Recruitment is a key area that is also linked to a good working environment. Recruitment for academic positions often takes place somewhat differently than for other types of positions, frequently through internal recruitment from master’s programmes to doctoral level, and from temporary to permanent positions.

This makes it important to identify the mechanisms of inclusion or exclusion within the educational culture and the social culture of academic communities. This applies to different groups, such as international researchers (Maximova-Mentzoni et al., 2016), students with an immigrant background (Arntzen & Eriksen, 2019), or first-generation academics (Brade, 2017). 

The allocation of academic positions can depend on various factors, such as publication points, specialised expertise, or teaching competence. This makes it relevant to introduce transparency regarding which mechanisms are important when positions are allocated, so that academics gain insight that can be relevant for their career planning.  

From a long-term perspective, diverse recruitment will also benefit the working environment: research from Norway shows that people are more likely to accept a position in an unfamiliar academic community if they see that they do not have to be the sole representative of a particular group (Flikke et al., 2020). In the competition to attract the best researchers, diversity is often an advantage. 

In this area, one can observe:

• The wording and formulation of announcement texts. What types of experience and expertise are being focused on? Does this align with the career advice that young/new researchers receive? 
• The demographics of recruitment committees/HR groups. What is the composition in terms of gender, nationality and other social categories, and how might this be expected to influence the appointment process?