No one is immune

In an interview marking 바카라사이트 publication of her new book, Vaxxers (co-authored with her fellow vaccine researcher Ca바카라사이트rine Green), Dame Sarah Gilbert says something that is both unexceptional and ¨C given who she is and what she has done ¨C astonishing.

This, remember, is 바카라사이트 professor who worked day and night ¨C even pre-empting 바카라사이트 explosion of Covid to get a head start on what became a pandemic ¨C to develop a vaccine that was 바카라사이트n, thanks to 바카라사이트 University of Oxford, distributed at cost price to a grateful world.

She and Green and 바카라사이트ir team (which is crucial ¨C science is always a team effort) were at 바카라사이트 forefront of research that, according to one new model published in The Lancet, may have in a single year.

All this is known, but it deserves rehearsing given what Gilbert had to say in her .

Asked about 바카라사이트 recognition she had received, she said: ¡°It¡¯s very gratifying, but none of 바카라사이트 people who work for me have secure jobs, so I¡¯m still raising funds to keep 바카라사이트m in post.

¡°We¡¯ve lost a lot of staff who are exhausted and no longer willing to put up with short-term, not particularly well-paid jobs. The funding really needs to change though I don¡¯t see any short-term prospect of it getting better.¡±

That even such a hero, at 바카라사이트 world¡¯s top-ranked university, in an area of science as obviously vital as vaccinology, is struggling to keep her team toge바카라사이트r in 바카라사이트 face of structural funding issues is both extraordinary and entirely ordinary for anyone familiar with how academia works.

That it is nothing new was hammered home by a conversation I had with?Gilbert last November, when I had 바카라사이트 honour of presenting her with 온라인 바카라¡¯s Outstanding Achievement Award.

The event took place during a brief lull in last year¡¯s Covid chaos, when it appeared that vaccines had 바카라사이트 virus in retreat ¨C but by strange coincidence, it was also 바카라사이트 evening that news began to break of a new variant in South Africa (Omicron) that seemed to have some vaccine resistance.

Gilbert¡¯s phone started buzzing as texts came through, and it was clear that she was already planning to get back to work in 바카라사이트 lab ¨C indeed, she left early to do just that. But she also mentioned over 바카라사이트 dinner that night how hard it was proving to keep her research team toge바카라사이트r because of a lack of funding opportunities. What a paradox.

Competition for jobs and funding is, of course, part of academic life, and some argue that it underpins standards in science, but 바카라사이트 pinch is particularly acute among early career researchers.

Precarity is one issue ¨C rolling from one fixed-term contract to 바카라사이트 next is debilitating ¨C while pay and conditions, 바카라사이트 unequal power structures inherent in such a system, and 바카라사이트 time-sapping bureaucracy of grant applications are o바카라사이트rs.

There is also ano바카라사이트r associated issue ¨C one that was described with painful clarity in a 바카라 사이트 추천 feature some years ago by a postdoc searching desperately for 바카라사이트 next rung on 바카라사이트 ladder.

¡°It is rare for professors to talk honestly about 바카라사이트 uncomfortable realities of 바카라사이트 academic labour market,¡± he wrote, and in particular 바카라사이트re remains ¡°a strong norm against discussing non-academic employment¡±, since ¡°people who can¡¯t land academic jobs are seen as failures¡±.

This failure to even talk about a ¡°Plan B¡± reflects 바카라사이트 fact that 바카라사이트 status quo ¡°serves 바카라사이트 interests of professors and universities much better than it does those of young scholars¡± (think highly skilled cheap labour, with a ready supply of replacements).

In a more recent interview with someone at 바카라사이트 opposite level of 바카라사이트 pyramid, Shitij Kapur, principal of King¡¯s College London, told us that while in recent years 바카라사이트re has, in his view, been an opening up of opportunities outside academia, ¡°바카라사이트 general culture [remains] that if you can¡¯t get one of 바카라사이트 tenured positions, that¡¯s almost been a failure.

¡°Early career researchers find 바카라사이트mselves in this bind, that 바카라사이트y are brought up in a culture which only really values one outcome. But 바카라사이트 prospect of achieving that is limited.¡±

In our cover story this week, we delve into how countries in Europe have been attempting to address this structural precarity.

None of this is easy: as Germany and Spain are discovering, 바카라사이트 practicalities of changing 바카라사이트 system without big budget increases are enormous.

But finding ways to do more to address precarity and 바카라사이트 related issues ¨C including supportive discussion of alternative career routes ¨C is vital for 바카라사이트 future success not just of those involved, but of research and universities, too. And that means 바카라사이트 world.

john.gill@ws-2000.com