Putting research at the heart of the future

While expecting battle lines to be drawn between the parties as momentum starts to build towards the next general election, we can at least anticipate a broad political consensus on the importance of science as a central pillar of the UK’s knowledge economy over the next generation and beyond.

It is certainly heartening that Gordon Brown has, in set piece speeches, consistently championed the importance of science for the further economic health of the UK, and we can expect that the vision for the future of medical research in the UK will be increasingly prioritised as the economic value of the sector to the UK becomes ever more apparent.

While acknowledging this welcome focus on science, however, the British Heart Foundation (BHF) is keen for parliamentarians to support what we believe is a core need for medical research in the UK — the recruitment and retention of scientists themselves.

There are widespread concerns in academia about the UK’s ability to recruit and retain the best scientists, both clinical and non-clinical. It is clear that a co-ordinated approach is needed to develop career structures that attract new scientists into universities and support clinical and basic researchers as their careers develop.

The worrying dearth of clinicians willing to consider a research-based career is particularly pronounced in cardiovascular medicine. Where the UK once led the world, we now follow. This unfortunate anomaly will only be corrected if young physicians and surgeons can foresee a stimulating and rewarding future in research.

The March 2005 Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) report, ‘Recommendations for training the researchers and educators of the future’, provided a rational framework to ensure that sufficient clinicians are attracted to, and can be retained within, academic medicine, and the subsequent introduction of a national scheme of academic Clinical Fellows and Clinical Lectureships will help significantly.

The BHF, like the MRC and the Wellcome Trust, has recently revised the terms of its clinical fellowship schemes to make them more attractive, with the explicit intention of training and retaining more talented cardiovascular clinicians in academia.

Nonetheless it is clear that the introduction of training schemes based on the recommendations of MMC has thrown up significant practical problems that still need to be resolved to enable clinicians wishing to train in research not to be disadvantaged.

The findings of the Cooksey Review offer a renewed opportunity for the creation of an environment that attracts and retains the most able clinical researchers. New research funding arrangements following Cooksey must consider this a priority and ensure that initiatives like Modernising Medical Careers are given the best opportunity of succeeding. Training and retaining a new generation of clinical researchers is of paramount importance to the future of academic medicine in the UK.

Young basic scientists in particular are vulnerable to the uncertainties of a scientific career in academia. There is general agreement that salaries are non-competitive, and the career structure is far from clear, with most postdocs occupying post with short-term contracts. They need a minimum standard of living and the prospect of some job security beyond the three or five-year non-renewable grant system common in the UK today.

Again, the BHF in common with other funders has recently revised its fellowship schemes to attract the most talented basic scientists and provide a stepping stone towards a tenured post, but this only addresses part of the problem.

It is fair to say that the government does not have full control over the issue — rather it is up to a variety of actors; government, universities, and funding organisations including charity funders of academic research, to improve conditions and job security for academic researchers, though the major change needs to come from their employer (the universities).

Just as, with government help, partly as a consequence of the recommendations of the Roberts report (SET for Success), the breadth of generic training for university PhD students has been greatly enhanced over the last few years, universities now need to provide wider training and support of their postdocs to suit them for their future careers; not only for the minority who will stay in academia but also the majority who will leave.

The problems in the supply of basic scientists to the UK science base have led to solutions proposed by the Research Careers Initiative and the Research Careers Committee of the Research Funders’ Forum. However, it is not clear that enough has yet been done, or that these initiatives are working.

The BHF is calling on concerned MPs and Peers to back our demands for coordinated support for young scientists in the UK. The BHF is delighted with the establishment of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Medical Research, under the Chairmanship of Lord Turnberg, and if you are keen to learn more about the challenges faced by our young scientists in building their careers and other important issues related to medical research, we’d encourage you go along to future APPG meetings. Alternatively, please get in touch with the BHF’s Policy and Public Affairs team on 020 7725 0664.

Professor Jeremy Pearson is Associate Medical Director of the British Heart Foundation.