Agency and luck in scientific career narratives: spatial and gendered patterns and their policy implications

Abstract This study examines how scholars narrate agency and luck in scientific careers, focusing on geographic space and gender as structuring dimensions. Drawing on interviews with forest governance researchers, we analyze how they discursively construct professional trajectories. European scholars often frame their academic trajectories as outcomes of epistemic interests and agentic choices, while African scholars tend to narrate their careers through the lens of luck and external circumstances. Gender differences are less marked in linguistic expressions of agency but appear in the attribution of luck, with women—from both Africa and Europe—emphasizing private life conditions, particularly partnership and family situations. We argue that these discursive patterns reflect and reproduce social stratifications in global science. Our findings highlight the importance of integrating spatial and gendered contexts into studies of scientific careers and the need for science policies that foster epistemic autonomy and gender-inclusive career conditions across diverse academic landscapes.