Tuesday October 9, 2007
The Guardian
It's a rat's life
*****************
Universities are abusing young researchers and it's got to stop, says
a key study.
Natasha Gilbert reports
Getting a permanent academic position is notoriously difficult. Young
researchers are often forced to go from one research project to
another for anything up to 10 years before they acquire their first
permanent post. Now a group of government advisers has called for a
radical overhaul of the way the university system treats young
researchers, warning that the strength of UK research could be under
threat if action is not taken immediately.
The Council for Science and Technology (CST), the government's chief
advisory body, says, in a report published today, it has a number of
"fundamental concerns" about the way young researchers are treated.
There are "worryingly high levels of dissatisfaction" among
early-career researchers, and many feel they are being treated as "lab
rats", the CST says. Universities do not regard young researchers as
proper employees, and career advice and professional development is
poor.
The structure of the university research system - 41% of university
staff are aged over 50 - and its emphasis on publishing research
papers are at the root of the problem. The Research Assessment
Exercise - the method by which half the public funding stream for
research is divided up - is partly to blame.
Young researchers are rarely given the opportunity to investigate
their own ideas and apply for grants, but are instead forced to do the
leg work for their superiors. As a result, they are unable to
demonstrate evidence of the skills universities value when appointing
permanent staff.
"Postdocs live in an uncertain world," says Wendy Hall, one of the
report's authors. "Their progression is tied to the success or failure
of the principal investigator of the project they are on. The mindset
in universities is still that postdocs are employed on a
grant-by-grant basis, and when it is finished they are made redundant.
This is the model; there is no permanency. They are lost souls."
Sense of worth
Hall says she would like to see universities employ postdoctoral
researchers in longer term positions, rather than bringing them in for
a particular project.
"We need to move the current state of affairs to a system where
postdocs have a sense of worth, and where they can become independent
researchers earlier on in their careers," she says. "We can't tell
universities what do to, but some Russell group universities, which
have strong research incomes, could be the first to try it," she
suggests.
"It will be a brave head of department that says they will change the
way things work. It will likely be evolution rather than revolution,"
she adds.
The report calls on universities to give research staff greater
independence at an early stage in their careers, so they can take on
more responsibility for projects and staff. It says this could be
achieved through a wider use of research fellowships, which provide
young researchers with longer term funding.
And it suggests the research councils, which allocate the second half
of the public funding pot for university research, should use future
budget increases to fund more fellowship programmes.
It recommends the councils and other funding bodies think about how
young researchers may be allowed to apply for a wider range of grants.
"Giving an early-career researcher the opportunity to apply for even
small sums of funding at an early stage gives them valuable experience
and greater control over the research they are undertaking," the
report says. "The key to success is for research staff to be seen as
professionals."
Increasingly, researchers are required to collaborate with colleagues
overseas to tackle global problems, such as climate change, which
require multi-disciplinary solutions.
A stream of researchers is needed to forge the necessary partnerships
and to gain experience. The report says that research funders must
explore ways of increasing the flow of researchers and ensure careers
in the UK are sufficiently attractive to entice the best back at a
later stage in their career. It also warns the government not to
introduce policies that may discourage overseas researchers from
coming to the UK.
"We need to look to the future. The research landscape is changing
radically as we move further towards more inter-disciplinary research
and collaborating worldwide," Hall says. "The system as it currently
stands is not fit for purpose to meet these changes, because it is
based around self-contained teams, where people are tied to particular
projects. It needs to change, so there is more of a focus on
individuals than projects."
The CST criticises a lack of effort to address the issues faced by
young researchers, which were raised in a 2002 report by the late Sir
Gareth Roberts, who was president of Wolfson College at Oxford
University. "It is disturbing to find that many of the issues that he
raised still need to be addressed," it says. "There is fragmentation
of responsibility for ensuring that a career structure is in place
which nurtures research staff. There needs to be wholesale improvement
of the management of early-career research staff."
National framework
It recommends funders, universities and researchers develop a national
framework for research careers, to provide information on the range of
opportunities available in academia and in industry, and their
requirements. The framework would state the level of responsibility at
each career stage, and discuss opportunities for training. It would
advise on the benefits and drawbacks of moving between disciplines,
sectors and countries, and provide recognition and documentation that
researchers could use as evidence of their skills, experience and
achievements.
The CST warns that unless the UK acts now to develop a better system,
it could lose its best researchers to other countries. "The UK is a
very attractive place to pursue a research and academic career but
this is by no means guaranteed to last indefinitely," it says. "There
is a risk that, over the next 20 years, the strength of the UK science
base could be threatened."
A study the CST commissioned had found "deep-seated concern that there
could be a tipping point, as other sectors and countries employ the
most able graduates and postgraduates".
Living in limbo
Duncan Connors, general secretary of the National Postgraduate
Committee, agrees there is a lack of jobs for newly qualified
academics. "Universities need to break down the gerontocracy that is
in operation. If you are a good enough academic, and prove you can do
the work, you should not have to live in limbo for five years just
because some older guy is ahead of you."
John Bothwell, a postdoc at the Marine Biological Association, says
that the structure of the university system means a lot of young
researchers are doing experimental work for senior academics at the
expense of developing their own career and ideas. But, he adds, it is
difficult to point the finger of blame.
"It's a big gamble for a department to take a postdoc who does not
have a track record in attracting funding. No one group is to blame.
If I were a head of department, I would do same."
He says the government should change its funding strategy to high
risk, high gain, rather than the current low risk, medium gain. "I
would like to see the government put their money where their mouth is,
and create a more risk-taking culture. They should cut back on cash
going into monolithic research projects and back several small,
high-risk projects," he says.
· Natasha Gilbert is news editor of Guardian Research
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