Generation Precarious – exploring the relationship between working conditions for early-career researchers and the quality of teaching and research

​This paper will present an overview of studies and surveys on employment terms, working conditions and career prospects for early-stage researchers – “generation precarious” – in Europe, with a particular eye to Norway. We aim to use this information to highlight concerns and potential consequences of precarious work and deprived working conditions within the higher education system. We will argue that the high standards of quality in research and teaching that national governments and the EU call for, cannot be achieved without a more evidence-based approach to these issues and in close collaboration with the involved researchers and their representatives. The aim of this paper to explore and catalyse a discussion on the relationship between precarious work and the deteriorating working conditions for early-career researchers and the quality of research and in higher education institutions.