Research institutes warn they cannot absorb big uni job losses

This article was first published in The Weekend Australian, 18 July 2020

By Richard Ferguson

Australia’s researchers have warned the sector cannot absorb thousands of job losses from the nation’s top universities, with leading medical research institutes bracing for a more than 30 per cent collapse in their own revenue.

New Group of Eight modelling showed on Friday that contracts for 4400 researchers in short-term and non-permanent positions are unlikely to be ­renewed as universities face a ­serious financial deficit with COVID-19 keeping away full-fee paying overseas students.

The peak body for the nation’s medical research groups said major philanthropic donations were drying up as a result of the economic slump, and that both arms of the nation’s research capability were now in trouble.

Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes president Jonathan Carapetis said the 56 non-university groups he represented faced financial strife as philanthropists spent money on saving their own businesses*.

“Our projection is that our ­institutes will take at least the same financial hit as they did during the global financial crisis, and that was a 25-30 per cent drop in revenue,” he said.

“It will be at least that kind of reduction and some of our institutes are expecting basically zero donations. Most of our donors are saying they are not in a position to make any commitments on major gifts. They have to focus on their own businesses.”

While they have benefited from the federal government’s $20bn Medical Research Future Fund, Professor Carapetis said the projected loss of university-linked staff and major donations threatened the entire sector.

“It’s a perfect double hit to the universities and the medical ­research sector … I’m worried what message it sends to young people when work in research is so insecure,” he said.

“It’s a long-term crisis and we have a flawed funding model … we’re in a very precarious position.”

The universities are talking to Education Minister Dan Tehan about the future of research funding, as proposed reforms to student fees will leave universities with less profits to fund the work outside of teaching.

Leading ­research company CSL said it would not be able to absorb the talent lost under the universities’ projections.

CSL chief scientific officer ­Andrew Nash said the flow-on ­effects of the university job cuts to the rest of the sector would be substantial on jobs and joint projects.

“The scale and size of losses suggested by the universities, we could do nothing to absorb that,” he said. “We’re a large employer and we are growing our research and development activity but we wouldn’t be in a position to hire the numbers of people they are projecting to lose.

“The flow-on effects of those projections are real and substantial. The training Australian universities provide really enhances researchers and we recruit many of those people, and we work on many projects with the universities … we want to see a strong sector and workforce.”

Science and Technology Australia president Jeremy Brownlie said the prospect of a research brain-drain from the collapse of university revenue and philanthropic contributions threatened to make research more expensive.

“As the capacity to do research decreases — due to the pot of money getting much smaller — the demand for research through the pandemic is very strong,” he said. “The cost of current research activity will therefore be more ­expensive.”

 

* Clarification – AAMRI’s members include 56 independent, university and hospital based medical research institutes.