https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9690-1417
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ABSTRACT
The workplace for early-career researchers (ECRs) in STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine) is highly competitive; ECRs urgently need to publish and attract funding to secure their next job. The literature suggests this environment is more difficult for women than for men. They start the postdoctoral period in equal numbers; however more women leave academia than men and women are under-represented at the senior levels. Interviews of eight women who had recently left academic research explored their reasons for the change, providing insight into the difficult decision-making processes and the largely beneficial outcomes of their choices of new careers.
Acknowledgments
We thank our interviewees, known here as Margaret, Rosie, Pixie, Tania, Sarah, Cecile, Laura, and Daisy for their enthusiastic assistance.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Supplemental data
Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2021.1972304.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Katherine Christian
Katherine Christian works with early-career researchers in science disciplines, teaching them how to manage themselves, their research, and their careers.
Carolyn Johnstone
Carolyn Johnstone is interested in adult education and work-based learning and the professional identities of teachers.
Jo-ann Larkins
Jo-ann Larkins interests lie in mathematics education, particularly the impacts of anxiety and the level of preparedness of students for tertiary mathematics and statistics.
Wendy Wright
Wendy Wright helps early-career researchers understand and articulate the skills they develop during research training. Her own research discipline is conservation biology.