Measures to Support Early & Mid Career Researchers: Report of a Survey Conducted by the Research Australia EMCR Working Group

Early and mid career researchers (EMCRs) in Australian health and medical research typically work on short, fixed-term contracts tied to project grants, with limited opportunities to develop the leadership, management and grant-writing skills needed to become independent researchers or to move into careers in industry or government. This report presents the results of a survey developed with Research Australia’s EMCR Working Group and conducted between May and August 2023, which received 37 responses from researchers employed at universities (54%), medical research institutes (37.9%) and other organisations in every state and territory except the Northern Territory. It examines the support workplaces provide across induction, career development resources, internal and external professional development, small grants for travel, pilot studies and publication, mentoring, wellbeing, fellowships, promotion and recruitment, and decision making and governance. Findings indicate that support is uneven and often less available to contract and especially casual staff: 27.6% of respondents reported no clear induction process for EMCRs, 41.4% no centralised career development resources, 40.7% no publication grants and 52% no mentoring program for female mid career researchers, while only 32% reported salary gap funding for fellowships. Respondents’ comments describe examples of good practice that other organisations could adopt.