Abstract
This article analyses the early careers of young scientists in France. Since training and early career management are designed to cater almost exclusively for an academic career, a substantial proportion of PhDs lack support to design their training in relation to the job they will look for after graduation. Even if most young scientists manage to find employment, this situation may be quite uncomfortable. At a time when the number of permanent posts is declining, it can penalize scientific activity by discouraging good students from choosing this option. That is why this article will explore new directions for career management. Based on an analysis of the first 10 years of 652 scientists' careers in life sciences, it suggests that tenure is not the only possible promise for young academics. More precisely, it highlights the need for broader career promises, including career prospects outside the academic sphere. The introduction of such new career prospects would help to adapt research management to current realities of the scientific job market. It would also facilitate the diffusion of scientific knowledge in the economic sphere.
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Notes
In all, 652 are the number of PhDs who answered the questionnaire. It has been sent to 900 PhDs.
The number of publications in international journals and the participation of one of the persons of the team on the editorial committee of one or more journals evaluate scientific visibility in the questionnaire.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to express our thanks to Nadine Mandran who made a large part of the statistical analysis, to the participants of the workshop ‘Gestion des ressources humaines’ at Cerag-UPMF, to the participants of the EGOS 2000, to the researchers at the RVM conference, Georgia Tech University, Atlanta, 2001 and to all the participants of Science, Training and Career', Enschede (NL), 21–22 October 2002. Their comments were very helpful. Of course, usual caveats apply. Lastly, we also want to thank INRA for its financial support.
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Dany, F., Mangematin, V. Beyond the Dualism Between Lifelong Employment and Job Insecurity: Some New Career Promises for Young Scientists. High Educ Policy 17, 201–219 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.hep.8300051
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.hep.8300051