Dr. Christine Teelken

Purpose of my presentation is to provide information about the Identity Development of Postdoctoral Researchers. In our study (co-authored with Inge vd Weijden) is to create in-depth knowledge concerning how postdoctoral researchers (postdocs) at Dutch research universities experience their working conditions in relation to their future perspectives, and how these experiences shape their academic (dis)identification. Over the last decade, especially in the European context, the postdoc population has been substantial and growing.

Existing research indicates that the lack of career prospects for postdocs, combined with their invisibility within universities, presents a challenging situation for many postdocs, 'a moving of the watershed'. To understand how this situation affects their wellbeing, we carried out a large survey amongst 806 postdocs at nine Dutch research universities, which was published in 2023 (Van der Weijden & Teelken, 2023).

This presentation will provide the findings of our analysis of their responses to our open-ended questions. As a result, three dimensions were revealed to summarize their distinctive ways of (dis)identifying with academia: process; content; and individual orientations. Our research contributes to the further understanding of academic (dis)identification, especially concerning how and why post-doctoral researchers distance themselves from academia.

Christine Teelken works as an associate professor at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Her interdisciplinary background and track record are founded on a variation of approaches within organizational research, especially concerning governance and organizational change. She is working on the interaction between inclusion and professionalism in various sectors, such as on the sustainability of academic careers. She published widely in journals, such is Public Administration, Studies in Higher Education and Higher Education. She is embedded in (inter)national networks and collaborations, she was link-convenorship of the EERA (European Educational Research and Association) and published a special issue on the sustainability of post-PhD careers. Between 2020 and 2023 she served as editor-in-chief for Higher Education Quarterly, since 2025 she is associate editor for Studies in Higher Education. At the VU, she is program director of the Bachelor Public Administration and Organization Sciences.