Comparative Analysis of Early Career Academic Workforce and Retention Pathways: United States and South Africa

By Annie Yan

Hi everyone! I’m Annie, a second-year student at William & Mary, majoring in Biology and Classical Studies. I grew up in Nanjing, a city where ancient temples sit beside modern skyscrapers—maybe that’s why I’ve always been drawn to both the cutting-edge world of science and the timeless questions of the humanities.

For a long time, I viewed my two areas of study as separate worlds. I spent most of the past year immersed in wet lab research, fascinated by cellular mechanisms and molecular interactions. Yet it wasn’t until recently that I began to seriously reflect on the ethical and social dimensions of scientific inquiry. My turning point came through a conversation with my mentor, Dr. Mayank Chugh, who introduced me to the structural inequalities that permeate academia—inequalities I had long overlooked.

I had once assumed the academic world was purely meritocratic. But I’ve learned that many scholars, especially in the Global South, face daunting barriers: limited research funding, unequal access to cutting-edge equipment, publication gatekeeping, and restricted mobility. These systemic disadvantages often go unacknowledged, yet they shape who gets to contribute to science—and who doesn’t.

This realization led me to question not just the ethics of research content, but also the ethics of who gets to research at all. Among the most overlooked groups in this equation are postdoctoral researchers. Postdocs serve as a vital bridge between academic training and faculty careers, making significant contributions to scientific innovation while navigating one of the most uncertain stages of an academic career. Yet their career pathways and institutional support systems are vastly under-researched.

In the U.S., postdoctoral positions are anything but standardized. Unlike the Ph.D. track, which follows a more predictable structure, postdocs come with varying titles— “Postdoctoral Fellow,” “Research Associate,” “Assistant Research Scientist,” and more—depending on the university or industry lab. This lack of a cohesive system can complicate postdocs’ professional identity and make it harder for them to advocate for rights and resources.

Surprisingly, the situation is quite different in countries like South Africa. There, postdoctoral titles tend to be more clearly defined. Gender representation also flips: while women hold the majority of postdoc roles in the U.S., men dominate in South Africa. These differences raise important questions: How do structural and social factors shape postdoctoral experiences across countries? What can we learn from these patterns to support early-career researchers globally?

This summer, Dr. Chugh and I will be traveling to South Africa to explore these questions firsthand. In collaboration with scholars at Stellenbosch University, we’ll conduct a comparative research project titled “Comparative Analysis of Early Career Academic Workforce and Retention Pathways: United States and South Africa.”

Stellenbosch University

Our goal is to analyze the similarities and differences in postdoctoral experiences between the U.S. and South Africa. We’ll look at objective factors such as the number of postdocs, demographic breakdowns, average postdoc duration, and funding sources. We’ll also examine subjective data gathered through surveys, including mental well-being, career outlook, public perception, and family considerations.

Importantly, we aim to go beyond surface-level comparisons. We hope to uncover how national policies, institutional structures, and broader historical and social contexts shape the early academic workforce. Before beginning data collection, we’ll spend several weeks reviewing existing literature and refining our theoretical framework. Then we’ll move on to data analysis and eventually begin writing our findings.

This project is more than just an academic exercise—it’s a personal journey of connecting the dots between science, ethics, and global equity. As someone who once saw research purely as an experimental process in a lab, I now understand that science is also deeply social. Who participates, who advances, and whose voices are heard are all ethical questions that demand attention.

I’m excited to take this first step into the world of bioethics and academic policy research—fields I never thought I would explore. Through this journey, I hope to not only grow as a scientist, but also as a global citizen committed to a more inclusive future for academia.