Survey: Future of PhD Holders

Study objective

Comprehensive survey data for PhD holders were not systematically collected in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. To address this gap, in 2019, the Observatory of Research and Scientific Careers launched a survey entitled the “Future of PhD Holders” specifically targeting the job transition of PhD holders from all five French-speaking universities of Belgium. The goal was to capture an informative snapshot of the employment status of PhD holders early in their career, coming from different research fields, working in a variety of different sectors, and with a range of professional experiences. Our survey included a high diversity of topics such as doctoral training experience, transition to employment, current career, job satisfaction, and mobility experiences to name a few. After the first edition, the study adopted a longitudinal cohort-sequential design, following existing cohorts longitudinally while incorporating new cohorts of PhD holders defined by their year of doctoral completion.

2019 Edition 

Cohort A (Individuals who completed a doctorate between January 2012 and May 2018)

Recruitment procedure. Based on online dissertation databases of the French-speaking universities (e.g., BICTeL), we generated a list of 4,918 doctoral dissertations that were successfully defended between January 2012 and May 2018 from the five French-speaking universities. We then identified 2,046 primary or secondary doctoral supervisors and asked them to transfer an invitation to their former doctoral candidates. The invitation to participate included a short description of the study, eligibility criteria for participation (i.e., to have completed a PhD between January 2012 and May 2018), and a hyperlink to the survey, which directed participants to SurveyGizmo, a secure online data collection software. Doctoral supervisors received two reminders to send the link to their former students and PhD holders received two reminders directly from their own universities. The survey was open from the 11th of December 2018 to the 31st of January 2019. Participation was voluntary and anonymous. All participants provided consent after receiving information about the study.

Sample characteristics. 2,065 participants completed the questionnaire. If we consider that all 4,918 of PhD holders identified received an invitation to participate in our survey, this equates to an overall response rate of 42.0%, which ranges from 26.1% to 51.3% depending on the university. The dropout rate is only 5.2%, which indicates that 94.8 % of those who answered the first question went on to complete the questionnaire. The analysis of reports is based on 2,055 participants (42.8% female, n = 878) who passed the attention test. Respondents had a mean age of 35.2 years (SD = 6.3) ranging from 26 to 68. The mean age at the beginning of PhD was 27.0 years (SD = 5.6) and at completion it was 32.1 years (SD = 5.9). Although 85 nationalities were represented among PhD holders, most participants (64.9%, n = 1,334) were of Belgian nationality and indicated Belgium (75.3%, n = 1,547) as the country where they obtained their master’s degree. 38.8% (n = 710) indicated that they were working outside of Belgium at the time of the survey. 65.6% of those working outside of Belgium were of foreign nationality. Among 1,118 PhD holders working in Belgium, 61.7% (n = 690) worked in Wallonia, 32.2% (n = 360) in Brussels and 6.1% (n = 68) in Flanders. A large majority of PhD holders of Belgian nationality choose Belgium as their country of work.

2022 Edition 

Cohort A (Follow-up of individuals who completed a doctorate between January 2012 and May 2018) + Cohort B (New cohort of individuals who completed a doctorate between June 2018 and May 2021)

Recruitment procedure. Following the first edition of the "Future of PhD Holders" survey, a second edition was designed to continue collecting longitudinal data on the former cohort of PhD holders who participated in the initial survey (individuals graduated between January 2012 and May 2018), as well as on a new cohort of PhD holders from the French Community of Belgium who graduated between June 2018 and May 2021. The survey was launched in January 2022, in coordination with all French-speaking universities. PhD holders who participated in the survey in 2019 and had given their consent to be contacted for a future study (n = 1970) were directly sent the survey link. The assistance of supervisors was sought for the new cohort (PhD holders who defended their theses between June 2018 and May 2021). A total of 1369 supervisors were contacted for a total of 2408 theses.

Sample characteristics. The final sample consists of 1495 PhD holders (45.8% women, n = 664) and across all research domains: 43.0% (n = 610) In Exact and Natural Sciences (ENS), 33.4% (n = 473) were in Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH), and 23.6% (n = 335) were in Life and Health Sciences (LHS). The respondents had an average age of 36.7 years (SD = 6.4) and had obtained their PhD within the 4.4 years preceding the survey (SD = 2.6). 61.6% (n = 894) were of Belgian nationality, and 37.9% (n = 504) were working outside of Belgium at the time of the survey. The new cohort, comprising theses defended between June 2018 and May 2021, consisted of 857 responses. The longitudinal cohort, consisting of PhD holders who participated in the survey in 2019, comprised 561 responses. Assuming that all identified PhD holders received an invitation to participate, this corresponds to an overall response rate of 35.9%.

2025 Edition 

Cohorts A + B (Longitudinal follow-up of individuals who completed a doctorate between January 2012 and May 2021) + Cohort C (New cohort of doctoral graduates between June 2021 and May 2025) 

Recruitment procedure. A third edition of the “Future of PhD Holders” survey was designed to continue collecting longitudinal data on the cohort that participated in 2019 (graduates between January 2012 and May 2018) and 2021 (graduates between June 2018 and May 2021), as well as data on the new cohort (graduates between June 2021 and May 2025). The survey was launched in November 2025 in coordination with all French-speaking universities. PhD holders who had participated in the 2019 and 2021 surveys and had given their consent to be recontacted (n = 2,731) received the survey link directly. The assistance of supervisors was sought for the new cohort (doctorates defended between June 2021 and May 2025). In total, 1,983 supervisors were contacted for 3,480 theses. The survey closed in January 2026.

Sample characteristics. The final sample consisted of 2,389 doctorate holders (42.9% women, n = 1,026) and across all research fields. Their mean age was 39.6 years (SD = 6.4). The largest share of respondents (40.4%, n = 965) held doctorates in Exact and Natural Sciences (ENS), followed by 32.4% (n = 772) in Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH), and 27.2% (n = 649) in Life and Health Sciences (LHS). The mean age of respondents was 36.4 years (SD = 6.4). 57.9% (n = 1,384) were Belgian nationals, and 34.2% (n = 817) were working outside Belgium at the time of the survey. The new cohort included 1,563 responses while the longitudinal cohort included 826 responses. Considering that all identified PhD  holders received an invitation, the response rates were 44.9% for the new cohort and 30.2% for the longitudinal cohort.