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Social Networks as Change Agents for Equal Career Opportunities of Dutch PhDs?

15 July 2024

To what extent and why are some groups more likely to continue their careers outside academia? If PhDs transition into the labor market, how could we explain gender and ethnicity-based differentials in where they end up (e.g., public versus private sector)? What determines inequality in success in academia (e.g., grants) and outside academia (e.g., income)? Using big data of nearly all Dutch PhD-recipients, 1990-2022 (~100K PhDs), this project aims to answer these questions on gender and ethnic inequality among Dutch PhD-recipients and is among the first to follow their complete academic and non-academic careers. By devoting special attention to social networks during the PhD – information which is already collected and curated –, the project uniquely pinpoints how role models and social contexts distinctly shape PhD recipients’ careers depending on their gender and ethnicity. With the help of the Microdata Access Grant, the project can link PhD-recipients to non-academic careers.

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash