An explanatory video by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research shows the everyday working life of Hanna, a fictional doctoral student of biology. It was intended to deflect criticism, but it merely pushed researchers to defend themselves all the more against highly precarious working conditions. | Image: ZVG

“Universities in Germany have made themselves comfortable by shifting risks onto their employees”, writes Amrei Bahr of the University of Düsseldorf on Twitter. She is one of the co-initiators of the hashtag #IchBinHanna (“I am Hanna”), which young researchers have begun using in their struggle against precarious employment conditions. They are concerned about fixed-term contracts, low wages and overtime. There are similar problems in Switzerland. For example, a survey by the VPOD union at the University of Zurich showed that 73.5 percent of young researchers regularly worked more hours than required by their contracts. In October 2021, the organisations representing non-professorial teaching staff submitted a national petition calling for an end to precarious working conditions at Swiss universities.