The academic age of researchers by SDG and region – in which region more early career researchers are needed to advance SDGs related science?

The median age of scientists and engineers in the US has increased from 40.3 years in 2003 to 42.4 years in 2017, while the proportion of those aged 55 and over has risen from 19% to 27%, according to a report by the National Science Foundation. Factors contributing to the trend include longer life expectancy and decreased numbers of younger people entering the workforce due to high education costs and a lack of job opportunities. The aging workforce risks losing the expertise and knowledge of older scientists, and this could hamper scientific progress and innovation. The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are universal goals for sustainable development adopted by all member states. Considering the challenges of an aging scientific workforce seen in the NSF data on the one hand, and the global importance of SDGs-related science on the other, this study demonstrates the academic age of researchers in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America based on their regional SDG priorities. Researchers have been categorized by their academic age, as measured by their years of experience in academia and their publication records, to identify which countries need more early-career researchers and in which areas of SDGs research. Our preliminary findings show an aging scientific workforce in the Global North with differences in prioritizing SDGs by region and the average academic age of scholars working in each SDG. As a result, we have developed an interactive dashboard that allows users to explore the complete dataset: https://compare-project.eu/tool/academic-age-and-sdgs-worldwide