Postgraduate and early career

Early career academics can be left to sink or swim when navigating the choppy waters of learning scholarly writing. Helen Sword says a more formal, communal approach can help everyone, especially women

University cites Brexit as factor causing financial uncertainty – but also as recruitment ‘opportunity’

Twenty-one countries attend annual meeting to showcase progress of multimillion-pound Deltas initiative

Higher education regulator's new rules aim to drive up standards within sector

UK universities’ complacency in the good times has left them ill-equipped to respond to falling postgraduate master’s enrolment, says Michelle Morgan

The sweatshop conditions in which sessional academics work in Australia mirror the treatment of schoolteachers in Victorian times, say Hannah Forsyth and Jedidiah Evans 

Overseas students in UK are more likely to recommend studying in the country than those in other nations

Steven Franklin lays bare the questions and doubts that go through his mind as he sits down to work on his thesis

Despite all that’s been done to improve doctoral study, horror stories keep coming. Here three students relate PhD nightmares while two academics advise on how to ensure a successful supervision

The need to accommodate foreign students undermines domestic practices, says Lincoln Allison, spying parallels between UK universities and global sports bodies such as Fifa

Universities around the world looking closely at employment rights and research engagement of doctoral candidates

Giving employee rights to doctoral candidates seen as key step to make life in academia more attractive, Holly Else writes

Objections to co-authorship with juniors display a misguided sense of ethics, say Mark Hayter and Roger Watson

Students are being hoodwinked into enrolling on ‘trendy’ new degree programmes that are, according to one concerned academic, little more than a marketing exercise

Covering interview travel expenses creates financial hardships for early career academics, says Rachel Yoho

Supervisors should be trained to spot the first sign of a problem, says Chris Havergal

Institutions told they have a ‘culture of excluding postgraduates’ in wake of damning study

Conference hears how University of Adelaide uses metrics to improve performance

More money and competition for tenure has helped country’s young researchers progress

Government analysis finds most academics think postgraduate research standards have held steady or improved

Fiona Dobbie is loving life as a PhD student, and hopes any midlife crisis it represents will end on graduation day

Cramming study into the shortest possible time will impoverish the student experience and drive an even greater wedge between research-enabled permanent staff and the growing underclass of flexible teaching staff, says Tom Cutterham

More UK and EU students begin master’s programmes, but Indian and Nigerian enrolments fall

Duke University’s Valerie Ashby says institutions must be more ‘intentional’ about finding ethnic minority PhD candidates

On University Mental Health Day, Geoffrey Cantor calls on institutions to significantly expand their mental health provision

Structured writing groups could have a transformative effect on the morale and productivity of early career scholars, says Alice Kelly

Scholars report higher levels of depressive symptoms and social withdrawal

But professor says Trump presidency might now provide ‘incentive’ for junior scholars to ask ‘important questions’

Ministry hopes to increase quality of doctorates

Research grant available but institution job 'normally' required before applying

Lecturer Rachel Moss on the casualties of a demanding academic culture

Fixing problems in the academic job market by reducing the number of PhDs would homogenise the sector, argues Tom Cutterham

Matthew Reisz on when the worlds of higher education and graphic novels collide

Billy Bryan and Josh Berlyne are not convinced by the UK government’s doctoral loans plan

Off to an academic conference? Helena Ledmyr offers some tricks to getting the most out of attending a scholarly gathering

Many early career researchers have ‘not gone to the library for years’, according to report

Junior academics can access services without physically visiting premises, writes Holly Else

Overleaf’s John Hammersley on what drove his doctorate and transition from universities to industry

UK universities can now ‘feel confident’ in recruiting postgraduate students for 2017-18, says RCUK chair

Minority groups still not represented at professorial level by 2080, study suggests

Funding conference attendance out of your own pocket? Don't worry – there are ways to make back the cash through other academic activities. Catherine Fletcher explains.

One year shaved off time to degree under new national framework

French cartoonist finds rich comic potential in the PhD she never finished

Research suggests low self-efficacy among graduate students increases writing anxiety

Doctoral students who downplay their part-time status forget that they excel in key ways, says Rebecca Gelding

University of Auckland student claims the top prize for Universitas 21 3MT competition 

Taking an unconventional route after studying for a doctorate should not be seen as a failure, says Fiona Whelan

Gayle Munro on the disparaging comment that fuelled her thesis and the perception that non-traditional doctoral students lack commitment

Early career researchers could benefit most from changes to funding structures, says Sven Sewitz, but he is concerned that there simply isn’t the will to make it happen

Only one in 10 PhD graduates will work in academia. Institutions have to do more to ready the other nine for their careers, says a postdoctoral research fellow

Billy Bryan and Furaha Asani look at how to get the most out of your doctoral studies

Sarah Crook reflects on what it costs early career researchers to wait years to hear whether journals want to publish their articles

Seasoned scholars offer tips on first lectures, the ‘Eton mess’ of PhD supervision and why hobbies belong at work

Scholarship is about valuing things that can’t be counted and shouldn’t be rushed, says Adam Benjamin Smith

University of Essex vice-chancellor Anthony Forster outlines his university’s plans for postgraduates who take on teaching responsibilities – a thorny issue for the UK higher education sector

Graduate teachers will be placed on the university’s pay scale and receive the same employment benefits as other staff

Why are postgraduates and postdocs so expendable and professors so untouchable, asks a geneticist subjected to a paranoid boss’ abuse

The proposal to end the portability of research outputs could penalise ECRs, writes Nick Wright

Many doctoral candidates feel poorly looked after. More awareness and empathy from academics can help fight that, says Geoffrey Cantor