Last year, speakers at the Graduate Students’ Union (GSU) research conference all agreed that Irish research needs to get better at telling stories. In a world of creeping anti-intellectualism, research can no longer hide in labs and classrooms.
It was an important point, but it might have underplayed the problems facing research internationally.
Today the mood was somewhat gloomy, as a panel discussed the future of European research. Insecure contracts, the blurry definition of PhD students’ employment status and a disunited Europe were all discussed, as an audience of postgraduates came looking for answers.
The Research Development Manager in Trinity, Doris Alexander, put it best when she described the struggles of a “post-Brexit, post-truth, automated world”.
Closer to home, today’s discussion occurred with the backdrop of days of protest against Trinity’s introduction of a supplemental exam fee. Two of the speakers – IFUT Secretary in Trinity John Walsh and Gareth O’Neill, of EuroDoc – referenced the disruption as indication of the wider frustrations in the sector.
Alexander spoke fluently about the complicated, complex EU tussle over the future of research funding and what shape FP9, the successor of Horizon 2020, could look like. Critical and questioning, Alexander probed the necessary reforms. Walsh was more blunt. “The EU has failed to learn the lessons of the Trump phenomenon and Brexit”, he said.
“Endemic insecurity for very well qualified people” was another problem Walsh identified, with blame also turning to national governments for buying into the notion of “flexicurity”.
For Trinity postgraduates Siobhan O’Brien and O’Neill, postgraduates were the focus. From gender equality to mental health, both stressed that things need to change. Eurodoc, which represents doctoral candidates and early career researchers, needs postgraduate voices, O’Neill said.
Perhaps the conference’s theme was best captured by assistant librarian Niamh Brennan, who chaired the event. “The winds of change are coming”, she said.
“The future of European research, we have to take it back. Take back the future.”
