The Postdoc Debate

As the scientific community slowly grapples with the changing role of postdocs in research, many of us entrenched in the situation feel helpless to make any changes for the better. Often, this leads to apathy among postdocs, reasoning that the job is "only temporary." However, as the availability of post-postdoc jobs shrinks smaller and smaller, and the length of the "temporary" postdoc extends longer and longer, a new class of scientists has emerged. Caught in a limbo of ill-defined job parameters, poor benefits, low salaries, and unarticulated expectations, current postdocs are struggling to escape into the ever crowded scientific "real" world.

The TSRI Society of Fellows, along with other institutional postdoc associations, as well as the National Postdoc Association, are trying to improve the postdoc situation, at both the institutional level and the national level. Postdocs helping postdocs. To this end, the SoF feels that at the very least, postdocs should be informed of the situation, and if so inclined, participate to do something about it.

First, let's get informed:

• Read a few short paragraphs describing the background on the "postdoc problem" on the NPA website.
  
  

• Also on the NPA website is a list of links describing the Postdoc Workforce.
  
  

• Read the October 2003 Nature Genetics Editorial on the role and rights of postdocs.
  
  

• Read the October 2004 Science Magazine Evolution of Postdocs article.

• Read the September 2002 Science Magazine Next Wave article written by former SoF member Avi Spier regarding the future of postdocs.

• Read the April 2005 "Not Your Father's Postdoc" editorial from Science Magazine.
  
  
• This is an interesting article on "Postdocs" from May 2004 in FEBS Letters on the responsibilities of both postdocs and postdoc mentors.

• A June 2004 Science Magazine article shows the results of a salary survey of AAAS members on what scientists in both academic and non-academic jobs are earning.

What you can do to get involved:

• Join the TSRI Society of Fellows. Contribute to making the postdoc exprerience better here at Scripps. Get involved in academic and social activities sponsored by the SoF and communicate with TSRI officials to voice your (our) concerns.
  
  
• Join the National Postdoc Association. Find out more about what's going on at the national level, and support efforts at the national (NIH) level to make changes for the better.