Spotlight on Early Career Researchers in Academia (SPECRIA)

Wider research context: SPECRIA investigates how contemporary higher-education governance - marked by institutional autonomy, performance-based funding, excellence programmes and structured doctoral education - shapes academic work and career trajectories, with a core focus on early-career researchers (ECRs) in Austria and France. Framed by theories of career governance and managerialism in academia, the project conceptualises “career attractiveness” as a governance-dependent, relational perception that emerges from overlapping institutional contexts (disciplinary field, national policy regime, organisational environment) Research questions: We ask: (1) How are national and institutional reforms translated into the organisation and evaluation of academic work? (1a) How do these translations influence ECR status and trajectories? (2) How do researchers perceive and adapt to evolving governance mechanisms? (3) How do these processes differ across national contexts and generations, and what tensions or inequalities arise? Our objective is to identify “career governance configurations” and their links to autonomy, fairness, job satisfaction, recognition, and intentions to stay in or leave academia. Methods: SPECRIA applies an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design (QUAN?QUAL). First, the Future-AP survey in Austria and France (core A–H blocks) maps work and governance dimensions for academics using stratified sampling and GDPR-compliant online fieldwork. Second, multivariate models derive governance configurations and outcome composites; cross-country comparisons identify convergences/divergences. Third, embedded institutional case studies (documents; semi-structured interviews with HR, doctoral schools, faculty leaders, and academics) reconstruct local regimes and explain quantitative patterns. A secondary analysis situates the two countries within the APIKS spectrum (10 European systems) Level of originality: The project advances a novel, comparative lens by linking instruments of governance (evaluation regimes, contracts, funding models, tenure-track variants) to lived academic practices and ECR perceptions. Methodologically, it combines large-scale survey infrastructure with embedded multiple-case studies and cross-national typologisation—an uncommon design in research on academic careers—yielding transferable insights for policy and institutional strategy. Primary researchers involved: The project is led by researchers from Austria and France, and collaborators from the Future-AP consortium. PhD candidates are actively involved and will use project data for dissertation research.