Leibniz PhD students fear career uncertainty, survey finds

Four out of 10 doctoral students in the institutes and museums of the Leibniz Association have considered discontinuing their dissertation work, a study by the association has shown.

The study surveyed more than 1,000 doctoral students supervised by staff at the association of independent research centres, as part of the Leibniz PhD Network.

Around 66 percent of the unhappy students cited “unclear career prospects” as the main reason for their concerns. Just under a third said that the scientific yield of their work is not sufficient to guarantee a good career, and 29 per cent said they struggled with financial uncertainty.