Ageing of Australia's scientists creating a void in nation's future research workforce

Funding discrimination: Professor Alan Trouson warns Australia faces a catastrophe if we neglect our young scientists. Photo: Angela Wylie

The pioneering Australian IVF and stem cell scientist Alan Trounson has warned of a "catastrophic event" in Australian science unless more is done to support early career scientists and prevent them leaving research in droves.

The system of awarding public money to researchers disproportionately funds older, more established scientists over early and mid-career researchers, who are less experienced but are the country's future science leaders and medical experts.

"We'll lose generations of really top young people if we don't correct it, and those are the young people who are going to win all of those Nobel prizes in the future," said Professor Trounson, a former Australian of the Year who recently returned to Melbourne after seven years leading California's $3 billion Institute of Regenerative Medicine.

Advertisement

"That's a catastrophic event for Australia," he said.

The problem was particularly evident in biological and medical research. Never before released figures show the average age of lead investigators awarded funding for research projects from the National Health and Medical Research Council, the main funding body for medical research, has increased by nine years over the past three decades to 48.

This trend has occurred, in part, because as the number of scientists rises each year the competition intensifies for limited public research funding.

Despite researchers spending months writing grant applications, the two major funding bodies only had enough money to offer grants for one in five projects.

Younger researchers were often disadvantaged by the scheme because significant weight was placed on a scientist's prior accomplishments.

See the original post here:
Ageing of Australia's scientists creating a void in nation's future research workforce