The employment situations and career prospects of postdoctoral researchers

Purpose This paper draws on the employment situation of postdoctoral researchers (postdocs) in the Netherlands, concerning their career prospects and embeddedness within their organisation, in order to discuss theoretical perspectives on academic careers. Design/methodology/approach Our multimethod study consists of three parts: a survey, in-depth interviews, and three focus group meetings with postdocs as well as representatives of the Human Resource (HR) staff and the Dutch Research Council (NWO). This paper reports on findings from the focus group meetings, which concentrated on how postdoctoral researchers consider their employment situation and career prospects. Findings The three focus group discussions revealed that postdocs are caught within a dual controversy, the first involves their lack of clarity concerning their career prospects and developments despite their highly valued work, the second regards the fact that they are specialized staff, contributing to the primary process of their employin...