Around one-fifth of the doctoral candidates of the European Union are working in universities outside of their home country. Whereas figures of researchers under fixed term contracts show similar results, permanent positions in international mobility are substantially less frequent. Nevertheless, Europe is, as we all know, far from being homogenous. As a consequence, those international mobility figures are extremely different from one country to another. While some European countries have a surprising amount of native researchers, others mostly rely on foreign scientists. This brings interesting international mobility opportunities.

Although early stage researchers are still inadequately informed about it, the job market for doctorates is, however, not limited to academia since nearly half of the EU researchers are working in the private sector. Furthermore, many employers see the doctorate as a high-level qualification bringing many advanced transferable skills, in a great panel of professional sectors, not necessarily in research-related areas. That creates a strong overall demand, which is ready to meet the observed increased supply. The specificities of the different situations and opportunities are, again, highly dependent on the sector as well as the country.

The point of this presentation is to give the audience an overview of the job market for doctorates in Europe. Though the situation is extremely complex and country-specific, we will bring forward interesting trends in academic and non-academic research as well as in non-research-related areas.