![Responses to questions regarding the impact on ECRs being impacted by government funding delays, and responses broken down by career level. Every group indicated > 50% of being impacted (PhD student 64%, Postdoc 76%, Junior Faculty 71%, Junior scientist 100%, and Other 62%) -- [astro-ph.IM]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/The-Early.png?fit=1200%2C477&ssl=1)
[astro-ph.IM] A survey of self identified early career astrobiologists was organized by the NOW early career group FLOW and the Scientific Society of Astrobiology.
During November 2025 to February 2026, 165 responses were collected to gain insight into the state of early career communities the impacts of federal grant delays on early career astrobiologists and the future of astrobiology.
Results indicated that a majority of surveyed ECRs are concerned about their future careers (90 percent). Funding delays have affected 89 percent of ECRs future career paths, with open responses indicating that the lack of available funding resources, and employment opportunities limit their ability to see a future in the field.
Most ECRs are unsure about staying in academia with over 50 percent of Ph.D. students, postdocs, and Junior scientists unsure or not planning to stay in academia. However Junior Faculty are largely planning to remain in academia.
Katherine Dzurilla, Gabby Rizzo, Perianne Johnson, Patrick Monreal, Ilankuzhali Elavarasan, Elizabeth Spiers
Subjects: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM); Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
Cite as: arXiv:2608.06431 [astro-ph.IM](or arXiv:2608.06431v1 [astro-ph.IM] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2608.06431
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Submission history
From: Katherine Dzurilla
[v1] Thu, 6 Aug 2026 01:03:14 UTC (516 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.06431
Astrobiology, Astronomy, Astrophysics, Astrochemistry,
