An international exploration of post-PhD careers
Dr Christine Teelken (Associate Professor, VU Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Online
An international exploration of post-PhD careers. Discussing the issues of employability and intersectorial mobility. With a focus at Precarious postdocs and well-being at work in the Netherlands.
This event is part of the School of Education's Bristol Conversations in Education research seminar series. These seminars are free and open to the public.
Hosted by the Centre for Higher Education Transformations (CHET)
Speaker: Dr Christine Teelken (Associate Professor, VU Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands)
The journey beyond the realm of academia following the completion of a doctoral degree is a topic of increasing importance and intrigue, this is particularly the case in countries such as the Netherlands and the UK where about 70% of PhD-holders will be expected to find employment outside academia (e.g. van der Weijden et al. 2016; Teelken and van der Weijden 2018; Hancock 2023), whereas in Denmark within the social sciences and humanities, most PhDs are employed within academia and employment in other sectors is less frequent (Rasmussen and Andreassen 2023).
As academic, professional, and industrial landscapes continue to evolve, so do the career trajectories that doctoral graduates embark upon. Our research delves into the diverse range of opportunities and challenges that define the post-PhD career phase. Since it is no longer sufficient to consider only traditional academic pathways; today’s doctoral recipients are expected to explore avenues that span academia, industry, entrepreneurship, consultancy, policy-making, and more. While the impact of several international developments such as the Bologna process and the shaping of the European Area of Higher Education have become increasingly visible in the European systems of higher education, at the same time, universities have had to deal with less financial resources. This results in less options for long-term employment, resulting in the necessity to increase awareness concerning employability of PhD-students and junior academics outside the academic sector.
Christine Teelken works as an associate professor at the VU Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands. She is member of management team of the department of Organization Sciences, and coordinates a bachelor and masters' program. She is link convenor of the ECER network 22, research in higher education since 2014 and member of the OECD project group 'research precariat'. Her research focusses on (post) academic careers such as postdoctoral researchers, and gender diversity in academia. She has published widely in a range of journals in the field of higher education (Studies in Higher Education, Higher Education, Research in Higher Education) and Governance sciences. Since August 2020, she is editor for Higher Education Quarterly.