are reviewed.

Chapter Two reports on the methods employed in the project. This chapter also lists classification schemes used in the research to aggregate data and the nomenclature for identifying university staff. Finally, recommendations are made for further research on research training and employment outcomes.

Chapter Three details the findings from the survey of current postdoctoral researchers. Data are presented on: demographic characteristics of the sample; features of postdoctoral positions and additional duties; postdoctoral researchers' perceptions of their training, degree of autonomy and career outlooks and aspirations; the mobility of postdoctoral researchers; and other issues raised by the respondents.

Chapter Four presents the findings from in-depth interviews with selected postdoctoral researchers, supervisors and senior executive staff from research intensive universities. The interview data provides information highlighting the varied perspectives on the role and duties of postdoctoral researchers and the kind of career support they receive, and identifies further career issues for postdoctoral researchers.

Chapter Five presents data on the employment outcomes of a sample of former postdoctoral researchers, their assessments of their postdoctoral position, and the relevance and benefits of their postdoctoral training to their current situations. The chapter concludes with a discussion of other issues relating to postdoctoral training and employment raised by the respondents.

Chapter Six presents a summary of the findings from all the data sets, and discusses current and emerging policy and practice for postdoctoral training and employment outcomes. The report identifies the need for:

a coherent policy framework for addressing the career management of research staff (including PDRs) which recognises the importance of the role of contract research staff, their contribution to the higher education system and to Australian research.
an agreed conceptual model for postdoctoral research 'training' to underpin 'good practice' in Australia;
the provision of generic career support and training for postdoctoral researchers in addition to specialist work based training;
the formalisation of 'good practice' at all levels for research staff (including PDRs) such as a continuous improvement model for appraisal schemes for career and professional development which involve both university employers and research funding agencies;
systematic data collection on contract research staff (especially Level As) in Australia, through DETYA and research funding agency reporting mechanisms, as an information source for policy development; and
the use of international 'best practice' in developing policies for research staff (including PDRs) in Australia.

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