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Supervision and Early Career Work Experiences of Estonian Humanities Researchers Under the Conditions of Project-based Funding

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Abstract

We analyze a series of interviews with Estonian humanities researchers to explore topics related to the beginning of academic careers and the relationships with supervisors and mentors. We show how researchers strive to have meaningful relationships and produce what they consider quality research in the conditions of a system that is very strongly oriented towards internationalization and project-based funding, where their efforts are compromised by a lack of policies helping them establish a stable position in academia. Leaving researchers to face these obstacles alone places a great burden on them and may lead to a loss of talent in academia. Identifying and addressing these issues is thus important for both the well-being of early career researchers and the future of academia.

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Notes

  1. In 2012, institutional research funding and personal research funding, two new instruments combining institutional and project-based elements, were introduced in Estonia with the aim (among others) of decreasing fragmentation and improving coordination between funding sources by replacing several of the previously existing funding instruments. As our interviews were mostly conducted before their introduction, we do not discuss them in the article. It is not yet clear whether they will be able to solve the problems discussed. For example, Raudla et al. (2014, 2, 16 and 24) point out that they may exacerbate the problem of funding fluctuations for groups that fail to secure institutional research funding during a given year’s application round. The number of failed applications is considerable: in 2014, the failure rate of institutional research funding applications was 40% overall and 52% for the humanities and social sciences (Estonian Research Council’s Memorandum, 2014, 1); for personal research funding applications, the overall failure rate was 87% (Estonian Research Council’s Memorandum, 2014, 8).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Tartu, Ülikooli 18, Tartu, 50090, Estonia

    Jaana Eigi, Pille Põiklik, Endla Lõhkivi & Katrin Velbaum

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  1. Jaana Eigi
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  2. Pille Põiklik
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  3. Endla Lõhkivi
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  4. Katrin Velbaum
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Eigi, J., Põiklik, P., Lõhkivi, E. et al. Supervision and Early Career Work Experiences of Estonian Humanities Researchers Under the Conditions of Project-based Funding. High Educ Policy 27, 453–468 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1057/hep.2014.21

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