Research career stage models
Contents
Main
| Laudel & Gläser | EC | ESF | LERU | |
| Career Focus | Academic research | Open | Academic | |
| Description of career stages |
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| Defined by | Role sets/ Interdependence Authority |
Competences/ Independence, Leadership |
Positions/ Independence |
Positions/ Rank |
| Sector University | All | Public | University | |
| Distinguishing foci | Work/ Community | Competences | Tracking/ Gender | Shared career responsibilities |
Laudel and Gläser Model of research career stages
The Laudel and Gläser model of research career stages is theoretically informed whereas the remaining models are descriptive. Progression through research career stages may evolve differently within specific types of research careers.
Four career stages are described:
- Apprentice, Doctoral Training Career Stage (R1)
- Colleague
- Master
- Elite
The transition from one of these stages to the next is described as a change in the dominant ‘role set’. Ultimately it is the process of cognitive broadening, acquiring learning and other capabilities, which drives the transition from one role set to another – making the production of knowledge and the cognitive career the real trigger for career development (2001, p. 703[1]). Laudel and Gläser (2008)[2] show how transition from apprentice to colleague within the peer community involves the transformation of collaborative relationships (from mentoring to partnerships).
The four stages of a research career are drawn from career theory, specifically the work of Dalton and colleagues (1977)[3] on professional careers.
European Science Foundation (ESF)
The ESF Member Organisation Forum on Research Careers seeks (2012)[4]:
- to develop a roadmap for research career development in Europe and by this means
- to create new and improve existing European level, including coordinated national, policies and programmes aimed at promoting different career stages, and
- eventually to raise the international visibility of the ERA as a common labour market for researchers.
A taxonomy of research career stages has also been developed with the aim of describing the academic research career structure in Europe. The structure revolves around 4 career stages:
Stage I Doctoral training stage
Stage II Post-doctoral stage
Stage III Independent researcher stage
Stage IV Established researchers (professors, research professors, directors, senior scientists, etc.)
However, it is also acknowledged that research careers are nowadays less path dependent. They develop more and more into ‘portfolio careers’. In consequence, the traditional career pipeline model is increasingly replaced by the model of a ‘career tree’. It symbolizes the decreasing linearity of career paths which is accompanied by the trend to combine several part-time roles building up to one full-time role, e.g. by working part-time in different fields of employment. Intersectoral mobility is flagged as important for non-linear careers. Nevertheless, the four-stage model aims to promote the recognition of correspondences across national systems.
This framework pays specific attention to gender. It includes several concepts designed to specify career relevant factors disproportionately affecting women. These concepts include:
Leaky pipeline → Statistics show the drop out of women at various stages from training through employment.
Maternity/paternity/parental leave → Work-Life Balance (WLB)
Career breaks due to family reasons → WLB and Women-only funding (WOF) & Dual Career Couples (DCC)
Equal playing fields → Women in Science /Research including Gender Equality Policy /Initiatives / Networks /Mentoring / Peer Review
Sources
- ↑ Gläser, J. (2001). Macrostructures, Careers and Knowledge Production: A Neoinstitutionalist Approach. International Journal of Technology Management 22(7/8), 698-715. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJTM.2001.002987
- ↑ Laudel, G. & Gläser, J. (2008). From Apprentice to Colleague: The Metamorphosis of Early Career Researchers. Higher Education 55(3), 387–406. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-007-9063-7
- ↑ Dalton, G. W., Thompson, P. H. & Price, R. L. (1977). The four stages of professional careers - a new look at performance by professionals. Organizational Dynamics 6(1), 19-42. https://doi.org/10.1016/0090-2616(77)90033-X
- ↑ European Science Foundation, & Fonds National de la Recherche Luxembourg. (2012). How to Track Researchers’ Careers: A report by the ESF MO Forum on European Alliance for Research Careers Development.
