Understanding career transitions of applied researchers to universities: evidence from Germany

Cecilia Garcia Chavez, David Howoldt, Patrick Hoyer, Maria Karaulova, Henning Kroll and Torben Schubert

Science and Public Policy, 2024, vol. 51, issue 1, 89-107

Abstract: This paper analyses the conditions and factors influencing non-university researchers’ career transitions back into academia. Using affiliation data in publications of German researchers, their cross-sector career transitions from the public research organisation Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and industry to universities are analysed. Although the rate of transitions is small, there are distinctive windows of opportunity at a junior career stage, especially for Fraunhofer researchers. Researchers who publish more and in more acclaimed journals, Fraunhofer researchers who co-publish with universities, and women are more likely to gain a university affiliation over the course of their career. These results indicate the influence of institutional proximity for cross-domain career transitions. The quality and impact of academic knowledge could be improved if the higher education sector was more open to recruitment of researchers from other sectors. Policy needs to target the barriers that preclude applied researchers from pursuing university careers.

Keywords: research careers; career transitions; inter-sectoral researcher mobility; knowledge transfer; applied research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:scippl:v:51:y:2024:i:1:p:89-107.

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