The academic ‘renaissance’ : Is it around the corner?
What drives scientific minds towards academic research in the STEMM sphere? Often times, it is their innate curiosity towards understanding nature and its intricate mechanisms. Academia has witnessed a sea of change — Research has turned interdisciplinary with cross talk between various fields that has lead to diversity in scientific methods and opinions. Today, laboratory groups are international, inclusive and accommodating of contradictory perspectives — all positive changes.
Typically, the head of the lab, the principal investigator seeks out to fill their lab with scientific members who have varied levels of experience. A large population of the lab are graduate students who are trained to be experts in a field through foundational courses and exposure to lab techniques, generating and handling data, mentoring undergraduate students and writing manuscripts. Graduate schools are an all-encompassing institution, mentoring the future scientists of the generation in all aspects of their PhD journey. Research technicians and lab managers help enable the group’s research by providing administrative support and enforcing standard operating procedures that govern the day-to-day functioning of a lab. An often- ignored component of the scientific workforce are postdocs.
- Who is a postdoc?
Postdoctoral Researchers or ‘postdocs’- are often seen as ‘transitionary’ scientists with fixed contracts working towards gaining faculty positions. They have relevant expertise in a field and seek out to add layers to their scientific body of work through semi-independent research, mentoring graduate students, writing grants — whilst pursuing opportunities to move on to higher roles. Over the past decade, postdocs are actively seeking out roles outside academia as a more sustainable option.
2. The lure of the tenure-track
While conducting research can teach you to be more resilient towards failure, as postdocs, the volatile nature of science can often get you caught in the vicious web of publishing. More good-quality publications would mean a higher probability of gaining ‘ permanent’ tenure-track positions. This involves juggling a large number of projects, learning to know when to let go of an idea when things don’t work out and always working towards creating a scientific story for your next paper. Research progress takes time and requires you to go above and beyond with your efforts. While solving open-ended problems can be rewarding, the long hours spent in the lab can be stressful.
3. The current dissatisfaction
Among other issues, postdocs often receive low compensation and benefits relative to their education. Academia settings are fluidic in nature and many a creative thinkers’ haven, but graduate students and postdocs are increasingly unable to keep up with the rising living costs in the nation. Historically marginalized and international postdocs face disproportionate implicit barriers, only adding more challenges to this vulnerable strata. A recent postdoc survey from Nature has highlighted some of the key issues faced by postdocs. About half the population of postdocs aged 31- 40 are dissatisfied with the lack of job security, career advancement opportunities and 39% experience no work-life balance.
4. Where do we go from here ?
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) advisory committee has recently worked on re-envisioning postdoctoral training after considering recommendations. These include increased pay and benefits, expanding mechanisms to support the full talent pool of scholars, support transitions to roles that extend beyond faculty and fostering safe research environments. Institutions catered to postdoctoral affairs at Universities are paramount to lending voices to an integral part of the scientific ecosystem.
We are in a seemingly critical juncture in academia and openly talking about the issues faced by the postdoc population is definitely a huge first step in bringing about systemic changes among those responsible for scientific and technological development.
