Untaught Lessons in Science Research.

If you were to ask anyone who knows me, they’d tell you that I was always going to be a scientist. There was never any doubt in my mind that it was the only career path for me. A career in science research is a career that works in the unknown, a career that literally keeps you on your feet, and a career that occupies and challenges the mind. ‘Perfect!’ I would think, as I worked my through my Medicinal Chemistry degree and multiple research internships. Now full disclaimer here, I love my work and I wouldn’t change a thing if I had the chance to, but I’ve certainly encountered some things that they don’t teach you at university.

Publish or Perish.

Government invested research was at its lowest in a whopping 40 years

Working in the research is like being blindfolded and asked to navigate a complex route in a bustling city with nothing but a stick to guide you. Sure, you might be able to avoid major walls or steps, but you can’t know for certain if the path your taking will actually take you anywhere exciting. It’s a common saga in the science industry; a scientist spends a decade of their life and all their funding on a project only for it to come to a dead end for one reason or another. This reason could be that they interpreted data incorrectly and followed the wrong path, or maybe their research scooped or worse; stolen. To add onto this, unless you are a tenured Professor or a postdoctoral fellow, job security in the science industry is practically non-existent. Most scientists have to fight tooth-and-nail for a grant to both pay their salary and fund their research. And the likelihood of receiving a grant? Well it certainly depends on your field of research, but I’m gonna go ahead and say it isn’t likely either way. In 2018, Nature reported that Government invested research was at its lowest in a whopping 40 years (Nogrady 2018), and in 2019, the Australian Financial Review stated that the Australian Government was reassigning $3.9 billion (yes billion, not million) from the Education Investment Fund, amongst other research cuts (Bolton 2019). Why? Because the Australian Government prioritises outcome-based research e.g. “I found this drug that cures 50% of all cancers”, not acknowledging that often these major discoveries come of the back of years of non-outcome-based research projects. If this wasn’t bad enough, if you’re not from a high-profile lab you might as well not bother applying in the first place. So what does all this mean? Well, if you’re a scientist and you’re not producing data and publishing papers, you will find yourself without a job in no time.

Unkind Science.

A mean and aggressive research working culture threatens the public’s respect for scientists and their expertise

Such an over-competitive, turbulent work environment is a breeding ground for anxiety, depression and multitude of mental and social disorders. Science is a popularity contest, and I’ve mentioned the disadvantage you face if you aren’t associated with certain people in the industry. But in conjunction with that, the work culture in science is turbulent to say the least. Whether it is the enormous amount of work required to become a scientist which manifests into a superiority complex, or just a cultural thing, there is much judgement and unkindness within the science community. This unkindness is both towards the general public (the non-scientists) and towards one-another. This culture goes in the face of everything that science stands for; logic, reason, and the goal of bettering the world. It is counter-intuitive, where “a kinder research culture will build stronger, deeper support for research” says the vice-president of EuroScience UK, Gail Cardew (Cardew 2020). “A mean and aggressive research working culture threatens the public’s respect for scientists and their expertise” says Cardew, reaffirming that this turbulence affects not only the research scientists themselves, but how their work is perceived and respected in the public.

Mental Health in Science

12% of PhD graduates experienced anxiety and depression during and after their PhD

Combine this work culture with the job instability and you can see how this kind of lifestyle can really take a toll on a person, especially if there are already issues in their personal life. It can become a compounding issue, and from personal experience, I have felt stupid, useless and depressed due to experiences in the lab. This is a major issue, that extends around the globe. In 2018, a study published its findings in Nature Biotechnology, stating that a whopping 40% of people with a graduate education present with anxiety and depression (Evans et al. 2018). Furthermore, a global graduate survey by the prestigious Nature journal stated that 12% of PhD graduates experienced anxiety and depression during and after their PhD (Woolston 2017). These figures are unacceptable, and are likely amplified by some of the things I’ve mentioned here today. But lets not get it twisted here, despite all this adversity, many of the participants of this survey stated that they love what they do and wouldn’t change it for a thing (Woolston 2017). I can relate; the thrill of the unknown balances with the adversity, I choose to do this and hopefully can make a change as my career advances. Not just in my research field, but to the culture of research in general.

References:

Bolton 2019, “Universities angry with $3.9b fund loss and other cuts to research”, Financial Review

Cardew 2020, “People will not trust unkind science”, Nature, 578:9

Evans et al. 2018, “Evidence for a mental illness crisis in graduate education”, Nature Biotechnology, 36:282-284

Nogrady 2018, “Australia cuts research funding from universities”, Nature

Woolston 2017, “Graduate survey: a love-hate relationship”, Nature, 550:549-552