Gender and International Mobility of European Researchers

Recent findings point to trends and features of researchers’ international mobility that bear upon women’s research opportunities (Ackers, 2010; 2013; Cañibano et al. 2015). On the one hand, the more flexible ways in which researchers may be internationally mobile offer new possibilities for making work compatible with family and private lives, and open up prospects for both men’s and women’s access to international networks and infrastructures. On the other hand, the pressure to be internationally mobile in order to succeed in research may raise new barriers for women, and constitute potentially challenging conditions. These are consequential issues for research careers in the European Union, because the rise in the cross-country mobility of researchers is explicitly linked to the successful construction of the European Research Area and mobility is becoming a requisite for promotion and consolidation in academic careers.