Madam, - Once more I read with interest a "special report" on postgraduate studies in your paper (PostGraduates 2007, March 6th). There seems to be an almost propaganda-like fascination with promoting postgraduate studies.
There is continual touting of the Government's plans to double the number of PhD students but never any discussion of the fact there is no career path in place for these students once they graduate, nor an attractive salary to compensate for the lack of such a career path.
As an example, the Irish Research Council for Science Engineering and Technology funds postdoctoral researchers at a rate of €33,000 a year. As there are no yearly increments, researchers on such funding effectively take an annual pay cut for the privilege of working in research.
The report states that "only a fraction of these new fourth-level graduates will take up positions in academia" and that "statistics on PhD graduates indicate that the majority have no intention of becoming lecturers". It is more likely that these statistics highlight the fact that there are many more PhD graduates seeking positions as lecturers than there are lectureships available. This forces many of them into other areas of employment that are not of their choosing.
John Holden suggests that postdoctoral researchers can be "deficient in the aptitude for project management, time management and communication skills". This generalised description of postdoctoral scientists is neither welcome nor accurate. Project- and time-management skills are part of the PhD training process and are vital to its successful completion. PhD students and postdoctoral researchers regularly present their research findings in papers and at conferences, where communication skills are vital in explaining the results obtained and in networking with other scientists.
The Government and other stakeholders, such as funding bodies, continue to make decisions about the research sector without engaging with those who actually work in this area. This is both short-sighted and ill-judged as it will inevitably lead to even poorer morale among researchers and eventually damage the Government's admirable goal of making Ireland a country at the cutting edge of research. - Yours, etc,
ALISON DONNELLY, Chairperson, Trinity Research Staff Association, Trinity College, Dublin 2.