Lack of Funding for Early and Mid-Career Researchers

Underfunded and Misused: The Crisis Facing Early-Mid Career Researchers

Scientific research is?crucial to help us move forward in our ever-changing world. Without it, we can never hope to succeed and improve on the way we do things for the betterment of mankind. Scientific knowledge is grounded in objective, tangible evidence and requires the best and brightest minds to not only understand it, but use it to advance our current state. Simply put, without researchers, in all branches of science, we cannot possibly hope to succeed. However, researchers face numerous hurdles in the early-mid career portion of their career, resulting in them being pushed out of their field and lost forever. Here, I highlight these problems to bring awareness and begin a conversation as to what needs to be done to support early-mid career researchers.

The Problem with the Funding Structure

Early and mid-career researchers rely on funding to succeed professionally and guide us forward through high-quality research. However, an inadequate funding structure that fails to support researchers and provide stability, results in delays in the development of novel and innovative treatments.?

Short Contracts and Grants

The postdoctoral years are crucial for early career researchers to establish themselves in academia and potentially earn a tenured position. However, postdoctoral contracts are quite short, ranging from?one to three years .?This limited period gives researchers very little time to make significant progress before having to apply for other postdoctoral positions and additional grants.?As such, foundations such as Cure Brain Cancer Foundation are looking at implementing funding strategies which last longer than traditional grants (e.g., up to 5 years) and will work towards providing more stability for researchers to focus solely on research.

Underfunding & Imbalance

Between 1998 and 2021, the amount for an?average research project grant ?increased from USD $277,390 to USD $581,293. However, if we account for inflation and look only at constant dollars, the average grant size in 2020 was USD $298,738—only USD $21,348 more than it was over 20 years ago. In other words, there hasn’t been an increase that would significantly benefit researchers. Additionally, the limited grants available tend to go to researchers in the later stages of their career. The?National Institutes of Health ?awards, double the number of grants to principal investigators over 65, then those under 35. With this in mind, it is no shock that worldwide, percentage of grants going to early and mid-career researchers is decreasing.?

Aside from this overall lack of funding, many types of diseases are severely underfunded. A?study ?published in the?Official Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network?shed light on the funding disparity for types of cancers in 2019. Most types of cancer—including lung, gastrointestinal, prostate, and?brain cancer—were all underfunded considering their annual incidence and death rate.?

Critical time spent on applications

Due to the relatively short grant period and lack of funds, early and mid-career researchers must constantly focus on securing funding through grant proposals. The?estimated time ?for grant writing ranges from 30 hours for a foundation grant to over 120 hours for federal grants. Researchers must also create budgets, secure support letters, and gather other required documents, all of which consumes valuable time and takes time away from what should be their sole focus, research.

The Problem with Treatment Towards Early and Mid-Career Researchers

Unfortunately, the lack of funding is not the only setback early and mid-career researchers face. Despite years of professional experience and impressive credentials, they are often victim of poor working conditions.?

Root Causes

According to a?2021 OECD report , several underlying factors are responsible for creating a less-than-ideal work environment for newer researchers. For instance, there has been a global decrease in standard employment—especially in academia—making those coveted tenure positions more difficult to secure.?Compounding this issue is the fact that many late-career researchers choose to continue working past retirement, further reducing the number of available standard employment positions for up-and-rising researchers. Universities are also evolving to adapt to organisational changes. As they become more entrepreneurial and market-focused, they employ more non-academia personnel and push researchers into the staff minority.?

Work Week and Salary

According to the same 2021 OECD report, most scientific authors work over 40 hours a week, with about 20% working over 55 hours. However, their compensation does not reflect their extra effort or even their credentials. Over 25% of these individuals work for less than USD $30,000 annually, which is barely above the?poverty line ?for a family of four in the U.S.?According to a?2016 Nature survey , 30% of full-time researchers earn under USD $30,000. As inflation rises worldwide, the salaries of many early and mid-career researchers appear dismal.?

Academic Bullying and Health

Aside from the obvious exhaustion and financial stress provoked by these working conditions, early and mid-career researchers often experience academic bullying and mental health issues.?A research paper from?The Lancet ?reported academic supervisors engaging in inappropriate behaviors such as ridiculing researchers and taking credit for their work.?In 2020, the?National Science Foundation ?found that over two-thirds of graduate students had overall poor health, with about one-third having anxiety, depression, or even post-traumatic stress disorder. With such working conditions, I cannot say I was surprised to find that almost?40% of early career Australian researchers ?are dissatisfied with their work environment.?

Time for a Change

To create a better world, we must invest in and care for our rising researchers. Now that we have started a conversation as to the many hurdles faced by early to mid-career researchers, what needs to be done to find solutions has to involve a lot more than talking. Change needs to happen at multiple levels, from the government all the way down to universities. For instance, federal governments should consider investing more in research, increasing the award amount and the grant length, and removing superfluous requirements like a time-after-Ph.D. restriction.?Academic institutions also need to place more emphasis on valuing their researchers, especially those in the early stages of their careers, a truly difficult period for young, up and coming researchers looking to make a difference. They can take steps to allocate more funds, provide a livable salary and offer essential care like parental leave.?Finally, researchers need to support their own and ensure there is more than adequate support from not only their fellow peers, but supervisors. As senior authority figures, they need to recognise early and mid-career researchers' value, respect them as professionals, and honour their work.?It is only together, that we can succeed in not only ensuring that we attract early career researchers, but retain them so their contributions are not lost.

Copyright ? 2022 Lance Kawaguchi. All Rights Reserved.