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Training the scientific workforce: Does funding mechanism matter?

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  • Blume-Kohout, Margaret E.
  • Adhikari, Dadhi

Abstract

A National Institutes of Health (NIH) taskforce recently recommended decreasing the number of graduate students supported on research assistantships, and instead favoring traineeship and fellowship funding mechanisms. Using instrumental variables estimation with survey data collected from U.S. PhD-granting biomedical sciences departments and their newly-minted PhDs, we find that increases in these programs’ NIH-funded traineeships and fellowships do significantly increase programs’ total graduate enrollments, particularly of female students. However, PhDs who were funded primarily as research assistants are significantly more likely to take research-focused jobs in the U.S. scientific workforce after they graduate, as compared to PhDs who were primarily supported as trainees or fellows. The suggested policy changes thus may have unintended, negative consequences for scientific workforce participation.

Suggested Citation

  • Blume-Kohout, Margaret E. & Adhikari, Dadhi, 2016. "Training the scientific workforce: Does funding mechanism matter?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(6), pages 1291-1303.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:respol:v:45:y:2016:i:6:p:1291-1303
    DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2016.03.011
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Chaojiang Wu & Erjia Yan & Yongjun Zhu & Kai Li, 2021. "Gender imbalance in the productivity of funded projects: A study of the outputs of National Institutes of Health R01 grants," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 72(11), pages 1386-1399, November.
    3. Azoulay, Pierre & Greenblatt, Wesley H. & Heggeness, Misty L., 2021. "Long-term effects from early exposure to research: Evidence from the NIH “Yellow Berets”," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(9).
    4. Ran Xu & Navid Ghaffarzadegan, 2018. "Neuroscience bridging scientific disciplines in health: Who builds the bridge, who pays for it?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 117(2), pages 1183-1204, November.
    5. Малошонок Н. Г. & Терентьев Е. А., 2019. "На Пути К Новой Модели Аспирантуры: Опыт Совершенствования Аспирантских Программ В Российских Вузах," Вопросы образования // Educational Studies Moscow, National Research University Higher School of Economics, issue 3, pages 8-42.
    6. Graddy-Reed, Alexandra & Lanahan, Lauren & D'Agostino, Jesse, 2021. "Training across the academy: The impact of R&D funding on graduate students," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(5).
    7. Hyungjo Hur & Maryam A Andalib & Julie A Maurer & Joshua D Hawley & Navid Ghaffarzadegan, 2017. "Recent trends in the U.S. Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (BSSR) workforce," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(2), pages 1-18, February.
    8. Margaret E Blume-Kohout & John W Clack, 2013. "Are Graduate Students Rational? Evidence from the Market for Biomedical Scientists," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(12), pages 1-13, December.
    9. Star X. Zhao & Wen Lou & Alice M. Tan & Shuang Yu, 2018. "Do funded papers attract more usage?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 115(1), pages 153-168, April.
    10. Yu, Yan & Ibarra, Julio E. & Kumar, Kuldeep & Chergarova, Vasilka, 2021. "Coevolution of cyberinfrastructure development and scientific progress," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).

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