Oz govt warned against shortfall of researchers

MELBOURNE: Australian government has been warned against the shortfall of good researchers in the country in the near future as the two fastest growing economies - India and China were increasingly absorbing them.

In a report to the government, Allen Consulting said that Australia will find it increasingly difficult to woo researchers from these countries as their economies continue to expand and funds flow into their domestic innovation systems, according to 'The Australian' report.

The report, titled 'Employer Demand for Researchers in Australia', finds have been released after receiving advice from 72 survey respondents, including University of Sydney, Queensland University of Technology and CSIRO. The report has indicated future demand for researchers by business, industry and research institutions during the next decade.

It has highlighted an Australian Council for Educational Research finding that demand for employees with higher degree by research qualifications will expand by 50 per cent to 2020. Over 70 per cent of respondents - including Woodside, Cochlear, Dupont Australia, Baker IDI and Geodynamics -anticipated growth in their annual demand for researchers during the next five years.

Half the report's 72 respondents said demand for researchers will be greater than supply during the next 10 years, with 30 per cent saying it will be patchy. Despite strong projected demand from business, industry and university employers for researchers to help drive the country's innovation, there are doubts about Australia's ability to fulfil the demand.

The report concluded that "these growth rates will be insufficient to meet the needs of Australian institutions over the next decade. Australia has a shallow domestic talent pool and researchers in Australia do not have the breadth and depth of those in Europe, North America and northeast Asia. Dupont Australia "foresaw problems maintaining its internal research capacity as half the company's research workforce retired over the next 10 years". Cochlear, Dupont and QUT were especially concerned that reducing number of science, technology, engineering and maths students at universities was a barrier to recruitment.

Two-thirds of the respondents said newly employed PhDs and postdoctoral researchers often or very often had the necessary skills to be a productive employee.