Precarious conditions of doctoral students in academia
Doctoral students are central to research and education, but they are rarely presented as a separate group in studies on vulnerability in academia. As part of the Secretariat's work on the conditions of research, this project focuses on the situation of doctoral students in the Swedish higher education sector.
Being a doctoral student means having a specific position, but not in the sense of one position. People can be doctoral students in many different ways: the way they are recruited differs, with different forms of funding, collegial relationships and roles within their subject/field of research. The group of doctoral students is also influenced by the same kind of intersectional power structures as other groups in society. But it is possible to say something about what is common to all doctoral positions - it is a precarious employment situation. Despite this, doctoral students are rarely written about as a separate group in studies on vulnerability in academia.
Knowledge gaps and implicit assumptions
This project is a continuation and further development of work to combat sexual harassment in academia, which has been carried out at the Swedish Secretariat for Gender Research for many years. Work that has contributed new and additional knowledge within the field, but which has also highlighted knowledge gaps and unspoken assumptions within the field.
The specific situations of doctoral students within academia have proved to be precisely such a knowledge gap. They are a diverse group, who both embody and uphold many of academia’s imagined and actual norms.
The aim of the project
- to contribute knowledge about doctoral students’ situations,
- to initiate a necessary discussion about their conditions, the reality of doctoral education and the higher education policy context
- to identify a number of key issues for further investigation
- to ultimately contribute to improved preventive health and work environment efforts for doctoral students
Organisation
Project team:
Maja Lundqvist projekt coordinator
Kajsa Widegren,
Angelica Simonsson
Fredrik Löfström Bondestam
Project duration: starting in January 2025 and running until at least January 2028
Collaboration: Are you interested in collaborating with us on this project? Please feel free to contact our project coordinator
Target groups: organisations focusing on doctoral students, those working in the higher education sector, research policy, research and education.
Follow the project
On this project page, we give you the opportunity to follow the project and see how it is progressing. The content will be updated throughout the project. Here, you will soon be able to read more about and explore all or parts of the process:
- Research questions and methods
- Problems
- Materials
- PhD students
- Research training
Key facts about the project
The project
- is based on unique data collected in 2020 as part of the largest national prevalence study on sexual harassment and other forms of victimisation in academia. It also focuses on research into other workplace issues at Swedish higher education institutions and on formal support mechanisms for doctoral students.
- employs intersectional perspectives, interdisciplinary theoretical analyses, and methodological and conceptual investigations
- will result in academic publications, seminars and dialogue with invited researchers and doctoral student representatives, with the aim of formulating a study that further explores identified issues using new empirical data
- will also include an international perspective – to place the Swedish context within a broader framework, as many doctoral students are international and because academia is, by its very nature, international rather than national
Published on the subject, a selection
Power (ab)use in academia: strings of dependencies and shadow resistance
Authors: Ovesen, N., Simonsson, A., & Pilinkaitė Sotirovič, V. (2026)
Publisher: Gender and Justice
Gender-based violence in higher education and research performing organisations: three steps in critique and reconceptualisation
Authors: Hearn, J, Strid, S, Humbert, A.L, Bondestam, F & Husu, L (2025)
Publisher: Journal of Gender-Based Violence, 9(4), 513-535
Re-imagining Sexual Harassment – Perspectives from the Nordic Region
(Open Access at Bristol University Press digital)
Authors: Sumaya Jirde Ali, Silas Aliki, Hildur Fjóla Antonsdóttir, Elin Bjarnegård, Dolores Calvo, Paulina de los Reyes, Åsa Eldén, Anne Hellum, Anne Laure Humbert, Mads Ananda Lodahl, Silje Lundgren, Maja Lundqvist, Heta Mulari, Angelica Simonsson, Lea Skewes, Sigbjørn Skåden, Sofia Strid och Kajsa Widegren (2023)
Editors: Maja Lundqvist, Angelica Simonsson och Kajsa Widegren.
The book is available in bookshops and through the publisher Policy Press/Bristol University Press, as well as via Open Access.
