PostDocs and Graduate Students Uncertainty during Covid-19 Lockdown, what happened to Jobs?

What is going on with regard to PostDocs, internship, Grants and graduates training supports?. The Covid-19 Lockdown's impacts on PostDocs, early career researchers and PhD graduates is not a mainstream media topic, they would rather go write about some useless topics and not spent time for deserved subjects like PostDocs issues. However, some rare journalists and independent writers continue to highlight and bring attention to the issues, like this one on Graduates plight during lockdown, plight is pretty bad!?.

Uncertainty Looms as Student Jobs are Disappearing During the Great Lockdown

By Eve Washington Visuals by Charlotte Li and Jason Kao Edited by Claudia Gohn and Paul Hanna

May 15, 2020

Canceled jobs, hiring freezes, and general uncertainty for the future have taken job opportunities from many students amid the COVID-19 pandemic—but this is just a reflection of a larger issue. The U.S. economy is entering a recession that threatens to be worse than any other in the past: the Great Lockdown. Small businesses across the country are in danger of closing, the unemployment rate is the highest it has been since the Great Depression, government responses are slow and hard to access, and experts are unsure of the path for recovery for industries impacted the most.

Check the article Linked to the title (blue)

 

Is the "ongoing PostDocs Crisis"a symptom of Broader problems Plaguing BioMedical Research, Are the PostDocs a Grunt work force of today's Science?

Chart/Illustration/Pic from Boston Globe news-Link

The "plight of PostDocs"has become a major crisis of the Science/biomedical research field, however, where is the crux of the problem lies?. It is the  academic structure itself is the basis for this terrible young scientists crisis. While the awareness about impending issue amongst the postdocs, academics and administrators is slowly picking up steam after almost a Decade of our UCONN Health Center Postdocs Unionization, the mainstream media and scientific media broadly ignored this topic. Seems like they are ready to write about it, I am hoping it is time they too come forward and participate, create and raise awareness about the plight of postdocs and that is actually the plight of our todays scientific research field. The following Boston globe "Metro" news piece seems like a step in that direction of mainstream participation.

             Gary McDowell, 29 a Biology student reveals the cliff of PostDocs crisis, he quotes that the lab bench work and research for these PostDocs is like a "Grunt Work Force", he and other postdocs hopes this Guttural Hogs condition of postdocs changes sooner than later to avoid burnout and major crisis to the scientific research field. 

If there is anything one can learn about the PostDocs issue, it is pretty pathetic and serious...........................Read further into this news piece to know the plights of PostDocs, read further to know what Carolyn has to say about the PostDocs Plight.

Some Quotes from this news piece: Yellow Highlighted

  toiling in obscurity in a low-paying scientific apprenticeship that can stretch more than a decade

this is like captured from My Blogs header, but means and sounds what I meant in the header

But in recent years, the postdoc position has become less a stepping stone and more of a holding tank.

How low can you equate these great makers of science and medicine, -Just a Supply vs Demand, that sucks:

Some of the smartest people in Boston are caught up in an all-but-invisible crisis, mired in a biomedical underclass as federal funding for research has leveled off, leaving the supply of well-trained scientists outstripping demand.

The hero of this news piece, Gary, a Biology PostDocs says this "

 “There’s this huge labor force here to do the bench work, the grunt work of science. But then there’s nowhere for them to go; this massive pool of postdocs that accumulates and keeps growing.”

about PostDocs, Carolyn writes, is it real or a myth?:

they are both future leaders and the workers who carry out experiments crucial for science to advance. 

It is Certainly true and real on the tongue and in books, or perhaps on this news piece, but not real when it comes to rewards or recognition, they are treated like some kind of "extra pair of hands"- a lab or postdoc jargon. It is not real to see the PostDocs treated and respected that way, no not at all, their screams are like Guttural....!! you heard that from Gary...remember?.
Well, as a former PostDoc, an Advocate and the PostDoc Unionization Pioneer, though I moved up a million miles above the PostDoc's stage after two successful and great, productive postdoc positions and a jaunt at the Yale Medical School,  I can say what Gary or other postdocs lamented in this news piece about their plight is just an understatement and it is rather dire. I wish that future leaders and experts get their share and recognition, respect in due time, not at the end of their life. The bottom line is this damn academic structure, funding and functioning of scientific research needs "Service and overhaul" without that the plights of postdocs "will never change much to the level of appreciation".

Oh I like these lines so much, this is a much needed step towards some action

The plight of postdocs has become a point of national discussion among senior scientists, as their struggles have come to be seen as symptoms of broader problems plaguing biomedical research. After years of rapid growth, federal funding abruptly leveled off and even contracted over the last decade, leaving a glut of postdocs vying for a limited number of faculty jobs. Paradoxically, as they’ve gotten stuck, the pursuit of research breakthroughs has also become reliant on them as a cheap source of labor for senior scientists.

 they do seems like follow a "Well-Worn Pathy?--

Biomedical research training traditionally has followed a well-worn path. After college, people who want to pursue an advanced degree enroll in graduate school. The vast majority of biology graduate students then go on to do one or more postdoc positions, where they continue their training, often well into their 30s.

they are like "invisible people", but their toil and struggle in the lab for more than 40 hours get  good funding and promotions for their Supervior and lab chief, but what do these little fellows get?

Their progress is very poorly tracked; the leader of a national report on the state of postdocs has called them “invisible people.” The National Institutes of Health estimates there are somewhere between 37,000 and 68,000 postdocs in the country. Salaries vary, but rarely reflect their level of education. The NIH stipend ranges from $42,000 a year for a starting postdoc, up to $55,272 for a seventh year.

and how long they and how many years they toil to reach for independent research jobs? but yet the majority do not attain that target in real world

 Their progress is very poorly tracked; the leader of a national report on the state of postdocs has called them “invisible people.” The National Institutes of Health estimates there are somewhere between 37,000 and 68,000 postdocs in the country. Salaries vary, but rarely reflect their level of education. The NIH stipend ranges from $42,000 a year for a starting postdoc, up to $55,272 for a seventh year.

there is no proper teenable models, not just some but most of them are not....

 “Some of the models we see don’t seem tenable in the long run,” Krukenberg said.

sure do the senior scientists, some of them agree with this, but many are oblivious and do not care for PostDocs

 Many senior scientists, who may fondly remember their own postdocs days, agree that laboratories have grown too bloated. As the cost of conducting research and the number of institutions doing such work have increased, science has outgrown the traditional model in which trainees are also the worker bees, they say.

game is changed but there is no game changer for postdocs

 “The game is changed, and what should be a wonderful time in people’s lives is, in many cases, a time of great, great anxiety and unhappiness.”

I think, Casey has done something good for himself, not worrying about years of his postdoc field and experience, he found an alternative way to prosper and progress
If there is one problem amongst PostDocs, is this one. Are they brain dead or what to go caught up with this cobbled web of Postdoctoring?, why not change your aims, goals and directions, why not think out of the box, why not use your creativity for something else in this world. Instead of that futile "faculty" job or academic career?. I wish PostDocs come out of their grunt work force and use their talents. Yes, the academy is broken and useless to reform, there is no one to listen to you, look at the scientific funding, some damn representatives may fund millions and millions of dollars for worthless areas in America but they do not want to provide even basic amount of funding used to be allocated for scientific research, so what is the use in screaming, just find an alternative and use your talents.  Here is a guy who did exactly that....

Casey Ydenberg’s path illustrates how easy it is to follow a dream and find oneself locked in a career track without a destination.

Ydenberg, 33, has an impressive resume: he earned a PhD at Princeton, then went for a postdoc at Brandeis. This summer, a decade into his training, he realized that not only were the odds of getting a faculty job against him, but he didn’t think he really wanted one. He felt burnt out.

Today, Ydenberg is pursuing a job that gives him real joy, building websites. He isn’t bitter; he cherishes his memories of graduate school. But he uses none of his formal training and thinks there should be more conversations, earlier, about future careers so that people don’t spend as long honing research skills that may not prove relevant.

For Postdocs plight to change, not only reformation and changes are needed immediately, but also the postdocs instead of being caught in the vicious cycle, must think out of the box and out of the routine or out of the ordinary, do not suck into this mundane daily routines of lab work.

Glut of postdoc researchers stirs quiet crisis in science By Carolyn Y. Johnson

 | Globe Staff   October 05, 2014

“It’s sunk in that it’s by no means guaranteed — for anyone, really — that an academic position is possible,” said Gary McDowell, 29, a biologist doing his second postdoc at Tufts University who hopes to set up his own lab in a few years. “There’s this huge labor force here to do the bench work, the grunt work of science. But then there’s nowhere for them to go; this massive pool of postdocs that accumulates and keeps growing.”

Guardian Blog article on PostDoc Jobs in UK: Academic Jobs are scarce but we're Optimistic??...Really?.

The Reader, visitors and PostDocs who is going to read this Blog article of the guardian must read some of the PostDocs comments, that is the real indication of what is the job trend, not the news as such....Read the comments...

 Young Scientists and their job prospect in UK, though this Guardian News paints a positive picture, when I browsed through the comments made by many PhD holders who are looking for jobs past several months and some of the years, its kind of negative. Not sure about the plights of postdocs looking for jobs in USA, as I left the academy long time ago... it is time someone here in US review the job prospective of newly awarded PhDs or postdocs looking for jobs....might be of use to the graduates who are enrolled in PhD degrees and to those who are continue to do their one to five postdocs?.

Postdoc diaries: academic jobs are scarce but we're optimistic

• By Mel Rohse and Dean D'Souza
• Guardian Professional, Wednesday 18 June 2014 05.17 EDT

For six months, we've followed PhD graduates Mel and Dean in their hunt for a job. The final instalment sees them feeling positive about the future 

Remember childhood? Job-hunting seemed to be so much easier back then. I recall that I didn't even want my first few jobs. One day, my uncle told me that I needed "toughening up". So he gave me a job in construction that was actually more boring (eg mixing cement) than physically demanding.
For my second job, my friend convinced me to apply for work in silver service waiting with him. We learnt some valuable life lessons ("food is served from the right-hand side of the guest"), but we spent all our meagre wages on the fuel we needed to get us to work and back. (In frustration, we later set up our own company, so we could work on the things that we felt were important and would actually excite us.)

WRECKED "EuroDoc"? Is it in Order or out of Order?.

Eurodoc' is a kind of an association or organization established during 2000-2001 to represent young scintists, namely postdocs and others. What is representing means (you can read all those "whatever's" in their websites...!) is to provide support system for young researchers and lab members in European countries?.
Though, the center of this eurodoc is located in Sweden!, postdocs from several european countries participate as members and board members in this organization. Eurodoc is basically a initiative emerged after noticing the preceding activities of their US counter part, the fledgling NPA (National Postdoc Association).
They both claim too highly of their organizations but the truth is otherwise (what have they done so far?). Their cliams are too high with regard to their accomplishments so far, none of the board members who started this NPA or Eurodoc is no more active, those newbie's who are the board members now and holding positions at present do not seem to have any idea about how they can be a voice to postdocs and bring changes to the existing age old policies that has too many holes and flaws, besides the current postdoc policies are less atractive to the postdocs.

In brief, postdocs all over the nation must ask for their achievements so far, from the year of establishment to now, it is almost 5-6 years, what did they do for Postdocs?. Besides, meetings, stage talks, wine and dinings, having some grants, what exactly did NPA and Eurodoc had accomplished for postdocs, what kind of benefit package they have secured for postdocs (Can they in anyway compare to the achievements of UCONN Health Center Postdocs Union Achievements?, read in this blog about UCHC Union activities, also read: A Union Contract Aimed at Preserving the Postdoc Experience Beryl Lieff BenderlyUnited States2 April 2004 ]

The following e-mail message from one of the past board member and a postdoc well wisher tell you the stories of what is going inside Eurodoc?. Is is it in order of functioning?. OR?.

Read further:

Dear Eurodoc members, old members and friends of Eurodoc,

After a long time being involved in Eurodoc I finally have to say goodbyeto Eurodoc. Actually, I have already been living in some (Far/South) EastAsian countries for year and I haven't been following Eurodoc discussionsfor one and a half years (if not more).However, since my email account at my former employer's will be terminatedon December 31st 2007 and since I haven't been able to follow Eurodocdiscussions and policies I think it is appropriate to say goodbye.

Importantly however, before I say goodbye to the organization that I havebeen actively involved in between 2000 and 2002 and later on behind thescreens I would like some attention for the efforts of the first board ofEurodoc that have never been published on Eurodoc's website, notwithstanding many promises from several of the succeeding Eurodoc boards.This first board had been elected at Eurodoc's first annual meeting inUppsala, Sweden, March 2001, and some of the members (Enrico Piazza,myself) and some others (Claire Poinsot, Sofia Murhem, James Grooves,Susanna Cebrian, Peter Kerey) had been involved in the making since 2000.

The Eurodoc board consisted of myself (president until Socratessubmission), Toni Gabaldon (vice-P, local organizer), Nils Morner(secretary until summer), Daniel Mueller-Etienne (secretary since summer),Enrico Piazza (member), Alex Lewis (member, became member/active after theSocrates submission).It was this board, elected in Uppsala, 2001, and retiring in Girona, 2002,that was responsible for the charter that you are modifying regularly. Itwas also this board that was responsible for for the first SOCRATES grantproposal which enabled us to organize the second Eurodoc meeting in Gironaand that provided the funds for the official registration. This board,starting from scratch, had to initiate and establish connections with theSocrates' granting institution (connections already having establishedsince 2000, thus before the first Eurodoc conference took place), as wellas had to publish papers to convince the SOCRATES refereeing committeethat we were active, well-determined and successful in getting attentionand worth their money.Therefore we published prior to the Socrates review in MCFA News, ScienceNext Wave, and the latter's editors also got the chief editor of Scienceconvinced to write some words about us in Science itself.Similarly, we also published in Nature to raise attention for the Gironameeting in 2002.

We also put effort in having the SOCRATES proposal submitted in time (30September 2001) in order to know the outcome (December 2001) long beforethe meeting took place in order to secure the financially less fortunateparticipants of a smooth ticket refund.We also knew from previous "Europeanizing-scientist-efforts" that thoseinitiatives fell into passivity and desinterest because the members werenot actively involved in getting results for themselves. Therefore wecontacted Science (in 2000, thus also before Uppsala) to start the ScienceNext Wave Eurodoc Exchange series that enabled every member to raiseattention for its own national cause by publishing their most importantissues together with a separate publication with suggestions of how thoseissues could be solved.Summarizing the officially retraceble records of the Eurodoc board of2001-2002 and help of indiviual members after their term are below:
1) the first SOCRATES grant that included funds for both
- the meeting in Girona
the official registration2) the Eurodoc charter3) MCFA News vol3(1) http://www.mariecurie.org/newsletter/news2001/summer/eurodocs.pdf4) Science Next Wave: the Eurodoc Exchange series5) Science, the Editorial on October 12th, written by its editor-in-chief Don Kennedy http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/reprint/294/5541/265.pdf6) Nature 2002 vol 415:259,

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v415/n6869/pdf/415259b.pdf7) Nature 2002 vol 418:178) Nature 2004 vol 427:3789) EMBO Reports 2006 vol 7:961It is true that we are not the founding board because the officialregistration took place after our term. Therefore I am not interested insemantic (or any other discussions either) about who's the founding boardor not.However, I hope you will do some justice to Eurodoc's first board and haveit listed at the Eurodoc website under the “Eurodoc-board history” sectionas well as have our publications published under the corresponding sectionof the website (“eurodoc in the press”). It would be my new years wish formy old board members.Best wishes for 2008 and good bye,Raoul Tan, Eurodoc president 2001-2002PS as stated I'm not interested in discussions, I don't have the time andI had these with several former board members already. However, you canread my private email address in the next message.

Blogger NOMoreMalletrivia Writes about Postdocs Plight?

THIS IS AN EFFORT TO EDUCATE, UNITE AND VOICE FOR THE POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS/POSTDOCS IN USA. ALL TEH POSTDOCS AND POSTDOC WELLWISHERS ARE WELLCOME TO CONTRIBUTE AND POST YOUR MESSAE HERE.

GOOD LUCK.

Postdocs are highly-trained professionals ...
Highly trained at avoiding the real world, that is, at least according to a report on a series of reports about postdocs that I just read. As I've said before, I just don't get why people would be content to spend 5+ extra years in school beyond their undergrad degree to get a PhD, start a postdoc appointment at about $38K/year [on average], stay a postdoc for 5 years [on average] and then have a 15% chance of getting a tenure-track faculty position. And, despite these dismal stats, over a third of postdocs are apparently "pretty set" on their plan of working in a research university.Are all these people wearing rose-tinted, high-optimism-inducing, reality-distorting glasses ? It seems like they're victims of some form of brainwashing that induced the unshakeable belief that the only pleasant work environment is in academia, or that you can only do good science in academia, or that only second-rate people end up in industry, or a bunch of other similarly nonensical ideas.Sure seems like a lot of these postdocs are scientists capable of considering alternative hypotheses, except when it comes to important things, like their own lives ...

http://alexmallet.blogspot.com/2005/05/postdocs-are-highly-trained.html

to transform the brain-drain of scientists into 'brain circulation'

If you are a regular reader of science funding and the way science is done in several countries around the world, your first instinct will be the lack of proper funding and lack of interest to support science by the recent governments, Europe will be top in the list just next to our great US government?. Europe used to be a good place for science research some years ago, but in the last decade or a couple of decate, the european science took a dive down the path of nobility, not due to lack of enough good scientists, but because of the lack of sufficient governmental funding and policies (except few european nations). So, Whatever is going on in European Science can be mainly attributed by the Way science is funded in these nations, drove the young and good scientists out of Europe to US and other places, but US is not any better in the past several years in terms of funding, the worst funding for scientific research happened in the current and previous government, it is not getting any better.
So, the funding slowed the research progress in Europe, finaly some serious heads with some brains intact yet are making better policies to recreate european science to be valued?. Will it get any better, time will answer. While the Europe and US governments are not science friendly, funding for science in Japan and Australia is much better and so their science too!. Other countries like China, Singapore and Taiwan seems to be focusing on better funding and improving the science, as far as science funding of US concerned, Japan's funding abilities and interests in science and technology is better than USA.

Here is a very insightful article on European Science funding aimed to bring back the scientists to european countries?
Europe's Brain Gain
Gunjan Sinha
United States, 2 March 2007
A glimpse at the numbers and one can understand why Europe's scientists migrate toward richer pastures. European countries spend far less than the United States and some Asian countries on research and development—widening the innovation gap. Two years ago, the EU's statistical office Eurostat showed that government and industry invested only 1.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) on research and development in 2004—significantly less than Japan at 3.18 percent and the United States at 2.66 percent.
The bad news, however, has instigated change. Late last year, legislators firmed their commitment to the Lisbon strategy of 2000, which set a goal to transform the EU into a competitive knowledge-based economy. The European Council approved the 7th Framework Programme (FP7)—the EU's chief instrument for funding science and technology research from 2007 through 2013.

Talk about Benefits to Postdocs/ in Academia?

One of the Worst Practice at work is to keep away the postdocs or young scientists (also the graduate students)from benefits, which otherwise would provide a better protection to those poor souls. Employers do not realy care or make provisions on this issue, so, postdocs in general are kept out of this benefit issue for several reasons, except some exceptions, majority of the postdocs do not get benefits?. Nothing happening here in US in this area, but in Europe and other places it is different, look at the caption in this pic?.

I like this pic (from Feb 2 science issue)