A plea for better working conditions for young scientists

It’s clear that the current state of affairs is not sustainable. We cannot just continue to talk and write about these things; we have to take action. We need leaders to step up and work with young scientists on improving conditions in our collective system. 

It’s been a while since I took the lead on writing one of these columns. The last time I did so was in June 2020, when I wrote about my experiences as a Black scientist. I have been relatively quiet since then not because I haven’t wanted to share advice with our readers, but because lately I just really don’t know what to say to young scientists that would be helpful.

When we started this column 4 years ago, I had just started my faculty position and I agreed to join the team because I believed in the theory of change that inspired the column’s creation. I believed that providing practical advice, especially to young scientists who might not otherwise have access to the “hidden curriculum” that governs so much in science, might help make navigating the stages of scientific careers less daunting for those starting out. I still think that can help. But I also realize this kind of approach is not enough on its own.

The reality is that many of the issues early-career researchers face are systemic, so they won’t be solved by me writing letters to young scientists, who are rarely in a position to make the necessary changes. Instead, they are issues that senior scientists and administrators need to take the lead in addressing. So today, I’m writing a column for those people—the people who actually have the power to change how the system operates.

The issues I’m concerned about aren’t new. But they’ve been front of mind for me lately because of the times we are living in and how those times have been affecting so many people around the world, including scientists. In previous columns, we have given advice on how to navigate the hypercompetitive academic job market. We have discussed the mental health crisis in academia and how lack of support in the workplace can exacerbate challenges for early-career scientists. And we have written about the burdens placed on marginalized scientists and problems faced by women. Many of these issues have only grown worse during the pandemic.

I have been thinking a lot about these things—about the systemic issues in science, and what they mean for the next generation of scientists that I am supposed to be advising and training to enter this enterprise. I have no problem training them to develop theories, or to design the requisite studies to test them, or about the process—and politics—of publishing their findings.

What I am finding increasingly difficult is advising young scientists on how to move forward, when the current state of affairs seems so grim. I see and hear their frustrations, particularly with those who seem to want to march on as if everything is normal.

It’s clear that the current state of affairs is not sustainable. We cannot just continue to talk and write about these things; we have to take action. We need leaders to step up and work with young scientists on improving conditions in our collective system. We need leaders to adjust policies to relieve the pressures that are leading so many to burn out, and to recognize that doing so isn’t “lowering standards” or “comprising quality”—it’s acknowledging scientists’ humanity. We need leaders to acknowledge and work to address the structural barriers that are leading to increases in disparities that the sciences have spent decades trying to address. And we need leaders to work on—not just make statements about—the long-standing patterns of discrimination that continue to drive so many out of the sciences.  

We have spent too long becoming complacent about these issues, accepting them as just a normal part of science. But as Martin Luther King Jr. said in a 1967 speech at the American Psychological Association, “There are some things in our society, some things in our world, to which we should never be adjusted. There are some things concerning which we must always be maladjusted if we are to be people of good will.” King made his remarks in the context of the civil rights movement, but the lesson generalizes beyond that time: We should never accept any systemic issues that are harming people.

I want to be clear that I am not only speaking to senior academic scientists when I express a need for change. I’m also speaking to leaders in industry. A recent survey conducted by Nature indicates scientists in industry are more satisfied with their jobs, but scientists working in those roles have also shared cautionary tales, suggesting there is work to be done there, too.

Addressing these issues won’t just help individual scientists. It will also help the broader collective and the public that our science serves. We need science to understand so much about our world—everything from the science of coronaviruses to the science of how life will change as our planet warms. But for that science to continue, we need to make the career path more hospitable to the young scientists who will carry on the torch of doing that important work.

Ultimately, there is only so much advice we here at Letters to Young Scientists can give to up-and-coming scientists when so much of the systems around them need improvement. We need those in positions of power to do what the late Toni Morrison told her students to do years ago: “When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else. This is not just a grab-bag candy game.”

It’s essential that we give young scientists a healthy, supportive workplace, one in which they feel welcome and valued and have the resources they need to succeed. So, please take time to think about how you can effect change and improve working conditions for the next generation of scientists. Then, don’t stop at thinking about it; put those thoughts into action and codify them in your institutional policies.

More at:

https://www.science.org/content/article/plea-better-working-conditions-young-scientists