Fears for UK research as EU postdoc applications dry up

Shock! Horror! .... not like it was unpredictable. .... or that the government really cares about post-docs or hotel workers or any area where immigration matters for the labour market. From 2016: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/comment/brexodus-worlds-highly-skilled-have-options-other-uk The other aspect of all this that Brexiters do not understand is that most migrants do not show up at Calais, but at Heathrow, and do so by making a choice among alternatives. While the UK government talks about wanting the “right” type of immigrants (of whom, I suspect, I am one), they do not understand that there is both a supply and a demand for labour. Migrants like me have a choice and the fact that I am wanted does not entail that I will come, or stay. My group advertised three positions before the Brexit vote and got hundreds of applications from all around the world. We ultimately hired an Italian and Romanian, both with overseas PhDs. After losing two junior overseas colleagues, we advertised again after the referendum. We received dramatically fewer applications, and none of them were from the EU, North America or Oceania. We ended up rejecting them all.

The real problem continues to be that academic life is unappealing to UK candidates. This has not changed since I got my PhD in 1990. Most shortlists that I have seen are dominated by non-UK, non-EU candidates of high quality who are often appointed. Given the falling pay in real terms and the uncertainty of the career, I am not surprised that UK students (who now also carry student debt) are rarely interested in PhDs let alone postdoc positions. With the increasing bureaucracy in academic life, I cannot see this changing.

"We received dramatically fewer applications, and none of them were from the EU, North America or Oceania. We ended up rejecting them all." Speaks volumes about the quality of HE in the UK...

Much of U.K. higher education is high quality and produces thousands of excellent graduates, Masters and Doctoral graduates every year. There are plenty of high-quality U.K. candidates, both for post-graduate and post-doctoral posts, but for the past 30 years or so there seems to have been an innate bias against our own homegrown candidates and a politically motivated move towards globalization, and clearly a reliance on funding from the EU. We have plenty of high-quality students here in the U.K., who would make excellent post-docs and academic staff. Just give them a chance.