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GIGO

Gloomy Outlook for Science

You get some interesting things sent to you, editing a science magazine.

I had a plain brown envelope end up on my desk the other day. It held a background paper looking at the science workforce supply and demand. It's a pretty depressing document. It paints a picture of government scientists as underpaid, compared to their university counterparts, and understaffed, compared to even two years ago.

Over the last 30 months, DSIR resignations and retirements have increased by 50%, with almost 40% of the losses unreplaced. The report says that such loss of personnel has put near-critical stress on science in New Zealand. Even the loss of just one staff member can jeopardise an entire programme, the report notes. In a scientific community as small as that of New Zealand, one key person can mean the difference between research continuing or fading away.

"The current comparatively low pay rates and limited career prospects for bench scientists in New Zealand; the loss of expertise resulting from recent funding cuts; the uncertainty about the impacts of continuing restructuring; the aging of the scientific workforce and the New Zealand population in general; the limited interest amongst school children in science as a career; and growing international competition for scientists all combine to paint a very gloomy picture for the future of science in New Zealand," the report concludes.

About the only positive thing in the report is that natural science postgraduates have increased over the last ten years by 42%. This is even better than the 22% average growth rate for all Masters and Masters Honours graduates. It doesn't compare with the 193% growth in commerce graduates over the same period, but may provide some hope.

Perhaps some of the reason for that hope stems from the increasing number of interesting postgraduate programmes being offered by the universities. Information about one such programme arrived here a couple of weeks ago, and tempts even me to re-enter academic life.

It was the student handbook for Otago's Diploma in Wildlife Management. Not the most riveting of reading, one would think, but its cheerful approach is a far cry from the more formal postgrad offerings. It's a good sign to see students recognised as clients of the university, and it's promising that the Diploma Director, Henrik Moller, wants the course to be challenging, useful and fun.

Certainly the range of potential topics and means of presentation makes for interesting reading, as do the potted biographies of the students taking the course. I'm pleased that the development of communication skills is one of the diploma's aims, as good communication is at the heart of science.

Ecology was one of those areas targeted by the background paper as being under near-critical stress. Otago's diploma and others like it may pump some much-needed new blood back into New Zealand science.

Vicki Hyde is the editor of New Zealand Science Monthly.