Today I went to the first of a two day course titled 'Career Management for Researchers - Broadening Horizons'. The aim of the course is to recognise that with so few academic positions available nationwide, it is necessary for university staff on contract employment (such as yours truly) to think about the transferrable skills we have in order to find permanent employment elsewhere.
The declining number of positions is in line with the cuts the UK government has announced for university funding: according to The Guardian £940m will be cut from the 2012 budget for teaching, research and buildings. This announcement is a massive blow for science departments everywhere who are already struggling to obtain funding. The regulations to date, set by various research councils, state that successful research proposals should have a social or/and economical impact. This has put a huge pressure on laboratories, such as the ones I have worked for, that carry out what I call 'pure' research; where a subject is being studied solely for the expansion of knowledge and discovery. The findings of these projects are by no means "useless" or a "waste of money". It is the probing nature of this type of research that leads to the better understanding of the complexity of life, in the standpoint of physics, chemistry and biology. I believe that forced cessation of such projects will lead to the decline of useful knowledge that could lead to the discovery and development of new medicines and technology; the vital component of work that, ironically, would have a social and economical impact.
The announced cuts for 2012 means that many research groups will be scaling down and tightening belts than ever before. Many highly qualified and talented individuals who have trained long and hard and have made many personal sacrifices for the sake of their careers will be unceremoniously made redundant. This is insult to injury since professionals in other fields of work have excellent job security, decent pay and benefits and, most importantly, are recognised and appreciated.
Tonight, as I wring my hands at the prospect of being a job seeker that is too old and too over-qualified for most types of work, I see that our Vice-Chancellors are not feeling as worried. Dispatches on Channel 4 has reported that while universities are facing cuts, students (their parents) will be hit with massive tuition debts and academics and researchers will be out of a job, university Vice-Chancellors are livin da vida loca with salaries up and over a quarter of a million pounds. In addition, they reside in luxurious accomodation and have ski chalets, chauffeured driven cars, membership of exclusive clubs - all taken care of by the "cash-strapped" universities. My hands are wringing even harder.
Memories of a quip from an ex-colleague enters my mind: "it is time to find a real job". This epitomises the life of a present-day academic science researcher. Far from the romantic ideal that universities are a haven for those who wish to make a living through knowledge and discovery, the reality of the situation now is that through commercialisation the fat cats are getting fatter and the lab rats are facing certain death.
See: Dispatches
No comments:
Post a Comment