Speaker
Description
Several surveys conducted at the Department of Physics at Stockholm University have revealed that a significantly smaller proportion of women PhD students intend to remain in academia compared to the men PhD students. To follow up on this finding and investigate the underlying causes, the PhD and Postdoc Councils carried out a new survey in the spring of 2025. This survey targeted both PhD students and postdoctoral researchers, aiming to better understand their career motivations and to identify potential barriers they face within the department. The survey explored participants’ intentions to stay in or leave academia, how those intentions evolved over time, and the factors influencing their decisions. The results confirmed that women respondents were more likely than men to change their initial intention to stay in academia, instead opting to leave during the course of their PhD or postdoc. Additionally, notable gender differences emerged in the reasons given for considering a departure from academia. In this talk I will discuss the results of the survey, what conclusions can be drawn from them and which activities they have triggered so far at our department.
