While scientists are striving to tackle many of the most important presentday's challenges including climate change, food security, and sustainable energy, attaining the best possible development will require exceptional research minds. Unfortunately, current human resources scenario in science clearly signs that our best and brightest are turning in growing numbers to other career paths. As such, there is a need to radically change our system so as to make research career as attractive and rewarding as other professions which the most capable young people aspire. Please opine, whether careers in scientific research is still attractive to the most talented youths across the world and how best young minds can be attracted to research so as to address great challenges such as climate change, food & health security, and energy sustainability.
I believe the most useful way for attracting the best young minds to research so as to address great challenges such as climate change, food security and sustainable energy is the financial support.
@Mahfuz - Financial support is indeed one of the most important aspects. But what about other motivational and acclaiming factors and how such issues could be dealt by the HRD system.
Dear @Yogesh, this is a must issue to attract the best young minds to research so as to address great challenges such as climate change, food security and sustainable energy; I think that there should be funded organizations to stimulate research in these field and attract young people to research. The following report discusses how to attract Brilliant Young Minds: Our Industry’s Future Innovators?
The full text on the page:
http://www.bio.org/articles/brilliant-young-minds-our-industry%E2%80%99s-future-innovators
Dear Yogesh,
I think research career is still attractive to the most talented youths across the world.
Dear @Yogesh, MOTIVATION is the key issue! I would say this must issue as @Abedallah said, should be realised with conjunction of motivation and funds! Young people should be relaxed of money thinking but devoted to research only!
http://www.iisd.org/pdf/youth_eng.pdf
@ Mahfuz It may implies in case of certain developed countries, but for most of the developing world, situation is quite different.
Young people want to know the BIG PICTURE ahead of them, and how valuable their contribution going to affect the future...
articulating UPON THE FOLLOWING CAN YIELD THE RESULT
@Yogesh most often young minds combine interest with job potential. In case these subjects are wide spread and fetch quality jobs, youth will invest in these. Multiple job opportunities from research fields need to flow back into attractive positions. This is the only way especially in developing countries.Youth has to be ensured his future is safe and education level is good.
We can attract the best young minds to research on these great challenges by providing the followings in important research topics:
- Better economic prospects;
- Higher salary and income;
- Better research facilities;
- Better chance of advancement
- Intellectual freedom.
- Better working condition and better employment opportunities;
- Allocation of substantial funds for research;
- Greater employment possibilities
Public funds should be allocated to these topics.
Many problems can be solved through mobilization of whole populations of which the vast majority does not belong the top in science or education topics. The best young should be able to mobilize whole populations, which may be incompatible with notions like high salary, economic growth, outstanding research facilities etc...
You can have the brightest ideas in the world, but at the end they will not be applicable when the majority of the people are excluded
Yes, it is a matter of what a society wants.. look at our representants (politicians) today? what do they care about? of course about the needs (fears) of their population (our fears). But which are they? Salary !!! All goes about the economy ! and what is there the basic motto? GROWTH... as long as this is the state of our societies, who cares about sustainibility ? So yes, we may first break with our common sense of what life should be, and then we may start rethinking what research should be, and for sure our bright minds will join to this.. We need now more campaigns and front-men to urge for this change, so that this would start to break the actual economic dependency of our societies. This is a hard game, the multinational companies have big budgets and huge PR/lobby departments that are all big resistances to the process. I was hoping 2008 would be a revolution, but our poeple were not ready for it, still the FEAR propagated by our economists is too strong. I think the biggest job has to be done in our rich countries, were the poeple have really been embedded in this economical doctrine and are unable to see any way out of it. Instead of growing together to some new society with new culture, today's way of living is isolating each of us by something smearing and building separation-layers called "money". It is terrible to see how we "intelligent" humans just run in to a wrong direction.
what is sad to me, is the answer of Mr. Behrouz.. this is a "contaminated" answer, it just follows this economical doctrine which is gaining power even in the developing countries... of course: who is to show the alternative to today's Wall-street power (wall-street being the official part, but like for TOR in the internet, the banker have their "dark-side" "unofficial" funds which grow and grow, without knowing where to go with their capital... well there is the big chance !! sounds contradictory but I believe so... if those big fund-manager would just detect a little transformation of our fear to something which is more responsible, changing our consumers habits, changing our way of deciding things (without the fear of money), they will be fast to react and make moves to support this transformation.. of course not because of charity purposes.. )
a nice question, an impossible answer..
Usually the best young minds are attracted by Centers of excellence. To have a center of excellence, one need a lot of money, to attract scientists of first class.
A person alone can attracts young minds, if he is very well known, and his specialty secures future careers etc.
Thanks Dr Kamal, you very well pointed out some important aspects for attracting talented young minds to opt research career.
Kamal's points and those of Costas in my opinion would make a great strategy for attracting the best young minds to research. The HU is lucky to have you as President!
I totally agree with you dear @Mohammed, @Kamal is doing a great job at HU; the HU made successful story in short time and deserves congratulations.
Good question and great answers. To attract the 'best' (the term in itself could be perceived in various ways depending on the context) minds would require 1) creating a healthy and politics-free ambience for research and development 2) providing foreseeable growth opportunities 3) Good support system provided by stakeholders 4) sound financial support through competitive salary/grants/fellowships etc.
Also, great mind are not just born, they are often fostered and nurtured. Real education begins at home, and that is what spirals the process of awareness, sensitization, compassion, and intellectual humility. A child needs to be inspired and shown that it is not enough to live for oneself but that the pursuit of a fuller life comes with the realization of greater goals that serve and sustain humanity in purposeful and meaningful ways.
Very rightly said Dear Monika "great mind are not just born, they are often fostered and nurtured" . In fact our society and system should take a note of it and make every effort to foster, nurture and motivate young minds for realization of greater goals that serve and sustain humanity in purposeful and meaningful ways.
First of all why are we thinking to attract young minds. As a young researcher i know that people who are resigning from research has following issues:
1. Salary
2. security of job
3. project taken not of that interest
4. politics in the institution which stops of thinking beyond any point
5. restrictions for work.
6. Projects not challenging
7. no good number of attractive fellowships to get popular
8. Guide problem
9. no guidance
10. no motivation
11. restrictions in attending international conferences.
12. No good number of people in their domains for discussions
13. No good funding for project
If three- fourths of these above mentioned problems ares solved then we can expect 60% of youth to get attracted towards the research side.
When we popularize research with advertising fellowships then also we can expect youth to come towards the research.
Many reasons may be listed. It is better to reach out to potential researchers in their early career very frequently, to make them aware of challenges and opportunity for glory and other positive aspects of a researchers life, make them have ownership of projects and equip them to successfully achieve there goals.
This way more serious and passionate people will enter the arena, who will last long and ensure significant contribution. People focused on salaries, seeking external motivation, attending too many conferences abroad, tend to lose out on the core focus of developing a novel research line and commercialization of their research during their life time.
Thanks Ram Narayan for your good suggestions "to reach out to potential researchers in their early career to make them aware of challenges and opportunity for glory and other positive aspects of a researchers life, make them have ownership of projects and equip them to successfully achieve there goals" This can be a promising approach to attract and incline young career aspirants towards research.
One needs to introduce the subject (such as climate change) to a young audience, middle -years school (ages 9-12). That is when the mind is developing a lot. Those serious enough will carry the torch to adulthood.
Science Museum has a vital role in the climate change debate! Young people must visit!
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/cif-green/2009/jun/26/climate-change
Nice thread by Dear Ljubomir. Science Museum exhibiting pictures, charts, model, audio-visuals and other display on climate change issues can play a significant role in changing the way people think, talk and act about climate change.
Interactive climate change games may change the future. "Looking at the climate change challenge there are a number of games and interactive tools to broaden our understanding of the dynamics involved. Climate Interactive, for one, has led the development of the role-playing game World Climate, which simulates the UN climate change negotiations and is being adopted from middle school all the way up to executive management-level classrooms. Many are recognizing the power of games and everyone from government agencies to NGOs to a group of teenagers is trying to launch a game to help address climate change. Below are some of the climate and sustainability-related games we’ve found. Let us know if you’ve found others."
https://www.climateinteractive.org/policy-exercises-and-serious-games/19-climate-games-that-could-change-the-future/
Yes Dear Tobias, providing young people prospect for a promising and decent career in the field of research is very important for their inclination towards research.
Thirty-six countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America now face acute food security crises requiring external assistance
https://www.unido.org/fileadmin/user_media/Publications/documents/energy_development_and_security.pdf
@Krishnan- Yes, proving food & feed to millions in Africa, Asia and Latin America is a major challenge. External assistance can be a short term solution, however making these area self sufficient in food production through scientific interventions would be the lasting solution to the problem.
Not to forget!
British scientist James Lovelock, whose work inspired the green movement and underpins much of modern climate science, died on his 103rd birthday. His research spanned many disciplines, but he is perhaps best known for his 1960s Gaia theory, which described Earth as one huge interconnected, self-regulating system rather than a passive host to living species — an idea that was controversial among some evolutionary scientists. Lovelock highlighted some of the greatest environmental concerns of our time, including damage to the ozone layer and climate change...
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/27/james-lovelock-obituary
It finds that while there are trends of youth turning away from agriculture, the absolute numbers of youth who are dependent on farming or livestock production is likely to increase because of population growth
Source - https://www.youthpower.org/youthpower-issues/topics/youth-engagement-agriculture
New book: Security and Conservation
Rosaleen Duffy Yale Univ. Press (2022)
The military, intelligence services and tech companies were barely visible at the 2014 London Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade, recalls scholar of international politics Rosaleen Duffy. By the 2018 conference, they were prominent. This “security turn” in conservation — since intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic’s links to a Chinese wildlife market — drives her timely analysis of a complex phenomenon. A violent approach to tackling poaching might boost elephant numbers, for example, but could also cause human-rights abuses...
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03274-7
"Higher education is blurring the boundaries of knowledge to address global challenges. One way is through promoting agricultural sustainability to address the grand challenge of global food security in the face of rising population numbers and climate change...
My PhD in plant science aims to execute cutting-edge fundamental and translational research that will have a real impact for farmers both in India and globally. It builds on my past and present academic work, research training and leadership skills..."
https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20221014133720746
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