FATE OF POSTDOCS TRACKED TO HELP NEXT GENERATION OF SCIENTISTS

● NATURE EDITORIAL REFERS TO THE ‘ LOST GENERATION’ OF RESEARCHERS, DISORIENTED AND CRESTFALLEN, NOT FINDING SUITABLE CAREERS IN ACADEMIA. LOST GENERATION, LIKE THOSE WHO SURVIVED THE RAVAGES OF WWI, ARE ALMOST CYNICAL.

THE ‘ LOST GENERATION’ TAG HAS ANOTHER, MORE SUBTLE MEANING. POPULARISED BY US WRITER ERNEST HEMINGWAY, IT WAS USED TO DESCRIBE THE AGE GROUP — HEMINGWAY INCLUDED — THAT HAD BEEN LEFT DISORIENTED AND CONFUSED BY GROWING UP AMID THE HORRORS AND CHAOS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR. LOST, NOT MISSING. THE DISTINCTION IS IMPORTANT. CAREERS OUTSIDE ACADEMIA ARE JUST AS VALUABLE AND SENIOR SCIENTISTS MUST ACKNOWLEDGE THIS. NEVERTHELESS, YOUNG RESEARCHERS ARE TOO OFTEN LED TO BELIEVE THAT A NON- ACADEMIC CAREER IS INFERIOR, SO INDIVIDUAL SCIENTISTS WHO FIND THEY NEED TO LOOK ELSEWHERE OFTEN FEEL LET DOWN, DECEIVED AND CYNICAL.

JULY SECOND WEEK’S EVENT AT THE EUROSCIENCE OPEN FORUM IN TOULOUSE, FRANCE, WAS FRANK ABOUT THE SCALE OF THE PROBLEM

AND THE DIFFICULTY OF FINDING SOLUTIONS. EUROPEAN FUNDERS AND POLICYMAKERS ARE CATCHING UP WITH THE UNITED STATES, WHERE THE CRISIS OF CONFIDENCE AND OPPORTUNITY AMONG YOUNG SCIENTISTS — ESPECIALLY IN BIOMEDICINE — HAS BEEN WIDELY DEBATED FOR AT LEAST A DECADE. THAT WOULD BE GOOD NEWS.

THE BAD NEWS IS THAT EUROPE’S FRAGMENTED, VARIABLE NATIONAL RESEARCH BODIES AND STRONG UNIVERSITY AUTONOMY MAKE IT MUCH EASIER TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE PROBLEM THAN TO CHANGE THE SYSTEMS THAT CAUSE IT.

IN THE CURRENT SCENE, CREATING MORE PERMANENT ACADEMIC JOBS WOULD TAKE TIME. A SUGGESTION IS THAT UNIVERSITIES AND OTHER INSTITUTIONS SHOULD TRACK AND PROVIDE DATA ON HOW MANY ACADEMIC JOBS ARE AVAILABLE AT EACH LEVEL FOR PHD STUDENTS AND POSTDOCS, AND LIST THE DESTINATION OF EVERY SCIENTIST WHO MOVES ON.