Postdoctoral programs and policies: challenges and institutional diversity

Design: Daria Gvozdeva

This fall HSE University published the special issue of Higher Education and Beyond dedicated to postdoctoral programs. This issue aims to shed some light on postdoctoral programs from various perspectives in the view of experts from the CIS countries, China, the EU and the US. Still, this “picture” is far from being complete, and there are some gaps missing in understanding of the true motivation behind postdoctoral programs, its institutional diversity and postdoc career opportunities.

Russian universities and research institutions are at the early steps of running postdoctoral programs and await a coming novel national strategy behind postdoctoral studies. We are interested in discussing the long experience of such programs abroad with a special focus on expected contribution, strategies and challenges from an institutional and policy perspective. Discussion on these issues would contribute to building the strategy behind postdoctoral initiatives.

A preliminary agenda of the discussion is outlined below.

1. Postdoc as a distinct category in universities and research institutions policies. Is it a phenomenon on an oversupplied and precarious PhD labor market or an essential milestone in an academic career?
2. Postdoctoral program as a not one-size-fits-all story: does this variety depend on the university ranking, its goals, resources, and national research policy?
3. Postdoctoral programs facing labor market challenges: is preparing for a career outside academia a new responsibility of a host university/institution?

An online round table discussion covering these issues is scheduled on December 10, 2020 at 4 p.m. (Moscow time, GMT+3). Organizers: HSE University postdoctoral program office in cooperation with HSE postdocs.

Working language is English.

List of speakers:

• Conor Galvin, PhD (Director of PhD programme, School of Education, University College Dublin)
• Karri Holley, PhD (Professor, College of Education, University of Alabama)
• Hugo Horta, PhD (Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong)
• Lynn McAlpine, PhD (Professor Emerita of Higher Education Development at the University of Oxford, Professor Emerita at McGill University)
• Svetlana Tvorogova, PhD (independent researcher)
• Maria Yudkevich, PhD (Associate Professor, Director of Center for Institutional Studies, Vice Rector of HSE University)

Moderators:

• Denis Ananin, PhD (Research Fellow, Postdoc, Center for Institutional Studies, HSE University)
• Vera Maltseva, PhD (Research Fellow, Postdoc, Centre for Vocational Education and Skills Development, Institute of Education, HSE University)

Target audience: researchers of higher education and academic profession, academic managers, early-career academics (PhD students, postdocs)