Neil Mackenzie, a late postdoctoral fellow at Bromme lab, will be remembered as a passionate outdoor sports enthusiast, an excellent scientist, and a supportive friend and colleague.

Sir Winston Churchill, a man who knew a thing or two about overcoming adversity, once said; “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty”. Whilst it is true that funding in biomedical sciences has taken a severe down turn in recent times, it is important that young scientists do not lose faith, but rather grasp as many opportunities as possible and apply their knowledge and talents to a wider range of professions.

A recent publication has highlighted the current plight of PhD students and Post-doctoral researchers, blaming a reduction in available funding coupled with the conservative peer review system for a crisis in academia. However, the ordeals of progressing to a tenured academic position are well known and such debates have been hashed out for decades. In The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962) Thomas Kuhn outlined the theory of the ‘Paradigm Shift’, where he criticized the fact that modern science is based on currently accepted ideas, and can never be truly objective. This is pertinent in the current funding crisis where it is common for grants to be awarded for ‘reliable’ projects which adhere to accepted principles and guaranteed results. Many believe that this not only stifles progression by failing to fund truly innovative science but also perpetuates elitism and a culture of self-preservation within the senior scientific community.

Ultimately, moan as we may, this system has allowed science to advance in rapid strides over the last century. Without an organized and rigorous structure to distribute government funding, such developments as the eradication of Smallpox, the modelling of the DNA helix and the sequencing of the Human Genome may not have been achieved. It could be said that biomedical science is suffering from its own success, where throughout the 1990s and early 2000s research funding in most developed countries was doubled with a concomitant rise in the number of PhD students. Now that funding has been reduced in a more cautious economic climate, we are left with a huge number of skilled scientists with a limited number of jobs, creating a damaging hyper-competitive environment.

Despite the reduced prospects of a successful career in academia, the number of young scientists still swelling the ranks are possibly romantically attracted to the exciting opportunities within scientific research and the persistent quest for knowledge. Unfortunately it is also economically favourable to professors and universities alike to have a large number of students. Thus, often students are convinced that a Bachelors’ Degree is no longer sufficient to get a good job in order to maintain high numbers of post-grad students within the university system. The statistics regarding average salaries are hard to compare, but suffice to say it is unlikely that a new post-doc researcher will get a similar wage to a Bachelor’s degree holder with 5+ years’ experience in their field of industry. Indeed, in the current climate, it is not uncommon for fully qualified PhDs to work for free to improve their job prospects. So, whilst the enrollment of large numbers of post-grad students certainly financially benefits universities, the benefits for the student are primarily scholastic, and jobs are at a premium.

To alleviate this bottleneck many senior scientists advocate both a reduction in PhD positions and an increase in wages and stability for post-doctoral scientists, creating a more professional sector. For these changes to make a difference a thorough overhaul of the academic system (and mentality) is required – particularly in North America – and those of us currently in the bottleneck cannot wait for change. Whilst it is common for people to move to Pharma and Biotech industries and those with maths and computing training may end up working in banks, the current overflow of graduating PhDs is not being soaked up. It is essential for those studying in PhD programmes or immersed in Post-doctoral research to get involved in a far wider range of training opportunities, even if this comes at the expense of their research. The combination of a PhD in Science, aligned with training or experience in business management, law, teaching, writing and communicating, or any number of varied transferable skills will make a highly employable candidate who need not be trapped in the confines of academia.

With this in mind, the Centre for Blood Research has engaged an education co-ordinator, Anna Sinova, who has been working tirelessly to get countless initiatives off the ground allowing students and Postdocs to broaden their horizons. This post itself is the product of the newly formed CBR Knowledge Translation committee, allowing those with an interest in science communication a local outlet for their work. Another group recently set up allows students the opportunity to improve their writing and editing skills in the Scientific Writing Workshops. Aside from writing, other career pathways were expounded at the CBR Postdoctoral Career Night in which a stellar line up of local career opportunities were showcased, accompanied by beer assisted networking. Teaching positions are being created for CBR Postdocs in the UBC Biochemistry Department, setting a precedent that may be followed in other departments. These are just some of many concepts being fostered within the CBR and it is vital for young scientists within the department to harness every opportunity that they can.

To paraphrase Churchill, and close with some rousing words; we must not only fight on the benches and in the labs to generate publications, but we must also fight in the classrooms, in the media and in the debating chambers to expand our skills. There are plenty of opportunities out there, be it at the universities, in industry, public service or any other science related fields; negativity about the state of academia will not help anyone and preparation for whatever lies ahead is essential.

Contributed by Neil Mackenzie, late Postdoctoral Fellow at Bromme Lab, CBR