\n <\/p>\n
This article is the third in a short series discussing the results of Nature\u2019s 2025 PhD survey. The next article will focus on international students. The survey, created in partnership with Thinks Insight & Strategy, a research consultancy based in London, launched in June and was advertised on nature.com, in Springer Nature digital products and through e-mail campaigns. It had 3,785 self-selecting respondents across 107 countries, with 44% describing themselves as female, 25% as belonging to an ethnic minority in their country of study and 33% as studying outside their country of origin. The full survey data sets are available at go.nature.com\/4ncsuo1.<\/p>\n
The past few years have been tough on Camila Pinto, who earned her PhD at the Federal University of Amazonas in Manaus, Brazil, in March. During her degree, she lost both her parents and had burnout and depression. Yet, her overall PhD experience was positive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe say in my lab that \u2018life happens during a PhD\u2019, and many personal dramas unfold,\u201d says Pinto, a materials scientist who has now embarked on a postdoc and holds a salaried teaching position at Brazil\u2019s Federal Institute of Amazonas in Presidente Figueiredo, a small town in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. \u201cWhat helped me keep going was the personal support of my supervisor, the solidarity of our national scientific community and the belief that my research serves a greater good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pinto\u2019s positive outlook might be a national characteristic. When Nature surveyed more than 3,700 doctoral candidates around the world earlier this year, Brazil stood out: 83% of respondents studying there reported being at least moderately satisfied with their PhD programme. It is the only country scoring significantly higher than the global average of 75%. Students in Brazil were also the most upbeat about their experience, with 80% saying that they enjoyed their degrees and 78% feeling fulfilled by their work, compared with global averages of 70% and 72%, respectively.<\/p>\n
The global PhD landscape 2025<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The only country that comes close to Brazil is Australia, which matches it on enjoyment and fulfilment, and scores just one point lower on satisfaction. Students in Australia and Brazil are also the most likely to say that their PhD experience matched their expectations, with 68% in Australia agreeing with this statement (including 29% who strongly agree) and 65% in Brazil (27% strongly agree).<\/p>\n
Does that mean that these nations have the happiest PhD students in the world? In reality, the picture is more complex than that.<\/p>\n
Before interrogating the survey data further, it\u2019s important to set out some caveats. The self-selecting character of Nature\u2019s PhD survey means that some countries are represented better than others. We received very few responses from some of the 107 nations. Eight had more than 100 participants, which makes comparisons between them robust: Australia (101 respondents), Brazil (113), China (312), Germany (247), India (430), Italy (111), the United Kingdom (201) and the United States (568). Another ten had between 50 and 100 respondents (Canada, Ethiopia, France, Iran, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Poland, South Africa, Spain and Switzerland) and were also included in this analysis. The remaining nations had too few participants to study individually (see \u2018Nordic niceness\u2019). Caution is therefore needed when comparing country-level results, says Elsie Lauchlan, quantitative director of London-based research consultancy Thinks Insight & Strategy, which ran the survey with Nature. And further complications arise from the fact that people based in various countries or regions tend to answer questions about satisfaction and well-being differently \u2014 an effect known as cultural response bias.<\/p>\n
The Nordic countries \u2014 Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland \u2014 routinely score near the top of global happiness surveys. However, individually, they had too few responses to Nature\u2019s survey to be included in our satisfaction analysis. Combined, however, they had a similar number to other nations in this article. Their 97 respondents reported an impressive 85% satisfaction rate \u2014 higher even than Brazil\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Elham Badalzadehe Aghdam, an Iranian PhD candidate studying forest health at Linnaeus University in V\u00e4xj\u00f6, Sweden, says that these figures reflect her experience. \u201cOne reason PhD satisfaction is high in the Nordic countries is the structure and culture of doctoral studies here,\u201d she explains. PhD candidates are treated as employees rather than as students, with a salary, social-security benefits and a good work\u2013life balance, making the position feel more stable and professional than it does elsewhere. A collaborative, non-hierarchical academic culture also helps, she says.<\/p>\n
Brazil\u2019s survey data offer no clear reason for why the country has the highest satisfaction score. Its respondents are significantly less likely than the global average to have concerns about a lack of mentoring (15% compared with 26%) and more likely to be satisfied with the intellectual challenge (92% compared with 81%). They also express a slightly higher-than-average satisfaction with their pay, supervisor relationship, research guidance and independence \u2014 although not significantly so. Meanwhile, they are less likely than average to be satisfied with their work\u2013life balance and travel opportunities, and more likely to say that their university has a culture of long working hours. Indeed, when it comes to many of the individual measures, Brazil is outscored by the United Kingdom, which had an overall satisfaction score of 76% \u2014 close to the global average (see \u2018PhD student satisfaction across five countries\u2019).<\/p>\n
Worldwide, the survey identifies three measures that correlate with satisfaction. PhD students who spend at least one hour a week with their supervisors are significantly happier than average, as are those who are less than two years into their degree. Spending more than 60 hours a week on their PhD correlates inversely with satisfaction. Financial concerns, despite being high in most surveyed countries, don\u2019t correlate with satisfaction levels in an obvious manner. In Germany, where some of the fewest students responded having financial concerns (27%), overall satisfaction is below average at 70%. So what\u2019s really going on?<\/p>\n
Sandra Dias, a cancer researcher at the Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials in Campinas, thinks that her country\u2019s cultural emphasis on community could play a part, as could its social support structures. \u201cUniversal health care, subsidized public transport and, for many, proximity to extended family reduce financial and emotional stress,\u201d she says. A mild climate that enables outdoor activities year-round also helps, she adds.<\/p>\n
Engineering PhD student Izadora Menezes disagrees that Brazil\u2019s students are the happiest, not least because of financial concerns resulting from stagnating stipends and research budget cuts.<\/span>Credit: Izadora Rhaynna Santos de Menezes<\/span><\/p>\n However, Izadora Menezes, who studies engineering at Brazil\u2019s Federal University of S\u00e3o Carlos, disagrees with the idea that the nation\u2019s PhD students are the happiest in the world. \u201cAlthough I am satisfied with my personal experience with my PhD, I don\u2019t think it reflects the reality in Brazil,\u201d she says. Money is a key issue, she notes. Under then president Jair Bolsonaro\u2019s far-right government from 2019 to 2023, scholarships stagnated and funding for science was slashed. Although Menezes\u2019s scholarship from the S\u00e3o Paulo Research Foundation FAPESP is relatively generous, PhD stipends in the country can be as low as 3,100 reais a month, she notes. Although that is equivalent to a monthly allowance of US$1,250 in the United States, it is \u201cusually insufficient for a comfortable life\u201d, says Menezes. (Stipend values have been adjusted throughout to US dollars using a measure of purchasing power parity.)<\/p>\n Pinto thinks that the country\u2019s high satisfaction rate might stem at least in part from relief that Bolsonaro\u2019s presidency, which she calls a \u201cdark chapter\u201d for research, is over. \u201cWe are still struggling to rebuild much of what was lost, but for the first time in a long while, there\u2019s a renewed sense of optimism,\u201d she says. \u201cThat hopefulness is part of our DNA.\u201d<\/p>\n Like Brazil, Australia\u2019s high satisfaction score is not immediately explained by Nature\u2019s data. The country\u2019s 101 respondents rate their satisfaction above average on most measures \u2014 for example, 58% of Australia-based PhD students feel satisfied with their work\u2013life balance compared with 51% globally. But only the questions about tailored mental-health support and travel opportunities scored significantly higher than the global average.<\/p>\n Lifestyle factors, including outdoor culture and relatively safe living conditions, also add to improved well-being, says Eddie Attenborough, who studies food, bioprocesses and polymer science at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. \u201cWhen you\u2019re happier outside of the lab, you\u2019re more likely to feel fulfilled inside it,\u201d he adds. Jesse Gardner-Russell, an ophthalmology PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne and national president of the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA), thinks that the country\u2019s social safety nets are important, including free or subsidized health care for most PhD students, a diverse university culture in which international students feel welcome and a good work\u2013life balance. \u201cI think that all of this fits together to create satisfaction.\u201d<\/p>\n Eddie Attenborough says that outdoor lifestyles improve students\u2019 satisfaction in Australia.<\/span> The high proportion of international PhD students in Australia\u2019s sample (63%) could also influence its satisfaction score. Globally, students doing a PhD abroad report significantly higher satisfaction than do those studying at home (78% compared with 74%).<\/p>\n Life in Australia is, however, expensive. Although the proportion of students reporting financial concerns (47%) is only slightly above the global average (42%), cost of living is consistently the top worry in CAPA\u2019s surveys, Gardner-Russell says. A typical PhD stipend of Aus$33,500 a year (US$24,300) is below Australia\u2019s minimum wage of around Aus$49,000. Moreover, unlike salaried jobs, stipends do not contribute to a pension plan, placing doctoral students at a disadvantage compared with their non-academic peers, he explains. \u201cThis can make PhD students feel very undervalued.\u201d<\/p>\n How money, politics and technology are redefining the PhD experience<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Whereas Australia and Brazil scored high across the board, Italy offers a more nuanced picture. Overall, the country scores on a par with Australia: 82% of its 111 respondents say that they are at least moderately satisfied with their PhDs. But when asked whether they enjoy their degrees and feel fulfilled by the work, students in Italy score significantly lower than in the other two nations, with only 68% agreeing on both measures. They are also significantly less satisfied than average about pay, independence and work\u2013life balance and have more concerns about their mental health.<\/p>\n Maria Roberta Belardo, who studies mathematical and physical sciences at the Scuola Superiore Meridionale in Naples, Italy, says that the country\u2019s results reflect its complex academic landscape. Italian universities provide quality education, she says, but the pay is low \u2014 the average monthly stipend is \u20ac1,200 (US$1,960) after deductions \u2014 and the research community is small by European standards. Belardo says that many of the country\u2019s PhD students are sustained mainly by their passion for their research topic. \u201cIn other words, Italian PhDs may feel proud of the degree they earn, while at the same time finding the experience itself less enjoyable and the professional outlook less secure, which, in my opinion, explains the mixed results of the survey.\u201d<\/p>\n ADI, the Association of PhD Students and Postdocs in Italy, says that its 2024 survey, which received responses from some 7,000 PhD students in 2023, found that about half were at high risk of anxiety, depression and stress, caused mainly by economic insecurity, excessive workloads and uncertainty about the future. \u201cIn our opinion, if Italian PhD students declare themselves satisfied [in Nature\u2019s survey], this satisfaction cannot be interpreted as an indication of idyllic living and working conditions. It could instead reflect a kind of \u2018resilience\u2019 or perhaps the prevalence of a \u2018passion\u2019 for research, which masks the daily difficulties,\u201d says the ADI\u2019s national secretary Davide Clementi, who is based in Palermo, Italy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nature\u2019s 2025 PhD survey This article is the third in a short series discussing the results of Nature\u2019s 2025 PhD survey. The next article will focus on international students. The survey, created in partnership with Thinks Insight & Strategy, a research consultancy based in London, launched in June and was advertised on nature.com, in Springer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29331,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[17340,16456,678,550],"class_list":{"0":"post-29330","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-happiest","9":"tag-phd","10":"tag-students","11":"tag-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Southern satisfaction<\/h2>\n