❌ Challenge #1 | Work-Life Balance

Managing a good work-life balance with a huge workload has been and remains my biggest challenge.

The academic workload often goes beyond the hours in our contracts. It’s almost normal to work more than what our contract says. When I say “more,” I mean 10, 20, or even 40 hours extra! This isn’t surprising, considering the expectations across research, teaching, management, service, communication, editorial roles, peer-reviewing, etc. It feels impossible to be great in all areas – and barely possible to do what’s expected in a normal working week.

Some people are okay with working nights and weekends. I sometimes (rarely, actually) work nights and weekends too, but I want it to be my choice – not because I’m forced to do it to manage all my tasks.

So, I’ve decided to stick to my contract hours as much as possible. It doesn’t mean I’m less ambitious: it means I’m in control of my decisions and how I want to live my life.

What’s hardest about making my well-being and work-life balance a priority? The worry I’ll disappoint people. Can’t keep up with emails? I worry about letting students down. Can’t take on more work? I worry about letting down my boss or colleagues.

(So basically, instead of working, I now worry during nights and weekends 😅)

❌ Challenge #2 | Funding and Publishing Pressure

Being a researcher means you need to get funding for your research. The problem? We’re all competing for the same money, against other talented researchers. Getting funding means writing lots of grant proposals, which means spending hundreds of hours on something with a small chance of getting funded. Often, these hours are in the evening and weekend, since other tasks still need to be done. No money means no research since we need PhD students and postdocs to move the research forward – and publish.

Research also means publishing. You know the saying – “publish or perish”. It’s still true. Researchers with more and better publications are looked at more favorably, also when applying for grants.

Both publishing and funding bring a lot of pressure and stress. It takes a lot of experience to get through the rejections – for papers and especially for grants – and use those experiences to do better.

❌ Challenge #3 | Salary Considerations

Academia has clear salaries because positions are linked to specific scales, which usually means the same salary at different institutions within the country.

Another good thing is that a salary increase is guaranteed every year, along with other benefits (e.g., 40 days holidays, an 8% holiday allowance, and an 8.3% end-of-year bonus in the Netherlands).

But (there’s always a “but” in the challenges section!): salaries are usually lower than in the public sector. Also, special bonuses are almost non-existent. There’s no extra pay for working more or being excellent; extra hours are not paid. I found this hard to understand – especially at the start of my career, when I was working very hard but still struggling financially.

❌ Challenge #4 | Competitive Landscape and Job Instability

Academia is all about competition: for funding, for positions, for being the first to publish in a field.

Competition can be exciting but also tiring. It’s tough to find a position in academia after a postdoc because of the huge competition.

Besides, job security is not guaranteed. As we mentioned in a previous newsletter, it’s common now in many countries to have a Tenure track, which is a temporary position that becomes permanent only if you meet certain expectations. Considering that people on the Tenure track are usually at a stage where they want more stability in their lives, this can be very stressful.

❌ Challenge #5 | Insufficient Administrative Support

The level of administrative support available often doesn’t meet the needs of academic staff, adding more challenges to our already demanding jobs.

This means we have to do many tasks ourselves. I remember talking with a colleague from industry, who was surprised when I told her what I do in my days. For example? It happened frequently that I’ve had to order food and drinks from the supermarket for coffee breaks during meetings or drinks after a symposium at my institute.