A central finding is that female early-stage researchers, in particular, are suffering from the consequences of the pandemic and need more support. This is the key result of the study conducted by the working group headed by Marc Lerchenmüller, researcher at the Business School of the University of Mannheim, which focused on women in the early career stage. In total, 14 researchers from all over Europe have formed four working groups on different topics and worked on the report.
The goal of the EU report is to give recommendations on how individual states can try to relieve the consequences the pandemic had on academia and how existing European research programs, such as Horizon Europe or ERC grants, can be adjusted. The working group headed by junior professor Dr. Marc Lerchenmüller focused on women in the early career stage. The researcher at the University of Mannheim is the only author of the Policy Report who is based in German.