How to move up the academic ladder at universities of technology?

News - 27 February 2018 - Webredactie

Recent research into career prospects at universities of technology shows that heterogeneity through research orientation, gender and mentors influences academic careers differently. “If universities of technology want female academics to pursue a career, they should take care that women can secure tenured positions and full professorships in the same way as their male counterparts. Another recommendation for both male and female academics is to bridge between the quest for fundamental understanding and socio-economic relevance to attain career success”, says Claudia Werker, associate professor at TU Delft, who wrote a paper on this subject.

Career trajectory
Werker: “As far as we know this research project is unique, since it is the first in which the full career trajectory has been analysed”. Another interesting conclusion is that mentor-mentee heterogeneity only helps in early career transitions, but hampers advancement later on. The paper’s insights offer suggestions to policymakers, university managers, and academics, to help them identify promising academics, the right support for sitting staff members, measures correcting for gender imbalances, and to make strategic choices regarding research orientation and PhD supervisors.

More information
Claudia Werker is associate professor at the VTI department of TPM. She carried out research into how Academic Researchers Drive Innovation Systems in the EU FP7 project ARDIS. This research was input for the paper on career prospects at universities of technology of which Werker is one of the authors.