NATURE PhD SURVEY 2019

NATURE PhD SURVEY 2019

KEY HEADLINES

•37% of respondents are not studying in the country they grew up in. International (non-native) students are most likely to be completing their PhD in Europe (52%) and the US (25%).

•19% of respondents have a job alongside their PhD studies. The main driver for this is to help make ends meet (53%), followed by a desire to develop additional skills (25%).

•Students were likely to rank their top concerns as uncertainty with career prospects, maintaining a work-life balance, completing studies on time and funding issues since starting their PhD.

•Interestingly, almost an even proportion of respondents believe their satisfaction has worsened (45%) since their graduate school experience, compared to increased (42%).

•74% of respondents are satisfied with their decision to pursue a PhD. 71% of respondents are satisfied with their PhD experience. Factors which appear to correlate strongly with overall satisfaction include relationship with supervisor/PI, number of publications, hours worked, guidance from advisor in the lab and work-life balance.

•27% of respondents report that they spend 41-50 hours on their PhD programme per

week, and 25% report that they spend 51-60 hours. 85% of respondents who spend 41+ hours a week on their PhD are dissatisfied with their hours worked.

•36% of respondents have sought help for anxiety or depression. 49% of respondents report a long-hours culture at their university.

•21% of respondents have experienced bullying in their PhD programme. Supervisors (48%), other students (38%) and other staff (33%) were the most common perpetrators.

•21% of respondents had experienced

56% of respondents ranked academia as the sector they would most likely work in on completion of their PhD.

•The most popular career path is research in academia, followed by research in industry. Least popular paths appear to be non-research related roles.

•41% of respondents suggest they are more likely to pursue a research career since commencing their PhD, compared to 26% who are less likely.

•Funding and work-life balance are key barriers to pursuing an academic research career.

•67% of respondents believe their PhD will improve their job prospects either substantially or dramatically.

•A majority of respondents (46%) believe they will find a permanent position within the first 2 years of completing their PhD.

•Personal research is the main source of knowledge for students to base their current career decisions (60%). Observations andadvice from supervisors and colleagues follows (30-28%).

•A third (33%) of respondents learn about non-academic career opportunities from people in their department.

•Over half of respondents (51%) agree that department staff are open to them pursuing a career outside academia, however only 29%agree that they have been given useful advice on this. Only a quarter agree that their programme is preparing them well for a non-research science-related career.

•24% report that they would change their PI and 8% would not pursue a PhD at all, given the chance to start over.

Nature_PhD survey 2019_Report_v1.pdf