Under Pressure

Workload, overtime, pressure to publish, error culture - the German science system is sick in many places. We aim to communicate the problems in Germany's science system, to provide food for thought and to promote sustainable change. To this end, the association organizes the campaign "Under Pressure". The vision is of a science system that considers the quality of research to be of paramount importance and promotes this by fostering the quality of work and life of employees, career paths that offer equal opportunities, and sustainable incentive systems.  
The poor working conditions and the pressure to perform and publish set the wrong incentives and hinder creative and sustainable work in many areas. Thus, they harm science as a whole. In addition, the heavy workload often leaves no room for science communication. Citizens need access to the current state of knowledge in research in order to participate in political processes. Understanding science protects against pseudoscience.
The association has the vision of a society in which science can operate free of grievances. To achieve this goal, the first priority is to de-precarize working conditions in order to make scientific employment a field of work that allows to meet the high demands and responsibilities. An appropriate work-life-balance, the compatibility of family and career, greater ability to plan and security with regard to the future, as well as fair career opportunities are core concerns. Furthermore, RespectScience is committed to promoting science communication and the representation of science in society. Overall, we want to initiate a profound change in the German science system through the organization and implementation of various campaigns, workshops and cooperation with our network, which will enable sustainable work in that very system. The first step will be the campaign "Under Pressure", which will communicate the aforementioned grievances, let those affected have their say and put the issue on the political agenda. The campaign is to be carried out via Instagram and consists of several modules. On the one hand, reports on the experiences of those affected will be presented in the form of fictional characters. Furthermore, the evaluated results of our survey will be presented and published in this way. In addition, our network will be able to publish guest contributions that fall within our area of expertise.
We have successfully conducted a survey with almost 3000 completed questionnaires. This is based on our theses, tests agreement with them from our target group, and collects important data and testimonials that we will incorporate and publish in our campaign. We have the support of science journalists Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim and Ranga Yogeshwar, as well as a network of other initiatives, organizations and associations.