The results of our survey on the mental health of academic mid-level staff in Switzerland are alarming.

After two years of work, today, we can finally publish the results of the Swiss-Wide Mental Health Survey (SWiMS)! SWiMS was conducted in collaboration with 13 mid-level staff associations across Switzerland in 2024. We surveyed more than 2,500 mid-level academic staff across Switzerland – primarily doctoral researchers and postdocs – about their mental health and working conditions.

The findings are alarming:

• 22% show critical levels of depressive symptoms
• 24% feel burned out on a weekly basis
• Lack of career prospects is the most cited stressor (39% report being “completely” stressed about this, 59% among postdocs only)
• Over half are unaware of available mental health resources or doubt their effectiveness

This situation threatens not only individual well-being but also the quality of research and teaching. In a statement accompanying the publication of the survey, the co-presidency of actionuni proposes structural measures to the federal government, the cantons, and higher education institutions aimed at sustainably improving the mental health of mid-level faculty and their career prospects, as well as maintaining the quality of research.

The SWiMS 2024 report and a statement by actionuni’s co-presidents are available here.

The actionuni survey team consists of Zoran Kovacevic (ETH Zürich), Neele H. Heiser (University of Geneva), Patricia Eiche (University of Basel), and Dr. Timon Elmer (University of Zurich). Many thanks to them and the 13 partaking mid-level staff associations for their work on this survey.