With jobs hard to get, the best of brains idle
New Zealand has a funding system that rewards universities for training PhDs but discourages the employment of post doctorates.
That is the criticism of Dr Melanie Massaro, author of an ‘Open Letter’ to the government last year, challenging minsters to create better employment opportunities for new and emerging researchers.
Speaking at a recent conference of the New Zealand Association of Scientists, he outlined the struggle to cross the post-doctoral void to full employment.
Dr Massaro compared post-doctoral fellowships to helicopters that carry PhD researchers over the void, to a position where they are able to compete with overseas- trained scientists arriving on the international jumbo jet.
“We need more helicopters and we need them urgently,” he said.
Dr Massaro’s challenge was exemplified later on TV3 with the story of Oxford University doctoral graduate Jo Chapman who has been unable to find permanent work in her field of expertise since returning to New Zealand.
Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce responded to some of these concerns. He proposed changes to the Rutherford Discovery Fellowships to repatriate overseas post-doctoral researchers, ensuring simultaneously sufficient job opportunities for our post-doctoral researchers.
Science reporter Peter Griffin said that the general tone at the Conference seemed to be that the minister’s changes were “merely tinkering at the edges” and that they did not address the deeper issues.
The opportunities for emerging scientists including those wanting to come back to New Zealand to continue their careers were very limited. New Zealand underspends on postgraduate fellowships to the detriment of the science system,” Mr Griffin said.
According to him, emerging scientists still had numerous issues with the newly established Rutherford Discovery Fellowships, including the fact that the fellowships were available to scientists more advanced in their careers, potentially shutting out early and mid-career scientists who need financial support from beyond a scientific institution while they establish themselves in research.
Source: Tertiary Education Union
