New Zealand ‘has too many PhD holders for too few academic jobs’

Royal Society president warns of mismatch between opportunities and young researchers’ expectations

The outgoing president of the Royal Society of New Zealand has warned that postgraduate employment at universities and research institutes is facing serious challenges, with “honest conversations” needed about its future.

Giving her last formal address in the role on 29 October, Wendy Larner said the Covid-19 pandemic was changing the face of research in the country. She said New Zealand research organisations had “begun to make tough decisions about staffing” that were affecting “early career researchers, who are particularly exposed in a changing and contracting labour market. This cohort contains more women, more Māori and more Pasifika researchers than the existing research workforce,” Larner said.