Precarity in the Ivory Tower: Exploring the Challenges of Postdoctoral Researchers in German Higher Education

Emnet Tadesse Woldegiorgis

doi:10.25159/1947-9417/19341

Authors

Emnet Tadesse Woldegiorgis University of Johannesburg https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6371-7832

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25159/1947-9417/19341

Keywords:

Academic precarity, postdoctoral researchers, neoliberal higher education, Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz, labour inequality

Abstract

This article critically investigates the structural and experiential dimensions of precarity among postdoctoral researchers within the German higher education system. Drawing on the conceptual lens of neoliberalism, precaritisation, and intersectionality, the study examines how institutional policies, particularly the Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz (Academic Fixed-Term Contract Act), have normalised short-term contracts, undermined academic freedom, and restructured knowledge production around market imperatives. Employing a qualitative methodology, the research integrates document analysis with seven in-depth interviews conducted with postdoctoral scholars at the University of Bayreuth and the University of Bonn. The thematic analysis reveals that postdoctoral precarity is experienced through intersecting dimensions of job insecurity, constrained career progression, dependency on external funding, lack of agency, and psychosocial distress. These conditions not only impact individual well-being and career sustainability but also erode the epistemic integrity and ethical foundations of the university. The study argues that academic precarity is not merely a labour issue but a systemic manifestation of neoliberal governance, operating through temporal, spatial, and affective mechanisms. It concludes by calling for a fundamental reimagining of academic labour and institutional responsibility, contending that confronting precarity is essential for safeguarding the future of higher education as a democratic, inclusive, and intellectually autonomous domain.

References

Armano, E., and A. Murgia. 2013. “The Precariousness of Research Careers: A Comparative Study of Academia in Italy and Germany”. Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation 7 (1): 117–136. https://doi.org/10.13169/workorgalaboglob.7.1.0117.

BMBF (Bundesministerium fur Bildungund Forschung). 2021. Bundesbericht wissenschaftlicher Nachwuchs (BuWiN) 2021: Statistische Daten und Forschungsbefunde zu Promovierenden und Promovierten in Deutschland. Accessed April 8, 2024. https://www.buwin.de/dateien/buwin-2021.pdf.

Bosanquet, A., L. Mantai, and V. Fredericks. 2020. “Deferred Time in the Neoliberal University: Experiences of Doctoral Candidates and Early Career Academics”. In “The Timescapes of Teaching in Higher Education”, edited by P. J. Burke and C. Manathunga, special issue, Teaching in Higher Education: Critical Perspectives 25 (6): 736–749. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2020.1759528.

Brady, D., and T. Biegert. 2017. “The Rise of Precarious Employment in Germany”. In Precarious Work, Vol. 31, edited by A. L. Kalleberg and S. P. Vallas, 245–271. Leeds: Emerald Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0277-283320170000031008.

Braun, V., and V. Clarke. 2006. “Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology”. Qualitative Research in Psychology 3 (2): 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa.

Burton, S., and B. Bowman. 2022. “The Academic Precariat: Understanding Life and Labour in the Neoliberal Academy”. In “The Academic Precariat: Understanding Life and Labour in the Neoliberal Academy”, edited by S. Burton and B. Bowman, special issue, British Journal of Sociology of Education 43 (4): 497–512. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2022.2076387.

Cantwell, B., and I. Kauppinen, eds. 2014. Academic Capitalism in the Age of Globalization. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. https://doi.org/10.1353/book.49259.

Chia, A., L. Mossman, and A. L. Johnston. 2024. “Academic Precarity and Mental Health: Reviewing the Domains of Precarity ‘of'’, ‘at’, and ‘from’ Work”. In Research Handbook of Academic Mental Health, edited by M. S. Edwards, A. J. Martin, N. M. Ashkanasy, and L. E. Cox, 168–180. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781803925080.00017.

DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service). 2024. Studying in Germany: A Practical Guide for International Students. Accessed October 1, 2025. https://static.daad.de/media/daad_de/pdfs_nicht_barrierefrei/in-deutschland-studieren-forschen-lehren/daad_sid_en_web.pdf.

Davidson, J. D., F. N. de Oliveira Lopes, S. Safaei, F. Hillemann, N. J. Russell, and H. L. Schaare. 2023. “Postdoctoral Researchers’ Perspectives on Working Conditions and Equal Opportunities in German Academia”. Frontiers in Psychology 14: 1217823. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1217823.

Deutscher Bundestag. 2021. “Plenarprotokoll 19/236—30598/C”. June 24. https://dserver.bundestag.de/btp/19/19236.pdf.

FEBS Network. 2023. “FEBS Network Survey 2023: Share Your Views”. FEBS Network, November 23. https://network.febs.org/posts/febs-network-survey-2023-share-your-views.

Franz, S. 2019. “Funding and Employment Conditions for Doctoral Researchers in Germany: Between Scholarships and Third-Party Funding”. Higher Education Policy 32 (2): 153–171. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41307-018-0102-5.

GEW (Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft). 2021. Fixed-Term Contracts in the German Academic System: A Guide. Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft. https://www.gew.de/index.php?eID=dumpFile&f=119032&n=Fixed-Term-Contracts-Guide-2021-A5-web.pdf.

Gravett, K. 2021. “Disrupting the Doctoral Journey: Reimagining Doctoral Pedagogies and Temporal Practices in Higher Education”. In “Working in the Borderlands: Critical Perspectives on Doctoral Education”, edited by S. Carter, K. Smith, and N. Harrison, special issue, Teaching in Higher Education: Critical Perspectives 26 (3): 293–305. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2020.1853694.

Hardy, J. A. 2017. “(Re)conceptualising Precarity: Institutions, Structure and Agency”. Employee Relations: The International Journal 39 (3): 263–273. https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-06-2016-0111.

Heidt, A. 2023. “Europe Pumps €10 Million into Effort to Combat Brain Drain”. Nature, February 21. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00527-x.

Hlatshwayo, M. N. 2024. “You’re Brought in as a Workhorse and There’s No Real Security Here! Postdocs, Precarity and the Neoliberal University in South Africa”. Psychology in Society 66 (2): 26–44. https://doi.org/10.57157/pins2024Vol66iss2a6331.

Kreckel, R. 2017. “University Career Models and International Staff Mobility. Germany, France, Great Britain, USA and Russia Compared”. Available at SSRN. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2924590.

Lorey, I. 2015. State of Insecurity: Government of the Precarious. New York: Verso.

Mason, O., and N. Megoran. 2021. “Precarity and Dehumanisation in Higher Education”. Learning and Teaching 14 (1): 35–59. https://doi.org/10.3167/latiss.2021.140103.

Möller, S. 2018. “The Psychosocial Impact of Precarious Academic Employment in Germany”. Journal of Academic Studies 25 (4): 567–589.

Möller, T., and S. Hornbostel. 2023. “The Long and Winding Road to Excellence: The German Case”. In Academic Star Wars: Excellence Initiatives in Global Perspective, edited by M. Yudkevich, P. G. Altbach, and J. Salmi, 177–202. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/14601.003.0012.

Murray, D., C. Boothby, H. Zhao, V. Minik, N. Bérubé, V. Larivière, and C. R. Sugimoto. 2020. “Exploring the Personal and Professional Factors Associated with Student Evaluations of Tenure-Track Faculty”. PLoS One 15 (6): e0233515. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0233515.

Musselin, C. 2020. The Long Road to Tenure: Academic Employment Systems in Comparative Perspective. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Muthiah, V. 2024. “Rethinking Precarity”. PhD diss., London School of Economics and Political Science.

Read, B. 2023. “The University as Heterotopia? Space, Time and Precarity in the Academy”. Access: Critical Explorations of Equity in Higher Education 11 (1): 1–11.

Rosa, H. 2003. “Social Acceleration: Ethical and Political Consequences of a Desynchronized High-Speed Society”. Constellations: An International Journal of Critical and Democratic Theory 10 (1): 3–33. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8675.00309.

Spina, N., K. Smithers, J. Harris, and I. Mewburn. 2022. “Back to Zero? Precarious Employment in Academia amongst ‘Older’ Early Career Researchers, a Life-Course Approach”. In “The Academic Precariat: Understanding Life and Labour in the Neoliberal Academy”, edited by S. Burton and B. Bowman, special issue, British Journal of Sociology of Education 43 (4): 534–549. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2022.2057925.

Standing, G. 2011. The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class. London: Bloomsbury Academic. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781849664554.

Russell, N. J., H. L. Schaare, B. Bellón Lara, Y. Dang, A. Feldmeier-Krause, M.-T. Meemken, and F. N. de Oliveira-Lopes. 2023. Max Planck PostdocNet Survey Report 2022. Max Planck Society PostdocNet. https://doi.org/10.17617/2.3507886.

Tomlinson, M. 2024. “Conceptualising Transitions from Higher Education to Employment: Navigating Liminal Spaces”. Journal of Youth Studies 27 (8): 1079–1096. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2023.2199148.

Vatansever, A. 2023. “The Making of the Academic Precariat: Labour Activism and Collective Identity-Formation among Precarious Researchers in Germany”. Work, Employment and Society 37 (5): 1206–1225. https://doi.org/10.1177/09500170211069830.

Vostal, F. 2014. “Thematising Speed: Between Critical Theory and Cultural Analysis”. European Journal of Social Theory 17 (1): 95–114. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368431013505014.

Wendel-Hansen, A. 2024. “Academic Precarity in Germany—#IchBinHanna in #ResearchWonderland”. 1700-Tal: Nordic Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies 21: 166–173. https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/1700/article/view/7697.

Woldegiorgis, E. T. 2024. “Internationalisation of Higher Education under Neoliberal Imperatives: The Political Economy of Student Mobility in Africa”. In Critical Reflections on the Internationalisation of Higher Education in the Global South, edited by E. T. Woldegiorgis and C. Q. Yu, 13–31. Leeds: Emerald Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80455-778-520241002.