Elena had spent years watching her peers leave academia. Finding a permanent research job is hard for everyone, but women in science often face extra obstacles. Now, a landmark 10-year study suggests that early-career funding can help change that.
Researchers from City St George's, University of London tracked 2,030 scientists who applied for early-career funding from the Medical Research Council (MRC) between 2006 and 2016. The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, found that receiving that funding helped women far more than it helped men.
Of the 2,030 applicants, 859 made it to the funding board. Of those, 408 received an award and 451 did not. When the researchers looked at who won, they found no meaningful difference between women and men. But when they looked at what happened next, the results surprised them.
Women who won funding went on to earn more citations — meaning other scientists referenced their work more often — and gained more influence in their fields than women who did not win. For men, the story was different. There was no statistically significant difference in productivity or influence between male award winners and male applicants who were turned down.
"Early-career funding leads to female applicants receiving more citations and influence in their field," said Professor Charitini Stavropoulou, the study's lead author and co-director of the Center for Healthcare Innovation Research at City St George's.
This matters because citations and influence help researchers build reputations, win more funding, and land permanent university jobs. The study was also the first to look beyond just how many papers researchers published to measure how much their work stood out compared to others in their field — a measure called relative performance.
The researchers also conducted interviews with 24 award recipients. Fourteen of the 24 women had taken maternity leave during their award period, while no male interviewee mentioned a career break for family reasons. Both women and men praised the protected research time their fellowships provided, as well as mentorship programs and maternity policies.
The findings suggest that the support wrapped around the funding — not just the money itself — may be a key reason women benefit more. That extra backing could be exactly what helps women stay in academia long enough to build careers, the researchers said.
"Jobs for early-career researchers are often precarious," Stavropoulou noted. "Our study has shown that early-career funding leads to female applicants receiving more citations and influence in their field — and this is particularly important given that other studies have shown women often face more challenges in academic progression."