ARCS Bulletin No. 1 | ARCS Bulletin No. 2 | Career Change Record Card

Where do academic researchers go when their contracts come to an end? The Scottish Higher Education Council (SHEFC) has been concerned for some time about the lack of information about the career destinations of contract researchers employed in Scottish higher education institutions (SHEIs). As part of a wider initiative on the training and career guidance needs of this growing section of the academic population, the Council, with supporting sponsorship from other interested parties including the ESRC, the Scottish Office and the Carnegie Trust, invited twelve leading labour market research organisations to submit tenders to carry out a longitudinal study of current contract research staff in Scotland. The outcome was the appointment of a team from the Institute for Employment Research at the University of Warwick, led by Dr. Kate Purcell – an expatriate Scot from Elgin.

The project has begun and all contract researchers should have received a yellow questionnaire from the IER, asking about their current post, educational and employment history and career aspirations. In addition to completing this questionnaire at the outset and providing an update in summer 1999, contract researchers are being asked to notify the IER team of changes in employment or contractual status in the intervening period, so that a full picture of the transitions within - and flows out of - academic contract research can be monitored. Do research careers vary according to subject or institution? What proportion of researchers on fixed-term contracts move into more secure academic employment and what proportion move to other sectors? Of the latter, how many remain in research and how many move on to different types of employment? How geographically mobile are contract researchers? What are the training and career guidance needs of contract researchers and how do these vary by discipline? Do researchers regard themselves as developing research careers, academic careers, or en route to something else? The answers to these questions have significant implications for higher education employers and for researchers themselves.

If you are a contract researcher at a Scottish Higher Education institution and have not received a questionnaire from IER, please e-mail or telephone the project secretary ; tel. 024 76523283 and ask for one. If you have received a questionnaire and have not yet returned it, please do so now. Both SHEFC and the researchers are committed to providing regular feedback about the study to the contract research population throughout the project as well as at the end. Respondents have been provided with a Career Change Record Card to notify the research team of any change in their employment situation. This can also be filled in on-line CLICK HERE