A Postdoc's View of The Concordat: a chance for a new direction

13 November 2009

By Fiona Frame

As postdocs we will all be at different stages of the short-term contract rollercoaster. We might be at the beginning where we feel it will last forever – the long slow ascent where we can enjoy the view and bask in the joy of getting a job or being successful with a grant. Or, we may have just tipped over the edge and suddenly realise the end is coming – there are some twists and turns and ups and downs along the way. We can enjoy the ride for a while but with one final turn the car shudders to a halt and we have to get off. The ride is over; the contract is finished. Your legs are a bit wobbly, your head is a bit fuzzy and you wonder how it went so fast. You didn’t have time to think about the next ride.

You can’t quite understand it. You are 30, 35, 48, whatever it might be, and you are incredibly qualified. You have lists of degrees and achievements yet you are now unemployed. And what is more you haven’t managed to get on the housing market and your pension isn’t looking too good. You remind yourself you love science and that’s why you do it. But now it seems science doesn’t love you.

What are your options? Well, you applied for those fellowships without success. You managed to get one grant but your next one wasn’t funded. You have published some papers but none of them are in the top journals. You are not competitive enough for a lectureship. You‘ve gained only the odd bit of teaching experience, because you wanted to focus on the research. On paper you don’t think you look too bad but you are still unemployed. What to do? In your twenties you didn’t mind jumping from contract to contract, from place to place. But now the uncertainty, the anxiety, the inability to plan long term leaves you tense and worried. The opposite feeling can be engendered with permanent security allowing the possibility of complacency. But, surely there can be something in between.

At first glance, with the eyes of a cynical postdoc, it would be easy to dismiss the recently-published Concordat (http://www.researchconcordat.ac.uk).  It aims to improve and sustain UK research by supporting the career development of researchers. It would be easy to dismiss it as all gloss and no substance.  But, I want to provide an alternative, perhaps less jaundiced view to that of the cynical postdoc and encourage a second look. 

There are many universities and institutions in the UK that employ postdocs or temporary researchers and all are in the same situation. They have a constant fluctuation of staff on one, two or three year contracts. They come and they go. It is inevitable. It is fact. These organisations have two options. They can take what they need from these researchers and shut the door behind them when their contract terminates. Alternatively, they can acknowledge that these are valuable workers with valuable skills and experience, and while it may not be possible to keep employing everybody they can improve their chances of being employed elsewhere. I am afraid the days are gone where you can step into a company or organisation and step out 30 years later with a carriage clock and a nice pension. It is not that loyalty is no longer rewarded; it is that it is no longer possible, either from the employer or employee. 

Now, being a postdoc I don’t want to just roll over and give up. I want to stick up for postdocs who are experienced researchers and have spent years studying and in training and who want to stay in science. They play a crucial role in the functioning of a lab and pushing forward research. An experienced postdoc in a lab is a huge asset. Many PhD students would say that they wouldn’t have got through their PhD were it not for a key member of the team, usually a postdoc that took them under their wing and showed them the nuances of experimental detail. Clearly the supervisors are crucial too, but they have so many demands on their time. They have to write grants, supervise multiple students and postdocs, lecture, sit on committees, review papers and travel to conferences to promote the research. They simply don’t have time to get into the details like a fellow lab member can. There is a place for some permanent postdoc positions, which could provide experience, teaching and continuity. One of the tragedies of the short-term contract is the termination of projects that may have been successful but have to be stopped due to lack of funding, and the loss of talent as a result.

But the bottom line is, if you are brilliant and lucky and work very hard, you may get a lectureship or a permanent job in an institution. If you are brilliant and work hard or not so brilliant and work hard, it just may not happen for you, and you will not be alone. You will in fact be joined by the majority of postdocs. There simply aren’t enough permanent posts to go around. Your options are then being a perpetual postdoc, which may involve travelling round the country or the world forever. Or, you have to accept that despite your training and despite your experience you may need to step off the track you have been on for 10, 15, 20 years. It may be a bitter pill to swallow but if you don’t take charge of your career and your options then no-one else is going to do it for you. Also, you will have to look at that training and those skills that you didn’t even realise you had and repackage them in a way that will be attractive to future employers. That little bit of teaching you did or those few hours on that writing course could take on a whole new significance, and could help you get that next job. Maybe you have decided you don’t want to be a lecturer and don’t know what to do. But you don’t have to abandon science altogether. Many jobs will use the experience and skills you already have. Our biggest hurdle may be the confidence and belief in ourselves that we could make a change.

Ultimately, The Concordat is an important document because it says that postdocs are being heard. Some universities such as York already invest in our training and career guidance, and we should view this as a valuable resource. The funders and employers of research acknowledge that the temporary nature of postdoc positions is not conducive to stability, longterm planning and, ultimately, job satisfaction because of the uncertainty. That acknowledgement is the first step and is being backed up by support and resources within departments and nationally with The Concordat Steering Group. However, The Steering Group must decide to focus its efforts on retaining researchers and creating more permanent positions, or the re-training of postdocs who though they may be lost to lab research will be positive assets to other industries and employers.  It is too soon to say what effect The Concordat will have on UK research. Postdocs should voice their concerns and desires to get the help they want. We will ignore these resources for the future at our peril. Without them we would have to face the end of the ride on our own. They could help our career, wherever it may go, be more like the carousel, the fun house or the big wheel rather than the black hole!