Early Career Researchers as Stakeholders in University Decision‐Making in Europe: Comparative Perspectives

• Leišytė, Liudvika ^[1] ; Načinović Braje, Ivana ^[2] ; Almog, Shulamit ^[3] ; Baysan, Sultan ^[4] ; Carvalho, Teresa ^[5] ; Daunoraitė, Dovilė ^[6] ; Diogo, Sara ^[5] ; Papaioannou, Panourgias ^[1] ; Farmaki, Anna ^[7] ; Feldman, Shlomit ^[3] ; Külcür, Rakibe ^[8] ; Matijošytė, Inga ^[6] ; Pralgauskaitė, Sandra ^[9] ; Rangelova, Vanya ^[10] ; Šatkovskienė, Dalia ^[9]
  1. [1] Technical University of Dortmund

     Technical University of Dortmund

     Kreisfreie Stadt Dortmund, Alemania

     
  2. [2] University of Zagreb

     University of Zagreb

     Croacia

     
  3. [3] University of Haifa

     University of Haifa

     Israel

     
  4. [4] Adnan Menderes University

     Adnan Menderes University

     Turquía

     
  5. [5] Universidade de Aveiro

     Universidade de Aveiro

     Vera Cruz, Portugal

     
  6. [6] Institute of Biotechnology

     Institute of Biotechnology

     Chequia

     
  7. [7] Cyprus University of Technology

     Cyprus University of Technology

     Chipre

     
  8. [8] University College London

     University College London

     Reino Unido

     
  9. [9] Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astronomy, Vilnius University, Lithuania
  10. [10] Department of Epidemiology and Disaster Medicine, Medical University Plovdiv, Bulgaria

  Mostrar afiliaciones +
• Localización: Social Inclusion, ISSN-e 2183-2803, Vol. 14, 2026
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.17645/si.9683
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen

  • The voices of academics have traditionally been strong in university decision‐making bodies, where they participated in the shared governance of the university. It has been customary for senior academics to be represented in managing bodies and to exercise control over the key areas of strategy, finance, quality assurance, study programs, and/or human resources. With the new public management reforms that have swept through higher education (HE) systems, the power of academics has been reduced, while managerial guidance has increased, alongside the fostering of universities’ institutional autonomy. At the same time, the power of other stakeholders, such as students or industry representatives, has also been increasing as part and parcel of the governance reforms, albeit to different degrees and at different paces across various HE systems. In this context, this article seeks to examine the role that early career researchers (ECRs) play in university decision‐making bodies across different countries as internal stakeholders. The research is based on seven case studies from seven European and East Mediterranean countries drawing on documentary data and 55 semi‐structured interviews with ECRs and 14 managers, carried out in 2023–2024. Following stakeholder categories distinguished on the basis of their legitimacy, urgency, and power, this article investigates the extent to which ECRs perceive their voices to be heard. The findings show variance between the case studies regarding formal representation, with most universities in the study having limited representation of ECRs in university and faculty/school‐level decision‐making bodies. The voices of ECRs, however, are heard in informal ways.