{"id":3280,"date":"2020-01-05T19:11:38","date_gmt":"2020-01-05T19:11:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/do-you-love-science-but-are-unhappy-with-the-culture-in-academia\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T16:37:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T11:07:24","slug":"do-you-love-science-but-are-unhappy-with-the-culture-in-academia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/do-you-love-science-but-are-unhappy-with-the-culture-in-academia","title":{"rendered":"Do you love science but are unhappy with the culture in academia?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note:<\/i><\/b> This post was originally published on <\/i>LinkedIn<\/i><\/a> and has been reposted here\u00a0with permission. Minor edits have been made with the author’s approval.\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Do you love science but are unhappy with the culture in academia?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As a PhD student, postdoc or lab leader (PI), do you feel like your mental health may be suffering because of problems in the system?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Do you think your lab could be managed more efficiently?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

After around 12 years of working in academia in the UK, Germany, Turkey, Belgium, USA and Canada, I have been exposed to a diverse spectrum of cultures across different labs. One of the most striking things I have seen in common across most labs is the style (or\u00a0lack thereof<\/a>) of leadership and management of people and projects.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

What happened to management and leadership training in academia?<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When I began to look beyond academia and into the culture of business in the commercial sector, I was truly shocked at how stark the\u00a0contrast<\/a>\u00a0is. To be employed as any kind of manager in the commercial world, training of management and leadership related skills is the norm, but in academia, this is a rarity. Unfortunately, this not only affects the\u00a0doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers,<\/a>\u00a0but also their\u00a0supervisors<\/a>. Due to poor access to resources, supervisors are unable to give more attention to training, they also underestimate the value of these skills, and lack time due to institutional pressures.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The actual training part of a PhD or postdoc position is often sadly forgotten<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Are doctoral students and postdocs really in training?<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The actual training part of a PhD or postdoc position is often sadly forgotten. This ends up being at the expense of the trainee, the supervisor, the institution and society as a whole as the majority of PhD students graduate with a critical lack of soft skills required for career progression, academic or not.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A survey of 50,000 graduate students showed that 86% reported levels of anxiety<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Mind the gap<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The issue of mental health in academia has been gaining more attention, particularly for students. A recent\u00a0survey<\/a>\u00a0of 50,000 graduate students in the UK showed that 86% reported significant levels of anxiety. In addition, there have been multiple recent reports of bullying<\/a>,\u00a0harassment<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0exploitation<\/a>, not only from scientific staff, but also\u00a0scientific support staff<\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"DefaultThere is\u00a0no<\/a>\u00a0shortage<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0media<\/a>\u00a0out there highlighting problems in the culture of academia. It is undeniable that the poor mental health of doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers and numerous cases of bad supervision are not unrelated. Moreover, all faculty members were also once doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers, so it would follow that mental health issues are also\u00a0rife<\/a>\u00a0at higher levels.<\/span><\/span><\/span>
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Filling the gap<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As a result of the increased discussion of these problems, there has been a growth of initiatives aiming to improve the training experience and mental health of doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers. A couple of examples include the\u00a0N2 network<\/a>\u00a0of Doctoral Researchers in Germany, which consists of the\u00a0Max Planck PhDnet<\/a>,\u00a0Helmholtz Juniors<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Leibniz PhD Network<\/a>. The N2 Network is active at the\u00a0political<\/a>\u00a0level and has explicitly expressed its goals in political and constitutional letters, and a position paper addressing power abuse and conflict resolution. Another organization tackling some of these issues is the\u00a0German Scholars Organization<\/a>, offering\u00a0career support, leadership training and a broad network<\/a>\u00a0of peers in academia.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

An alarming 0.45% of people with PhDs go on to become professors<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Nowhere to go<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers often find themselves\u00a0believing<\/a>\u00a0that their\u00a0only career option<\/a>\u00a0is a traditional academic path, partly due to a lack of career-related resources, but also largely due to the culture embedded in academia. However, we now\u00a0know<\/a>\u00a0that an alarming 0.45% of people with PhDs in the UK go on to become professors. With these kinds of prospects, it is no wonder doctoral students\u2019 and postdoctoral researchers\u2019 mental health is in crisis. A recalibration of resources is clearly needed to allow for PhD graduates to shift their perspectives and expectations, to accept that tenure is actually the \u201calternative path\u201d, and to know there are indeed\u00a0countless<\/a>\u00a0other\u00a0feasible<\/a>\u00a0career options\u00a0out there<\/a>. On a positive note, a\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0by the World Economic Forum indicated that the skills most sought after by employers will include problem solving, creative thinking, emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills by 2020, all of which are thoroughly developed during a PhD.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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So, what\u2019s the purpose of this article?<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This article is the first in a series that will dive deeper into the issues mentioned here, and will provide an information resource for doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers and supervisors. The intentions are not only to raise awareness, but also to identify feasible, tangible and actionable solutions.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

What to expect from these articles in the future<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Future articles will provide:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n