Sally Maindew's (not her real name) research career ended in tears and rage. In January, the 29-year-old Irish biochemist, working in Austria, told her supervisor that she was sick of the semi-legal, orally agreed working arrangements. She was pregnant and needed a proper working contract, including maternity benefits and social security. She will never forget his answer: "Please empty your office and hand me the keys."
On her way home, she thought of ending the pregnancy — a drastic idea. Instead she decided to fight her corner. But in the weeks that followed, she realized that without a written contract she had virtually no rights in Austria. Despite being a European Union (EU) citizen and working in an EU country, she was basically an outcast.
Half a million junior researchers, such as PhD students and postdoctoral workers, form the backbone of Europe's scientific pursuits. How many of them are employed under ill-defined conditions can only be guessed. Only a few young scientists may have experienced treatment as extreme as Maindew's, but many postgraduate researchers throughout the EU would agree that their supervision, education and legal status could be improved.
Associations that represent postgraduates are addressing these issues. Some organizations and scientific administrators would like more clearly defined conditions. Some are calling for standardization of training and conditions throughout Europe.
"PhD students are professionals, and they can expect to be treated with due respect," says Dagmar Meyer, an assistant professor of mathematics at the University of Göttingen in Germany and head of the Marie Curie Fellowship Association. "Unfortunately, they have too little say, and their needs and problems are not always taken seriously."
Recognition of a PhD, its value on the non-academic job market, and the structure of training undertaken vary from country to country.
In Germany and Austria, for example, a PhD is an essential requirement for senior positions in many non-academic professions. PhD holders proudly indicate their degree on letterheads, business cards and door-plates. This would be considered unusual in France, Spain or Britain.
"French companies don't have much interest in a PhD title," says Francis Vella, a French developmental biologist at the UK Medical Research Council's Clinical Sciences Centre in London. In France and Spain, PhD experience is not always valued, he says. "It can actually be a disadvantage on the job market, and so many applicants don't even mention it in their CVs."
In most EU countries, universities produce more PhDs than the academic system can absorb. As a result, an estimated two-thirds of PhD candidates need to look for a job in industry. "It would be better if PhDs were more generally recognized as a qualification for either career option," says Vella. Doctoral education should always include training in skills required outside the lab, he adds.
Such 'transferable' skills, for example project management and budgeting, have already become an integral part of many doctoral programmes. Several countries have also begun to establish formal requirements for doctoral training, to ensure that candidates get appropriate support and supervision, and finish their PhDs in a reasonable time. The British Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, for example, has defined the skills and competencies required to be awarded a PhD.
In Britain and Ireland, contractual regulations outlining the duties and obligations of PhD students and their supervisors have decreased drop-out rates and helped reduce the length of study to three years. In other countries, such as Poland, Romania and Russia, excessive state validation continues to plague many junior researchers.
No wonder that doctoral programmes and Marie Curie fellowships that allow scientists to work in Britain, Scandinavia and the Netherlands are attractive to people from central and eastern Europe, as well as to young researchers from Mediterranean countries. "Doctoral education in Spain is poorly structured, and there are no employment rights at all," says Toni Gabaldón, who recently moved from Valencia to the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands to complete his PhD (see Nature 428, 448–449; 2004).
"Here I have a proper contract and a mentor who could mediate if there were any problems with the supervision. I can also attend academic writing courses, and the university even gave me some money for my move and helped me find a place to live," says Gabaldón.
Gabaldón coordinates the mobility workgroup of the European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers (EURODOC). At their annual meeting in Strasbourg in March, EURODOC delegates agreed on a charter for supervision and training for junior researchers that listed best practices for student–supervisor relations and methods for reviewing progress, and outlined complaint procedures for PhD candidates (see 'The travel bug').
If adopted, this charter should help researchers who have disagreements with their supervisors, or feel isolated in their departments, to get back on track, says Tim Brown, an assistant engineering professor at Aalborg University in Denmark, who edited the charter. Most of the EURODOC suggestions have already been taken up by the European Commission, which earlier this month published its own recommendations for a 'career charter' (see Nature 434, 127; 200510.1038/434127a).
The 'Bologna Process' has even more ambitious goals. This is a joint initiative from European science ministers to standardize academic degrees across the continent. At a summit meeting this May in Bergen, ministers will discuss the creation of common structures for doctoral education in Europe.
But not everybody is convinced that this is necessary, or desirable. "Diversity is not such a bad thing," says Brown. "An equal system of funding and supervision is hardly achievable anyway. So why not have a mosaic of models, as long as there are common objectives and minimum standards?"
A common PhD structure might be an advantage for some countries. In Austria and Germany, the relationship between candidates and supervisors is particularly close, which sometimes causes problems. Supervisors often expect teaching and other duties from PhD candidates, which can prolong their studies.
Nonetheless, in Germany, a survey carried out by Thesis, the German PhD students' organization, revealed a great level of enthusiasm for their research and, despite problems, a high level of satisfaction with their supervisors.
This is no comfort for those researchers placed in an impossible situation. For young scientists such as Maindew, a new European charter for junior researchers is long overdue.
The travel bug
Mobility was more than a catchphrase at this month's EURODOC assembly. Several of the delegates, including, ironically, at least one member of the mobility work group, had difficulty getting to Strasbourg.
Sne
ana Krsti
, the member in question, has more travel problems than most people — and not just because of strikes by French railway and airport workers. In common with scientists from the Balkans, Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, she has to undergo a time-consuming procedure every time she travels to the European Union (EU). "It very much constrains our ability to participate in scientific meetings and communicate with other scientists," she complains.
There is no spot left unstamped in Krsti's passport. The young teaching assistant at the University of Belgrade in Serbia, who last year completed her PhD in chemical engineering, needs a visa to travel. The time it takes her to get the sought-after stamps varies depending on the country and the season. During the summer, for example, she says that people queue for hours outside the Greek embassy in Belgrade. And some embassy staff are not renowned for their politeness: "Sometimes I don't even try to apply for a visa because I know what is waiting for me," she says.
Like many young scientists from Serbia, she is eager to gain experience in other countries, but the cumbersome visa requirements make this difficult.
The European Commission has begun to address this issue. It has recommended that all EU countries introduce a fast-track procedure for issuing short-term visas for scientists travelling to meetings and conferences. The commission has also drafted a directive, to be issued in the summer, to ease the immigration of scientists who opt for longer-term work in the EU.