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Open research questions in Career Development and Diversity

1,150 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 8,574 Career Development and Diversity papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.

What the literature leaves open

  • The persistence of cultural norms and gender stereotypes that operate as structural barriers. The lack of representation of women in the energy sector. The need to address the misalignment between student expectations and curricular engagement with socio-technical dimensions of the energy transition.

    Bridging the gender gap in the energy transition: addressing unmet aspirations and repellent effect in education and early career pathways in Italy, Germany and UK · 2026 · DOI

  • The lack of integration of energy-related social sciences and humanities into STEM disciplines. The persistence of gender disparities in energy-related higher education and professional trajectories. The need for a reconfiguration of curricula, pedagogical approaches, and epistemological foundations to address these gaps.

    Bridging the gender gap in the energy transition: addressing unmet aspirations and repellent effect in education and early career pathways in Italy, Germany and UK · 2026 · DOI

  • The sample size of the study is relatively small, - The follow-up sample is not random and may introduce selection and attrition threats to generalizability, - The study may mask key differences between groups by aggregating certain racial/ethnic identities, - The study's central aim was to understand how students' experiences in computing internships varied by gender and racial/ethnic identity, - Future research must continue to disaggregate and investigate the unique experiences of students holding multiple minoritized identities

    Playing the Field: Non-Computing Majors’ Experiences in Computing Internships · 2026 · DOI

  • The paper identifies a gap in understanding the impact of academic capitalism on STEM faculty, particularly the differential impact on tenure-track and non-tenure-track faculty. The study aims to address this gap by exploring the experiences of faculty in a metropolitan public research university. The research examines the impact of personnel policies on faculty experiences and pedagogical practices.

    “A Kicked Abandoned Dog”: Institutional Ethnography Reveals Differential Impact of Academic Capitalism on Tenure-Track and Non-Tenure-Track STEM Faculty · 2026 · DOI

  • There is a lack of understanding of the development of girls' sense of belonging in K-12 STEM education. The literature on belonging is broad, but there is a gap in understanding the impact of gender stereotypes and gender roles on girls' sense of belonging in STEM. The paper claims that the field lacks sufficient attention to the theoretical clarity of the construct of belonging in STEM, particularly for children and adolescents.

    “I Felt Like I Completely Belonged in That Class”: Gender and the Development of Sense of Belonging in K-12 STEM Education · 2026 · DOI

  • The paper identifies the challenge of navigating professional spaces as an LGBTQIA+ individual in STEM higher education. It notes the risk of affective misreading and the need for constant calibration to avoid misrecognition. The study highlights the challenge of creating a safe and inclusive environment for LGBTQIA+ individuals in STEM higher education.

    Feeling STEM: How Affective Infrastructures Shape LGBTQIA+ Participation in Higher Education · 2026 · DOI

  • The paper identifies a gap in STEM equity research, which has largely approached inequality through individual and interpersonal lenses. It notes that the structural conditions that organise participation in STEM higher education have been left under-theorised. The study highlights the need to examine affective infrastructures in STEM higher education.

    Feeling STEM: How Affective Infrastructures Shape LGBTQIA+ Participation in Higher Education · 2026 · DOI

  • Investigating the long-term effects of the intervention, - Exploring the impact of the intervention on different demographics, - Replicating the study in different educational settings

    STEM person of the week: a classroom intervention to support students’ perceptions of, and skills shared with, STEM professionals · 2026 · DOI

  • The lack of representation of certain groups in STEM education and careers. The limited understanding of how to effectively challenge stereotypes of people who work in STEM. The need for interventions that can support students' perceptions of, and skills shared with, STEM professionals.

    STEM person of the week: a classroom intervention to support students’ perceptions of, and skills shared with, STEM professionals · 2026 · DOI

  • Future studies should continue to disaggregate and investigate the unique experiences of students holding multiple minoritized identities, - Research should examine the experiences of students in other fields who participate in computing-related internships, - Studies should explore the impact of computing-related internships on the career development of non-computing majors

    Playing the Field: Non-Computing Majors’ Experiences in Computing Internships · 2026 · DOI

  • Further attention to intersectionality, - Conceptual and methodological improvements, - Promising approaches for interventions to support belonging

    “I Felt Like I Completely Belonged in That Class”: Gender and the Development of Sense of Belonging in K-12 STEM Education · 2026 · DOI

  • However, the dynamic interplay between these factors and career adaptability among secondary vocational students remains underexplored, particularly among transitional youth populations and collectivist cultural contexts.

    Parental Career-Related Behavior Transitions and Career Adaptability Among Chinese Secondary Vocational Students: School Interpersonal Support as a Mediator · 2026 · DOI

  • Although there are some highly accomplished female scholars in the same field, the psychological reasons for their ability to cope with stress and avoid internalizing gender stereotypes at a micro-level have not been explored.

    Psychological Coping Mechanisms of Highly Resilient Female STEM Researchers under Occupational Stress and Stereotype Internalization · 2026 · DOI

  • Conclusion The findings of this research contribute to the limited research exploring the experience of undergraduate bioengineering students who identify as Black women.

    “I felt like my voice literally did not matter”—Recognition and engineering identity experiences of Black undergraduate women in biomedical engineering · 2026 · DOI

  • Most research has examined students in general, overlooking the specific pressures faced by final-year students approaching career transition, and few studies have addressed Islamic higher education institutions in Indonesia, where gender norms may interact with religious and local values.

    Gender Differences in Career Maturity Among University Students: A Comparative Analysis · 2026 · DOI

  • Originality/value This study offers original qualitative insight into rural STEM career development from a training and workforce development perspective, an area still underexplored in industrial and commercial training research.

    Career development of rural undergraduate STEM students: a qualitative case study using social cognitive career theory · 2026 · DOI

  • These findings suggest that gender-responsive career development programs that capitalize on intrinsic and extrinsic motivations for female students, and that strengthen interpersonal networking for male students, are warranted.

    Does gender influence career choices? Empirical evidence from business administration students in the Philippines · 2026 · DOI

  • Engineering degrees offer strong potential for socioeconomic mobility, yet relatively little is known about the representation of low-income students within these programs.

    Socioeconomic diversity in undergraduate engineering programs: a national study of Pell-eligible students · 2026 · DOI

  • Although research on the experiences of science faculty of color foreground a range of challenges often complicated by institutional and disciplinary norms, not much is known about whether and how college faculty may integrate their social identities into their work.

    Investigating How Biology Faculty of Color Integrate Their Social Identities into Their Teaching and Mentoring · 2025 · DOI

  • Despite the growing importance of understanding these challenges, the differential impact of proximal and distal contexts on adolescents’ career decision-making remains underexplored.

    Unsettled horizon: adolescents’ career expectations in the volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous contexts · 2025 · DOI

  • CONCLUSIONS: The matchmaking event began bridging a much-needed gap in the research pathway by creating opportunities for trainees to connect with mentors and obtain funded research opportunities.

    Evaluation of a mentorship matchmaking event at an academic research institution to reinforce the scientific workforce pathway for underrepresented minority groups · 2025 · DOI

  • PURPOSE: Although an increasing number of studies have found that career adaptability is beneficial to individual career development, research on the mechanisms by which career adaptability affects job search behavior and subjective well-being among university students is relatively scarce.

    How career adaptability affects university students’ job search behavior and subjective well-being: the role of career choice optimistic bias · 2025 · DOI

  • Purpose: Although the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) pipeline has been the most common policy framework to understand why ethnoracial disparities are some of the most glaring, few studies have empirically assessed whether the relationship between early academic preparation, such as for standardized tests, grades, and coursework, and later outcomes is the same across racial/ethnic groups.

    A Flawed Policy Metaphor: An Empirical Test of Earlier Academic Promise and Later STEM Outcomes · 2024 · DOI

  • In an era marked by increasing national concern over student surpluses and shortages in various graduate programs, as well as over more general issues of educational quality, further investigation of these policy-sensitive factors prompting postcollege educational attendance seems clearly warranted.

    Impacts of undergraduate experiences on aspirations and plans for graduate and professional education · 1987 · DOI

  • Sepich 21 respect to understanding career indecision, much remains to be seen. Hence, conflicting findings reported in the literature may be a reflection of the nonspecificity of the type of career indecision.

    A review of the correlates and measurements of career indecision · 1987 · DOI

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1,150 open questions have been extracted from the limitations and future-work passages of 8,574 Career Development and Diversity papers in our library. Each one below links back to the study that raised it, so you can read the original claim in context.

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