Tenure Track | Aktuelles

Third survey successfully completed: First insight into the data

The three-month field phase of our third survey wave concluded at the end of October 2024. We are very pleased that over 1,200 professors who had participated for the first time in 2022 took part again. Our response rate was 53%, which indicates a lively interest in our panel. Thank you very much! As a first insight into the data, we have put together a poster for you in which you can learn something about how resilient professors are, how important open science has become to them, but also that almost a quarter have seriously considered leaving academia in the last 24 months.

Best student paper award at GfHf Conference!

We are proud to announce that Lisa-Marie Steinkampf was awarded a price for outstanding student thesis at this year's 19th annual meeting of the Society for Higher Education Research (GfHf). The conference was held on 23-25 September 2024 at the FernUniversit�t Hagen in Germany. Lisa-Marie won the price for her excellent Master's thesis A typology of professoral career paths in Germany (Master of Arts in Sociology, Leibniz University Hannover), where she analyzed the patterns of career paths from doctorate degree to first tenured professorship. She conducted her study with data from our DZHW’s longitudinal survey on professors' careers – the prof*panel.

Field start of the 3rd wave is imminent!

We are currently in the final testing phase of the already implemented online version of our survey for the 3rd wave. Third wave means that this is the 2-year follow-up survey to the first survey in 2022. In addition to questions on career progression - for example: Did one apply for new jobs? Were you able to conduct appointment or retention negotiations due to a reputation? Did you survive your tenure track evaluation? Have you even left academia? - The questionnaire also deals with new aspects such as stress, job satisfaction, attitudes and motives, as well as observed or experienced abuse of power in academia.
Here is an overview of all topics:

An update on your career path
Questions about your job satisfaction and ability to deal with stress [new]
Your attitudes and motives [new]
An update on your activities and their scope (research, teaching, committee work)
Your experience with the abuse of power in academia [new]
An update on your overall life situation (e.g. commuting, partnership, children)

We look forward to your active participation! If you were there in 2022 but not in 2023: no problem! It will be all the more valuable if you are back in 2024 and help us to better understand professorial career paths, including the particular challenges.

New Flyer: Career paths to full professorship in Germany

We are pleased to give you an overview of possible paths to a lifetime professorship with our new flyer! In addition, we present first results regarding the educational background of the professors in our panel by type of professorship. Here you can find a web and print version in German and English on the DZHW website.

RESSH 2024 Student Paper Award!

We congratulate our PhD student Claudia Begemann (DZHW Department "Educational Careers and Graduate Employment") whose joint conference contribution with Carolin Luksche (DZHW Department "Governance in Higher Education and Science") and Julia R�wert (PhD scholarship of the Stiftung der Deutschen Wirtschaft) was recently honored with the RESSH Student Paper Award!

Meet the prof*panel at these conferences in 2024

We are looking forward to presenting the results of the prof*panel at the following conferences this year:

Conference of the European Consortium for Sociological Research (ECSR), 12.-14. September, Barcelona, Spain. Talk on “Successful career paths to full professorship – A typology and analysis of influencing factors”
Research Evaluation in Social Sciences and Humanities (RESSH), 23.-24. Mai, Galway, Ireland. Talk on “Understanding Evaluation Criteria: A Comprehensive Analysis of the Implementation of Tenure-Track Professorships at German Universities”

Follow us on Twitter/X!

The prof*panel is now also on Twitter, connecting with academics and researchers on social media. Follow @profpanel_DZHW for the latest updates on our long-term study and insights into academic career trajectories.

Second survey up and running!

On July 6, 2023, the prof*panel launched its first follow-up survey! The aim of this follow-up is to record the current status of the career paths of participating professors in Germany. As a long-term study, the prof*panel conducts annual measurements to track changes in career trajectories. The survey is used to record career paths into and during professorship and to determine types of career paths. In addition, the study included several new topics (while dropping others) that could influence career trajectories: (1) work-life balance and health, and (2) problem-solving skills.

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