The third and final empirically informed chapter of this book looks at researchers who have reached an advanced stage in the careers, defined as having over 12 years of post-PhD experience. Reflecting the idea that a university workforce is bifurcated, I provide insight into two specific forms of seniority. The first I term the ‘research professor,’ relating to people who, for the most part, started their careers before or during the time of expanded investment in R&D in Portugal in the 1990s, and have since progressed towards leadership positions in their institutions. A second approach relates to a further prolongation of the project-to-project approach, and an intensified focus on individualized success. In the chapter, I am able to identify the contrasts and commonalities between these two positions, including a somewhat uneven distribution of precarity in their professional lives despite high levels of scientific productivity from both parties.

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• Sociologia - Ciências Sociais