Protecting the mental-health of young academics: toward a new paradigm?

Evens Emmanuel *

Université Quisqueya, École doctorale «Société et Environnement », 218, Avenue Jean Paul II, Haut de Turgeau, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

University research is exposed to a significant health hazard that translates into real risks to the mental health and well-being of young researchers. The literature reports that many PhD students and postdoctoral researchers are overwhelmed by work and stress, which affect their mental health (Nature, 569, 307, 2019). The behaviour of senior scientists acting as immediate supervisors of postgraduate researchers has been identified as one of the causes of this problem. In the current academic environment, senior researchers suffer as much as young researchers. Approaching the issue of the mental health status of researchers today must address the current mode of governance, management and funding of research in universities. The reductions in the budgets allocated in most countries to science, the current mechanisms for funding research, the university ranking indicators and the need for researchers to publish on a periodic basis seem to be the main factors of health risks to which both senior scientists and postgraduate researchers are exposed. To keep the research teams in good working order, senior scientists spend more and more time assembling research projects and seeking funding. Indeed, the implementation of research projects, the analysis of the results obtained and the production of preliminary versions of reports and scientific publications are most often entrusted to postdoctoral researchers and PhD students. This stressful reality is increasingly dramatic in developing countries (DCs), where researchers are subject to the same international requirements of scientific productivity. However, their work often evolves in an academic environment without a national policy to fund research. I therefore very much welcome the Nature Research Group PhD Student Survey 2019 in which Nature address the sensitive topic of mental health, especially as it extends to PhD students in developing countries.

Reference Nature Research. Editorial. Academia’s mental-health woes. Nature 569, 307, 2019. Doi: 10.1038/d41586-019-01492-0. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01492-0