Academic ecosystems must evolve to support a sustainable postdoc workforce

The postdoctoral workforce comprises a growing proportion of the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) community, and plays a vital role in advancing science. Postdoc professional development, however, remains rooted in outdated realities. We propose enhancements to postdoc-centred policies and practices to better align this career stage with contemporary job markets and work life. By facilitating productivity, wellness and career advancement, the proposed changes will benefit all stakeholders in postdoc success—including research teams, institutions, professional societies and the scientific community as a whole. To catalyse reform, we outline recommendations for (1) skills-based training tailored to the current career landscape, and (2) supportive policies and tools outlined in postdoc handbooks. We also invite the ecology and evolution community to lead further progressive reform. The postdoctoral experience is in need of reform. Here the authors outline concrete steps that institutions, postdocs and mentors can take to improve the landscape.


Goal 2: Sustain wellness and work-life balance
Mental health is linked to physical health and is foundational to motivation and productivity 30,31 . Among graduate students, low morale and depression are often attributed to financial insecurity, social isolation and lack of sufficient mentorship 32,33 , and these factors can also impact postdocs 29 . For example, postdocs face high risks of social isolation due to short-term contracts, staggered arrivals and frequent relocations 1,5,27,34 . Importantly, social isolation can be amplified for underrepresented minorities, LGBTQ+ individuals, foreign researchers and other marginalized groups 32,35,36 . Burnout, a related concern, is more likely when professional development and job searching are crammed into evenings and weekends. We recommend that individuals and institutions work to cultivate thriving peer communities, implement evidence-based initiatives supporting diversity, equity and inclusion, and provide strategic tools (for example, healthcare programs) that offset mental, logistical and financial strain. Supervisors can further promote wellness by clarifying expectations and values, modelling healthy work habits, discussing wellness in research planning and performance evaluation, and celebrating diverse axes of achievement 1,5,37 . Importantly, these mentoring efforts must be rewarded to flourish (see Goal 3).
Financial solvency, another dimension of work-life balance, is an important consideration in seeking postdoctoral work. The economic impact of a postdoc is difficult to assess given the job's uncertain duration and outcome, variation in costs of living, and a common requirement of self-financed serial relocation 8, 27 . Postdoc salaries vary greatly among nations, both relative to national medians and compared to those of non-postdoc residents with comparable credentials (Supplementary Table 1). For example, current postdoc stipends funded by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) start at €44,600 (US$50,000) yr -1 , falling short of the National Academy of Sciences' minimum recommendations from 2014 (an inflation-adjusted minimum of €48,600 yr -1 ) 8 . Indeed, while typical postdoc salaries correspond to 1-1.5× the median salary in most countries surveyed, 36-60% of individuals with similar educational backgrounds out-earn postdocs in these countries ( Supplementary Fig. 1, Supplementary Table 1). Many postdocs will also fail to recuperate delayed earnings. In France, for example, the salaries of postdocs transitioning into the private sector are not influenced by postdoctoral experience 38 . These findings are particularly bleak given that most STEM postdocs have already deferred saving through several years of graduate training.
Disparities in other job benefits are also common among institutions, countries and funding sources. For example, less than 35% of US institutions offer (for example, parental) leave benefits for postdocs 12 . Within institutions, individuals supported by external fellowships can also be denied benefits afforded to local colleagues, such as health insurance and retirement plans. In summary, to maintain the attractiveness of the postdoc career path to diverse and high-performing researchers, we must correct the insufficiency and inequity of current compensation standards.

Goal 3: Enhance mentoring
Postdoctoral work represents a challenging metamorphosis from apprenticeship to independence, providing advisors the opportunity to play positive, formative roles. Because postdoc roles vary greatly across institutions, here we define 'advisors' in a very broad senseincluding all senior colleagues who are tasked with, or benefit from, the oversight of postdoc progress. Unfortunately, most advisors receive little or no mentorship training, and mentoring excellence is poorly rewarded in academia 37 . Consequently, advisors often deploy ad hoc mentoring that can cause personal and professional harm to mentees. This also harms group leaders and academic programs by reducing retention and productivity (for example, publication rate 1,3,39,40 ). More effective mentorship can be facilitated through Former natural sciences postdocs rated the sufficiency of their doctoral training in and current need for the above professional skills on a 1 to 5 scale (5 = best training/highest current need). Heatmap colours reflect the disparity in these rankings. Data from supporting data file S1 in ref. 48 .  A postdoc is defined as "an individual holding a doctoral degree who is engaged in a temporary period of mentored research and/or scholarly training for the purpose of acquiring the professional skills needed to pursue a career path of his or her choosing…" (https://www.nationalpostdoc.org/page/What_is_a_postdoc). The number of US postdocs in science has doubled since 1990 to 38,241 (2017 data from ref. 47 ). a,b, Statistics (a) and necessary skills (b) to align postdoc professional development to the current job market. Data in a are from supporting data file S1 in ref. 48 and data in b are from refs. 14,20,26 . training 37 , and should be incentivized during hiring, evaluation and merit-based promotion 41 .
Great mentors provide postdocs with a running start followed by light-touch guidance, helping them identify misalignments between existing credentials, skill sets and career goals, while recommending corrective steps. For research or teaching faculty, some of this work can be informed by personal experience. However, since most postdocs ultimately settle into different careers from their mentors (Fig.  1b), advisors should also encourage connections with colleagues, resources or training that bridge gaps in experiential knowledge 5 .
Well-structured communication is an essential component of mentoring dynamics. To facilitate this, postdocs and advisors should meet within the first three months of an appointment to discuss goals and expectations, produce a formal mentoring agreement, and generate individual development plans 37 . Other meeting outcomes might include written research plans, which can increase grant proposals and manuscript submissions by 25% 3 . Advisors should continue regular one-on-one meetings to revisit established goals and expectations, examining progress and setbacks through constructive bidirectional performance review. These procedures are standard practice in the private sector but remain rare within STEM institutions.
Lastly, postdocs can benefit profoundly from becoming mentors themselves 37 . Fulfilling in its own right, mentoring others helps individuals better manage relationships with advisors, ultimately benefiting all members of a research team 12 . Because authentic mentoring requires considerable time and reflection, it should also be explicitly factored into a postdoc's career development plan and performance assessments.

Goal 4: Develop administrative support
Postdocs with administrative support are better positioned to stay motivated and productive, boosting the prestige of their group and institution [1][2][3]16,40 . This support can also remove long-standing barriers to faculty positions for underrepresented groups in STEM 8, 35,42 . Administrative support can take several forms including international offices supporting foreign postdocs, and Offices for Postdoctoral Affairs (OPAs) that provide advocacy and coordinate resources across entities 1,12 . Self-organized Postdoctoral Associations (PDAs) are another valuable resource that promotes interdisciplinarity, peer networking and postdoc-centred advocacy 12,43 ( Table 1, Supplementary Table 2). Currently, administrative support for postdocs varies widely among institutions. To demonstrate this, we surveyed 50 top-ranked universities' websites for any mention of an OPA, PDA or other (for example, department-specific) postdoc resource (for methods and full results, see Supplementary Table 2). A majority of the websites outlined at least one resource-either at the departmental level (typically within a STEM discipline), or else within the graduate school. However, only 35% indicated a dedicated OPA or PDA at the university level); this included 58% of surveyed US institutions, whereas only 16% of surveyed European institutions mentioned an OPA and 32% mentioned a university-wide PDA. Transnational dialogues, ideally including policymakers, institutional administrators and postdocs, could illuminate how this structural variation impacts various indices of success.
Local (for example, departmental) initiatives can play key roles in recruiting and empowering postdocs. For example, institutional support was found to enhance job seeking strategies and efficacy among biomedical postdocs 16 . One mechanism for increasing local support involves granting postdocs representation in organizational decisions (for example, faculty meetings). Small resource investments (such as access to a physical meeting space for video conferencing/interviews and interaction with students and colleagues) can further promote dynamic local peer communities, collaboration and career development.
Data on postdoc career trajectories are valuable to many groups including jobseekers, funding agencies and policymakers, yet are rarely gathered and shared by research institutions 44 . Public disclosure of this readily obtained information (for example, alumni research activities, service outputs and job placements at the lab, department and/or college levels) could considerably aid the development of best practices for postdoc training (Table 1).
Recent syntheses offer further recommendations for administrative change (for example, refs. 1,8,12,44 ). At best, however, these carefully prepared guidelines are implemented sporadically among institutions. Our chief recommendation is therefore to explicitly include postdoc-related concerns in administrative mission statements, strategic plans and other official policies at departmental and institutional levels ( Table 1). This will ensure postdocs have a protected place and voice within local workplaces.

Goal 5: increase broader support
Scientific societies and funding agencies already play vital roles in postdoc career development. For example, conferences help disseminate research and build networks that can lead to permanent jobs. Although many societies work to cultivate student participation, postdoc inclusion initiatives are much less common. To illustrate this, we surveyed costs and supporting resources for 34 conferences in ecology and evolutionary biology that occurred between 2018 and 2020 (Supplementary Table 3). All events offered student rates (an average 44% reduction from full rate), but only 17 provided discounts for postdocs (at a smaller 13% reduction). For context, full professor salaries are often nearly double those of postdocs 12,45 , making postdocs' income-adjusted conference costs disproportionately high. Conference costs are also amplified for individuals with special needs and/or more limited resources (for example, scientists in developing countries and parents needing childcare); this can restrict career progression 1,15,34,46 . Although some conferences offer support to broaden participation, only 40% of those we surveyed advertised such opportunities for postdocs. At a minimum, reduced postdoc registration fees would increase equity and invigorate scientific discourse at conferences. An even better approach might use sliding scales (for example, based on self-reported income brackets) to determine registration costs.
Throughout this Perspective, we have discussed several important postdoc support mechanisms. Many of these require resource investment and will consequently encounter inertia or resistance during planning and implementation. We end by appealing to funding agencies and reviewers to encourage change by carefully assessing postdoc development plans and budgeting during proposal reviews. By co-prioritizing training plans and resources, funding agencies can prevent unsustainable over-exploitation of one of science's most important assets: the postdoctoral workforce.

Conclusions
In summary, better support for postdocs will generate far-reaching returns. Postdocs are a vital part of the international research community and are integral to teaching and service activities at institutions around the world. Because career prospects for postdocs have changed over time, so too must the nature of their preparation for the next career stage.
We have shown here that many factors impact the quality of postdocs' personal and professional lives. Coordinated discussion and reform surrounding these factors is increasingly possible, in part due to the growing size and connectivity of the postdoc population. To leverage this emerging opportunity, we strongly encourage discourse among postdocs, home institutions, organizations and initiatives such as the National Postdoc Association and the NIH-funded Postdoc Academy. These initiatives offer free resources for postdocs' professional development and are stimulating important dialogues.
We have proposed structuring postdoc-centred policies and practices around five core goals: (1) aligning career development with job prospects; (2) sustaining wellness and work-life balance; (3) enhancing mentoring; (4) developing administrative support; and (5) increasing broader support. Achieving these goals requires coordinated effort from individuals, departments, institutions and scientific societies, and will ultimately benefit everyone involved. To facilitate and document progress, we encourage future studies of how progressive changes impact the well-being and productivity of both individual postdocs and academia at large.
We believe evolutionary biologists and ecologists should lead essential reforms to postdoc professional development, implementing data-driven practices that appropriately value and capacitate postdocs' extensive contributions to STEM. Our disciplines are collaborative and diverse, and our rigorous investigation of complex interactions among genes, individuals, species and whole ecosystems has surely prepared us well to develop optimal, postdoc-centred policies and practices within our own workplace communities.
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All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the published Perspective (and its Supplementary Information files).

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