Career opportunities and support for postdocs in academia: a conceptual framework for career engagement

Universities are adapting to the global academic market and external funding pressures, but career systems remain ill-suited to today's realities. Supporting postdocs without tenure-track opportunities is especially crucial in a system overloaded with aspiring academics. Transforming academia into a career-supportive system could facilitate a more dynamic flow of talent into the broader knowledge ecosystem. This study presents results from a career intervention at Aalborg University, where 33 early-career researchers explored diverse career strategies inside and outside academia. Through this initiative, we gained insights into career thinking and strategies within a specific academic context. The study introduces a transformative, organization-based framework that clarifies the career diversity already present and demonstrates how universities can implement change with minimal adjustments. Empowering early-career academics leads to significant shifts in their mindset and agency, providing a foundation for reimagining academic career systems as integrated parts of a larger knowledge production landscape.