EQUALITY GUIdE - KU Leuven

124 Equality Guide
desire to (re)turn to the professional field itself, the private sector or the industry to
broaden their horizon. They wanted to achieve more than merely publishing articles
and wondered who could benefit from their research. They considered education,
applied research and dissemination to the field as valid as fundamental research, yet
regretted that this was less rewarded. They consider their new jobs as socially more
relevant or try to design their professional activities for a relevant cause. Five women
regarded the staff members as living in an ivory tower. Five of the eight women who
are still involved in science have a position outside university and are doing applied
research. Two women who applied for a scholarship with a more practically oriented
type of research were not granted a scholarship at Ghent University.
Five of the interviewed men mentioned that they were not exclusively interested in
fundamental research. As the women, they also wondered who was interested in their
results, whether university was the place to be for them and whether their research
would still be rewarding in two years time. Three of them never planned to stay after
they had finished their PhD’s. Three others still consider university as an ivory tower, its
staff lacking the necessary sense of reality. Another man considered the content of his
work not interesting enough and longed for some variation. Four of the twelve men
who are still involved in scientific research, do applied research in private institutions
and industry. The other four work as a teacher, surgeon or are unemployed.
5.4.2.1.3. Lack of support
Four men regretted the lack of support and called it a reason to leave the university.
Two men are still working in an academic institution but do not want to return to their
former university because of the lack of support in their specific research groups or
departments. They were carrying out a specific research in which they felt to stand
alone. Another man left university because he missed a particular research group in
which he could function and was aware of the need of support to advance his career in
the academic world. One man mentioned that he did not receive the key figures’ support,
which contributed to his doubts about pursuing an academic career. Personal
animosities of the permanent staff also play a role in this respect. Talking to a particular
colleague almost implied getting into trouble because one seemed to take part against
another colleague. One man wondered whether he should have taken sides in an ongoing
quarrel in order to gain some respect and support.
Four women pointed to the lack of support as a reason to leave Ghent University. One
woman regretted that personal relations greatly influenced the decision process and
considered it an additional motive to leave: goodwill and relationships were as important
as intellectual merit. Another woman mentioned that her supervisor had left university
due to an internal conflict, which made it difficult for her to get support and
advance her career, since she could no longer count on any ‘political connections’. A
third woman’s supervisor did not only advise her not to publish or attend congresses,
but also used her veto against other departmental members in order not to choose her
for a vacant position. The last woman said she did not fulfil additional tasks in her
department, since it would harm her position as a result of the many animosities. For