Tension points in the postdoctoral talent pipeline: a comparative study

Authors: Ingrid Holme, Shane O'Donnell, Susi Geiger, Conor Douglas, Jane Calvert, Jennifer Keenahan, Richard Lombard Vance, Paula Tumulty, Alexander Kladakis,  Alexander Stingl, Brendan Flynn

Organisations:  University of Galway, UCD, York University, University of Edinburgh, DCU

Growing scientific research talent requires technical training, material resources, and nurturing researchers' social well-being, especially as progression in STEM fields is impacted by factors such as gender and race, producing a widely acknowledged leaky pipeline. Funded under Research Ireland’s Science Policy Research stand, this project explores the research talent pipeline and researcher career progression in Ireland, Denmark and Singapore as examples of small, advanced economies. Our poster includes our initial findings from mapping the lived experiences of postdoctoral staff (n=90) within the talent pipeline to understand the qualitative and quantitative elements of the pipeline, and the constraints and blockages. This enables us to question if, and in what way, an optimal attainable national research talent pipeline is possible.