Mental health and working conditions of doctoral researchers

- and how to organize to drive change -

Dr. Jana Lasser     |     jana.lasser@tugraz.at     |     Twitter: @janalasser

slides available at
https://janalasser.at/talks/CSH_mental_health/

What is this talk about?

What is this talk about?

What is this talk about?

Overview

  • The Max Planck PhDnet

  • Demographics and working conditions of DRs

  • Supervision and it's challenges

  • Mental health

  • Ingredients to drive change

  • The Max Planck PhDnet

    The Max Planck Society (MPS)

    Doctoral researchers of the MPS

    Doctoral researchers (DRs) are employed by the MPS but the PhD is formally done at a university.

    Starting a PhD requires a master's degree and takes 3-5 years.

    Most German universities allow for cumulative theses as well as monographies.

    Conditions in Germany, Austria and Switzerland are very comparable.

    The Max Planck PhDnet

    The Max Planck PhDnet

    The Max Planck PhDnet

    The Max Planck PhDnet

    The Max Planck PhDnet

    The Max Planck PhDnet

    Some successes

  • Elected representatives in almost all of the 86 institutes.

  • 2015: change from stipends to contracts for DRs.

  • 2019: increase of paid vacation from 20 to 30 days.

  • 2020: increase of base salary from 50% to 65% contracts.

  • The Survey

    Every year...

    ... mapping the PhD experience across the MPS with 100-120 questions about a range of topics.

    Core topics: demographics, working conditions, supervision, career perspectives.

    Situational topics: mental health, good scientific practice, power abuse.

    Completely community organised.

    Response rate of ~50%.

    Demographics and working conditions of doctoral researchers

    DRs are international


    "What is your citizenship?"

    Overall, gender is balanced


    "To which gender do you identify most?"

    DRs are between 20 and 30 years old


    "What is you year of birth?"

    Unpaid overtime* is widespread


    Work on weekends is widespread


    Questionable salaries, fair contract durations


    Questionable salaries, fair contract durations


    Supervision of doctoral researchers and it's challenges

    Number of supervised DRs


    Number of supervised DRs


    Frequency of meetings


    Frequency of meetings and satisfaction


    What do supervisors do?


    Supervisor ratings and thoughts of giving up


    Tools to facilitate supervision


    Problems that can('t) be solved by such tools


    Problems that can('t) be solved by such tools


    Problems that can('t) be solved by such tools


    Problems that can('t) be solved by such tools


    Mental health of doctoral researchers

    First mental health survey in 2017

    Assessment of depression: PHQ-9


    18% of DRs are moderately to severely depressed. This is twice as high as the prevalence of depression in the age group 18-34 years in the general population (Maske et al. 2016, J. Affect.Disord.).

    Prevalence of depressive symptoms

    18% of DRs are moderately to severely depressed. This is more than twice as high as the prevalence of depression in the age group 18-34 years (7.4%) in the general German population (Maske et al. 2016, J. Affect.Disord.).

    Assessment of anxiety: State-trait anxiety inventory

    Prevalence of anxiety

    67% of DRs feel moderate to high anxiety at the time of the survey. 63% of DRs generally feel moderate to high anxiety.

    Also about twice as high as levels reported in the general population: 30% report at least one anxiety related symptom within the last year (Adolph et al. 2016 in Front. Psychol.).

    Demographic factors of depression

    Demographic factors of depression

    Demographic factors of anxiety

    Demographic factors of anxiety

    Relation of depression to work intensity

    Relation of depression to work intensity

    Relation of depression and anxiety to contract duration

    Relation of depression and anxeity to supervision satisfaction

    Relation of anxiety to bullying and harassment

    Relation of anxiety to bullying and harassment

    Mental health depends on many factors

    https://www.phdnet.mpg.de/145345/PhDnet_Survey_Report_2019.pdf

    Mental health depends on many factors

    https://www.phdnet.mpg.de/145345/PhDnet_Survey_Report_2019.pdf

    Improving mental health of DRs in the MPS

  • 2017: PhDnet representatives are invited into the operational health management working group of the MPS.

  • 2018: Deteriorating mental health is recognised as occupational hazard.

  • 2018: Mental health of (early career) researchers becomes the first focus topic of operational health management.

  • 2019: MPS launches organisation-wide "employee and managament assistance programme".

  • Ingredients to drive change

    Frequent problems and (some) solutions

    Frequent problems and (some) solutions

    Frequent problems and (some) solutions

    Frequent problems and (some) solutions

    Frequent problems and (some) solutions

    Frequent problems and (some) solutions

    Frequent problems and (some) solutions

    Frequent problems and (some) solutions

    Frequent problems and (some) solutions

    Frequent problems and (some) solutions

    Frequent problems and (some) solutions

    Banding together



    Three of the four largest non-university research organisations in Germany + associate members: over 15 000 DRs.

    Sharing the knowledge: survey reports


    Max Planck PhDnet Survey report 2017
    https://www.phdnet.mpg.de/125563/PhDnet_Survey_Report_2017.pdf

    Max Planck PhDnet Survey report 2018
    https://www.phdnet.mpg.de/125573/PhDnet_Survey_Report_2018.pdf

    Max Planck PhDnet Survey report 2019
    https://www.phdnet.mpg.de/145345/PhDnet_Survey_Report_2019.pdf

    Sharing the knowledge: helpful resources

    Re-use, adapt or extend our survey (CC-BY-SA 4.0):
    https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/FVZ48

    How to form a Thesis Advisory Committee:
    https://www.mps.mpg.de/phd/tac

    Very good example for a supervision agreement:
    https://leibniz-phd.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Leibniz_PhD_Agreement_EN.pdf

    Example for institutional guidelines for doing a PhD (in German):
    https://www.mpg.de/richtlinie_doktorandenausbildung_2012

    Max Planck PhDnet statutes:
    https://www.phdnet.mpg.de/phdnet/what/statutes