Ghanbarzadeh-Dagheyan applied for the grant at the Ministry of OCW, that set up a subsidy program a year ago to improve social safety in Dutch higher education. He focuses on improving the social safety of scientists on temporary contracts: PhD students, EngD students and postdocs. ‘Of course, we’re not immune to social safety issues at University of Twente, he says. ‘Just look at the Professor M. publication by U-Today, the recent EEMCS issue and the warnings of the Labour Inspectorate… There is quite a lot of work to be done.’
Vulnerable groups
Especially researchers on a temporary contract are in a more vulnerable position, says Ghanbarzadeh-Dagheyan, currently an assistant professor at the S&T faculty and advisor to the Postdoc Network @ UT he co-founded. ‘There are some issues that go under registered. As the Labour Inspectorate also mentioned, these groups have to deal with certain power dynamics with their supervisors. It can make them feel very stressed and unsafe, it can even lead to burnouts.’
Also, social safety issues for these groups are correlated with budget cuts, he adds. ‘Whenever there is more scarcity in resources, there is increased pressure. For instance when it comes to embedding guarantees and many postdocs feel limited in applying to certain grants. Besides that, a lot of these employees have an international background, which adds some more limitations in understanding the system.’
Social safety officer
One important element of the project is the hiring of a social safety project officer specifically for postdocs, PhD and EngD students. Another goal is to offer workshops to these target groups and their supervisors. ‘We want postdocs, EngD and PhD students to know their rights and to learn how to navigate a conflict, should it arise’, says Ghanbarzadeh-Dagheyan. ‘For supervisors, it’s important that they are aware of power dynamics, intercultural differences and leadership fundamentals.’
'We need to have people know how to look for help and when to know for help' - Ashkan Ghanbarzadeh-Dagheyan
It’s not that this university doesn’t have protocols, regulations, advisors and committees, adds Ghanbarzadeh-Dagheyan. ‘This university has a lot in place, which is very positive. But it’s also a very trusting environment – which tends to assume that people know everything. In the end, it boils down to accessibility and availability: we need to have people know how to look for help and when to know for help. And we want issues to be addressed early on before they become complaints and legal cases.’
That is one gap the initiator hopes to bridge with this project, that is allowed to run up until December 2027. Besides setting up the workshops and hiring a social safety officer, the goal is to get more insight into the problems the groups face, via questionnaires and interviews, focus groups and peer support sessions. ‘One important aspect of this subsidy is that we anchor our findings’, says Ghanbarzadeh-Dagheyan. ‘So even though it’s a temporary project, I hope whatever knowledge and experience comes out, that it will be used to improve our university systematically.’
