I’ve been
at a scientific conference (dealing with the cell cycle and regulators of cell
proliferation) most of the week; it started on Monday night and ended this
morning. I wasn’t able to attend all the sessions each day, but I managed to be
present for some really top-notch lectures delivered by Nobel prize winners and
international experts in their respective fields. That’s always an encouraging
and inspiring experience; it reminds me of why I chose this profession—a scientific
research career, when I hear top speakers talk about their work. Many of the
top speakers were older men who more or less summed up their research careers
in their lectures. I have more appreciation for that type of lecture now—maybe because
I’ve been in research a long time myself. I know the ins and outs and ups and
downs of this business, and I appreciate hearing the opinions advanced by these
speakers, because they know what they’re talking about. So when a few of them
talk about the importance of small research groups as opposed to large ones, I’m
suddenly all ears. I agree with them. Small groups are the places where
innovative ideas are born. We should not be getting rid of small research
groups. We should not be discouraging younger people from pursuing academic
careers. But the granting powers that be are doing so. By not funding
scientists who lead small research groups, they ensure that younger
scientists cannot continue because they will never get the chance to start their own small groups. By not encouraging younger scientists to fly free
rather than clipping their wings which happens all the time now, we are
eliminating the pool of future scientists that each society so absolutely requires. Younger scientists are
leaving academia. There is no place for most of them. There are no jobs for
them and there is no real future for them. This is confirmed for me at most
conferences. Younger scientists in this country (post-doc level and above) are
little more than slaves for their group leaders. They are doing two and three
post-doc periods and finding themselves without any prospects after they
finish. They are not being offered staff scientist positions or group leader
status. They’re rather told that they’re too aggressive or too independent. And
they are, of course. Who wouldn’t be after three post-doc periods? That’s the
point of post-doc periods—to create independence and self-sufficiency in
intelligent and enthusiastic scientists. But their wings are being clipped in
huge numbers, and the granting situation for the future will ensure that there
will eventually be no post-doc or staff scientist positions at all. But there
will be a lot of PhD student positions. God knows what this country will do
with all the new PhD recipients. There aren’t jobs for them. And little is
being done to create new jobs for them. Many of them will end up as salespeople
or will leave the profession for greener pastures. The only reason there are currently
so many PhD positions is because the principal investigators who run research groups
need slaves and lots of hands to do their work for them while they are busy
writing grants and networking with their fellow group leaders. They know there
is no real research future for the PhDs they’re turning out, either in academia
or in industry. And industry is not really stepping up to the plate to meet the
future needs either.
The meeting
was held at the Holmenkollen Park Rica Hotel at the top of the city of Oslo,
literally. On a clear day, there is an amazing view of the fjord and of the
city from this vantage point. But of course, the weather this past week was not
cooperative, so the hilltop and hotel were mostly shrouded in fog, and when
there wasn’t fog, it was raining. I cannot remember a summer like this one—it has
rained steadily, if not daily, at least several times per week. The
non-Norwegians at the meeting were asking me if the weather was always like
this. It isn’t. Today was a perfect example. The last day of the meeting is of
course when the sun chose to reappear and blue skies took over--just perfect
for walking. So I walked to work from the top of the city to my hospital. It
took me about an hour door to door. Relaxing and enjoyable to walk downhill for
the most part, take in the nature around me, and just enjoy being outdoors in
the sunshine. It was a sharp contrast to Tuesday night, when the entire meeting
was treated to a boat trip on the fjord. It happened to take place on exactly
the one night of the summer when a storm (remnants of Hurricane Irene in fact)
blew into Oslo, causing flooding and all sorts of other problems. We did sail out
on the fjord though—the trip was not cancelled. We stayed more or less on the inner
fjord, so the waves were not very high. The boat was quite large so it was
actually not a problem to be out on the water. But the wind whipped the sails
about and the rain was unrelenting, so we were forced into the boat’s innards
where dinner awaited, and that was cozy. People had a good time and that was
the most important thing. I know that the foreigners at the meeting will
remember this particular trip. It’s not often you get to sail on a boat during
a fairly intense storm.
It was heartening
to meet a lot of the scientists who were at this conference. For some reason,
most of the top scientists who attended were actually quite down-to-earth
people—friendly, interested in others, and interesting to talk to. It made me
wonder about the correlation between real intelligence and humility. If you are
really intelligent, perhaps you don’t need to flaunt it or to treat other
people poorly. So perhaps this is one explanation for what I see in my
workplace—several rude people who think they are intelligent (but who really
are not), and who need to be arrogant and rude to others because they are
insecure about their intelligence. They need to make others feel inferior in
order for them to feel superior. Kind of makes sense to me now. This has been
reinforced for me by some of the lecturers I have had the privilege of listening
to at the Science library at the University of Oslo. They have been given by
some really incredible human beings, people you’d be proud to know. This gives
me hope for the future of science generally.
