Fellow Degree: Motives for Thesis Defence and Professional Occupation

The article deals with candidates of sciences’ both motives and professional occupation trajectory after thesis defense. Thesis defense is an important point in scientific career development but not all candidates of science continue their research after thesis defense. There are different areas of research activity. Empirical basis of this study is dealing with survey data of candidates of sciences who defended their thesis starting with January 1, 2016 till December 31, 2020. The survey was conducted by Budget Monitoring Center of PetrSU in July-September 2021. Obtained results showed that thesis defense is conditioned on mainly by personal motives, by desire to be engaged in research activities and to develop professionally in this area. Every fourth candidate of science continues doing research after defense, another 68.5% are doing research from time to time. Candidates of science who defended their thesis in 2016 are more active in publishing research results rather than those who defended their thesis in 2020. Scientific projects participation is more typical for those engaged in research activities within natural and technical sciences.

Candidate of Sciences, Thesis Defense, Scientific Career, Career Development