Executive Summary

This report examines how UK research funding structures systematically exclude long-term casualised academics (LTCAs), i.e. those employed on temporary1 teaching and/or research contracts for over eight years. LTCAs constitute around a third of the research workforce, yet remain absent from career frameworks and funding policy.

Our analysis of major funders reveals that, despite commitments to inclusion, eligibility criteria continue to create structural barriers for LTCAs. The two main challenges they face are the definition of career stage for fellowships and the employment status required for leadership roles in grants. Definitions of career stages like early or mid-career researchers still implicitly assume linear career paths (whether or not metrics like ‘years since PhD’ are used), often overlooking how part-time work, caring responsibilities, disability, bullying or the impact of insecure roles – common experiences for LTCAs – affect career progression. In addition, the current funding criteria facilitates the exploitation of the LTCAs’ intellectual contributions: as they are excluded from leadership roles on grant proposals, colleagues in secure positions are often named as principal investigators instead, on work to which they have not made the primary contribution.

While some funders have made positive strides, systemic barriers remain, undermining equity, research quality and integrity. We encourage funders to collaborate with us to refine these criteria, ensuring that all researchers, regardless of their employment status or career path, can fully participate in and lead impactful research. This report demonstrates that without such changes, funders risk perpetuating inequitable and exploitative systems.