Career pathways through research are typically characterised by precarity as well as potential. This panel will hear from new studies of researcher mobility grants; Matthew effects and early-career setbacks; network-building; and academic emotions and expectations followed by a discussion.
Long Abstract
This session offers a data-rich exploration of the ups and downs of research careers with a particular focus on the challenges facing early career researchers. Vincent Traag reports on a large-scale replication of previous studies of Matthew effects and career setbacks arising from success or failure at winning early career funding and finds that they may not be strictly gospel. Tommaso Ciarli focuses is on the impact of post-doctoral mobility grants, showing that they likely stimulate both intellectual growth and the embrace of a wider array of research topics – positive outcomes that will be valuable to funders and policymakers. Lara Abel’s paper reports on the use of narrative methods and semi-structured interviews to explore early career researchers' motivations and experiences of the research environment, the insights of which have been used to design supportive interventions. Finally, for early career researchers interested in forging a career in metascience, Anouk Bouma provides an update on the post-Covid relaunch of the Platform for Young Meta-Scientists, an expanding international network that provides a constructive environment for discussing the particular challenges for ECRs that aims to build a thriving community for the next generation of meta-researchers.
We study if Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) grants broaden early career researchers' research scope. Using a Regression Discontinuity Design, results show that MSCA grants induce topic diversification, acceleratint intellectual growth and research expansion of young researchers.
Long abstract
This paper studies whether receiving a post-doctoral mobility grant drives early career researchers to expand the scope of their research by diversifying into new topics. We use data on Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowships (MSCA-IF) funded under Horizon 2020 and implement a Regression Discontinuity Design to provide causal evidence. Our results indicate that being awarded MSCA-IF has a positive impact on expanding the breadth of the research portfolio. Funded applicants increase the share of publications with new topics compared to those who are not funded, but only in the years closest to receiving the grant. MSCA-IFs speed up the process of exercising cognitive exploration and intellectual growth, suggesting that they accelerate the process of expanding the scope of research. Our findings contribute to the debate on the role of public funding in shaping research trajectories, fostering intellectual development, and promoting career progress. Policymakers and organizations supporting early career researchers through post-doctoral mobility grants can benefit from these insights to enhance the effectiveness of such programs.
We replicate earlier studies on the Matthew effect and the early-career setback effect across seven research funders worldwide and study their generalisability. Initial results show some support for the Matthew effect, but cast some doubt on the early-career setback.
Long abstract
Previous literature showed that researchers who were awarded early-career funding (1) were more likely to be awarded later-career funding (the Matthew effect); and (2) showed a lower impact than those who got rejected but continued in science (the early-career setback). We replicate both studies across seven research funders worldwide (Canada, UK, Denmark, Luxembourg and Austria). The data we collected covers over 80,000 funding applications and over a dozen different funding programmes.
The original studies rely on a regression discontinuity design. In most funding programmes we studied, there is no hard cutoff based on review scores, therefore making it difficult to implement a regression discontinuity design. Instead, we implement a fuzzy regression discontinuity design. The regression discontinuity design focuses on the local effects around the funding threshold only. We aim to study the generalisability of the effects based on a hierarchical Bayesian model using latent variables.
Preliminary analyses for three funders show mixed results. One funder shows an unexpected negative Matthew effect, but other funders show positive effects, as expected, but the differences are not significant. The early-career setback is visible in two funders, but differences are again not significant. Results from the Bayesian model for one funder suggest that the Matthew effect generalises, but the early-career setback does not. The methodology still needs to be finalised, so results are potentially subject to change.
We expect to present full results across all funders, including a full sensitivity analysis of the Bayesian model during the conference.
The Platform for Young Meta-Scientists (PYMS) aims to support early-career researchers who are interested in meta-science. PYMS aims to foster a supportive, international network where early-career meta-scientists can exchange ideas, seek feedback, and build their network.
Long abstract
The Platform for Young Meta-Scientists (PYMS) is an initiative that aims to support early-career researchers (up to five years post-PhD) who are interested in meta-science. Navigating an academic career—especially in meta-research—can be daunting and isolating. PYMS aims to foster a supportive, international network where early-career meta-scientists can exchange ideas, seek feedback, build their network, and stay informed about methodological developments, relevant conferences, workshops, and courses.
We organize discussion and reading groups, host online journal clubs, and hold mini conferences where members present and discuss their research in a constructive environment. We discuss key questions facing early-career meta-scientists, such as whether meta-science is more conflict-prone than other disciplines and how to navigate such challenges. We also explore different pathways for building a career in meta-science and what is needed to sustain it.
As we relaunch PYMS after it went quiet following Covid, we are actively introducing our platform at relevant conferences to expand our reach and connect with broader communities for future collaborations. While our network is currently centered in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany, we are expanding globally through virtual platforms such as our Discord server, facilitating international interactions and engagement.
At the Metascience 2025 Conference, we seek to connect with more early-career researchers interested in meta-science, strengthen our international presence, and build a thriving community for the next generation of meta-researchers. We invite all interested colleagues to join our initiative and help shape the future of meta-science together.
Using narrative methods and semi-structured interviews, we investigated professional experiences of ECRs and their managers at University of Cambridge. We analysed researchers’ academic expectations and emotions and based on our results designed interventions to improve professional experiences.
Long abstract
Professional relationships significantly influence researchers' motivation and the collaborative atmosphere in knowledge construction. We investigated researchers’ professional expectations and achievement emotions at the University of Cambridge using qualitative, narrative-based methods. N = 113 participants responded to one or multiple of three writing prompts: Writing about three things wished they knew when starting their role; a job description for themselves or their manager; or a letter to their previous professional self or manager. Participants could also nominated their manager or team for a Research Culture Celebration, recognising examples of excellent research culture. All participants were prompted to answer questions about their professional expectations at the end of the survey. We conducted in-depth follow-up interviews with consenting participants (N = 25). We used two frameworks for analysis: an expectation-theoretical framework and an emotion-theoretical framework. Based on our insights from this research, we developed two interventions aimed at a) aligning expectations within teams and b) preparing ECRs for difficult professional experiences. One intervention targets research groups, offering scaffolding for the development of a team handbook; the other intervention focuses on academic expectations and emotions and is designed and offered in collaboration with the Cambridge Postdoc Academy. In both interventions, we explore the effectiveness of Creative Non-Fiction as a tool for enhancing workshop facilitation and for communicating our findings in a more engaging and accessible manner. We will present both our qualitative findings and first insights from the workshop development.
Yolana Pringle (CRAC-Vitae)
Short Abstract
Career pathways through research are typically characterised by precarity as well as potential. This panel will hear from new studies of researcher mobility grants; Matthew effects and early-career setbacks; network-building; and academic emotions and expectations followed by a discussion.
Long Abstract
This session offers a data-rich exploration of the ups and downs of research careers with a particular focus on the challenges facing early career researchers. Vincent Traag reports on a large-scale replication of previous studies of Matthew effects and career setbacks arising from success or failure at winning early career funding and finds that they may not be strictly gospel. Tommaso Ciarli focuses is on the impact of post-doctoral mobility grants, showing that they likely stimulate both intellectual growth and the embrace of a wider array of research topics – positive outcomes that will be valuable to funders and policymakers. Lara Abel’s paper reports on the use of narrative methods and semi-structured interviews to explore early career researchers' motivations and experiences of the research environment, the insights of which have been used to design supportive interventions. Finally, for early career researchers interested in forging a career in metascience, Anouk Bouma provides an update on the post-Covid relaunch of the Platform for Young Meta-Scientists, an expanding international network that provides a constructive environment for discussing the particular challenges for ECRs that aims to build a thriving community for the next generation of meta-researchers.
Accepted papers
Session 1 Monday 30 June, 2025, -