Germany amends research contract limits

Starting April 1^st, scientists working on contract at public institutions in Germany will be able to continue working at any of those institutions past the 12-year limit, to the relief of scientists who have long argued the time limit hurts the career prospects of mid-level scientists.

The new act, passed by the both houses of the German parliament earlier this year, places a caveat on the 12-year limit law, which included time spent earning a doctorate and completing a postdoc. Next month, scientists at public institutions in Germany will be able to continue working on contract at those institutions after 12 years, provided there is grant money to support them.

German scientists mostly applauded the change. "This is clearly a step in the right direction," said Meinhard Hahn at the department of Molecular Genetics of the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg. Hahn and fellow scientist Armin Pscherer have been lobbying the government to change the time limit law since 2004 when they launched a campaign to rally support from fellow scientists. Called "Maintain Brains," the initiative created a petition now signed by more than 13,000 scientists, and supported by over a dozen scientific societies. Still, the law change stops short of eliminating time limits completely, which scientists would have preferred, said Hahn.

The idea behind the 12-year limit was to prevent stagnation by exposing scientists to different environments while ensuring a steady supply of open positions for young scientists. Mid-career scientists, unless offered a permanent professorship, had to search for jobs in industry or go elsewhere after hitting their limit.

But over the decades, critics of the previous act have alleged that many well-qualified scientists have wound up unemployed or have been forced to find jobs abroad. Permanent professorships have become increasingly difficult to come by -- approximately 2,000 people finish postdocs in Germany, but there are only about 800 professorships open each year, said Katrin Hagedorn, spokesperson at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in Berlin.

Amending the 12-year limit promises to offer scientists more opportunities to remain in Germany, allowing them to continue working at public institutions so long as they are funded by third parties, defined as any agency that requires researchers to apply and compete for grant money.

The change wasn't intended to have any effect on Germany's purported leak of scientists, Hagedorn said. Indeed, the question of whether the nation has witnessed a significant brain drain has been controversial, and some research has suggested that the vast majority of scientists who work abroad eventually return to jobs in Germany.

The European Union's 7^th Framework Programme, with a budget of ?53 billion ($69 billion US) over seven years, and Germany's plans to boost spending on research and development to 3 percent of gross domestic product by 2010, mean that much more grant money will be available in the future, said Hagedorn.

While the increase in available funds and the law change will certainly improve the job situation, a system in which the only criterion for landing and keeping a job is scientific excellence would be ideal, said Birgit Mller, a researcher working on the World Stress Map Project, who still finds the present system frustrating. Despite government efforts in recent years to increase opportunities for mid-career scientists, such as creating junior professorships and new types of grants, most of these programs carry time or age restrictions. And only full professors can conduct independent research. "Is it really necessary to be a full professor just to conduct some research of your own?" Mller asked.

Hagedorn agreed that the system still has many problems but added: "We can't solve all of these problems with one act."

Gunjan Sinha
mail@the-scientist.com

Links within this article

Meinhard Hahn
http://www.dkfz.de/en/genetics/staff/staff_detail/m_hahn.html

N. Stafford, "Brain drain anger," The Scientist, October 22, 2004.
http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/22463/

N. Stafford, "German brains not draining," The Scientist, May 13, 2004.
http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/22171/

J. Burgermeister, "EU budget deal blow to scientists," The Scientist, December 22, 2005.
http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/22868/

European Union's 7^th Framework Programme
http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/budget_en.html

J. Burgermeister, "German science budget cheers," The Scientist, June 28, 2004.
http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/22254/

Trends in German R&D spending
http://trendchart.cordis.lu/tc_country_list.cfm?ID=6

World Stress Map Project
http://www.world-stress-map.org