PhD students at universities experience stress and pressure to perform. Some groups also have fewer opportunities to move on successfully. Professor of Organizational Change Christine Teelken will investigate an improved, more inclusive PhD system.
"The PhD system is in a difficult situation, but a critical perspective on improvement and more inclusiveness is lacking. My research focuses on academic careers, more specifically the PhD system and the position of postdoctoral researchers."
"We see a lot of dropouts and delays in the PhD system, there are many problems with regard to supervision. PhD candidates experience stress, poor well-being and pressure to perform. The PhD system is insufficiently inclusive, multiple groups of PhD candidates have fewer opportunities to move on successfully. In addition, both PhD students and postdocs experience mediocre academic career prospects and are not well prepared for a non-academic career."
"Despite the fact that there is now more recognition of these problems, there is a lack of systematic and scientific research into academic careers and specifically the PhD system. Solutions offered are usually cosmetic and do insufficient justice to the complexity of the situation. I want to conduct research into an improved inclusive PhD system, with more attention to general, academic skills."