THE UK’s social sciences face being staffed by an ageing and poorly qualified research community, according to research by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
With many senior social scientists due to retire soon, the report — due to be published next month — flags up the concern that younger researchers don’t have the necessary research skills to further their discipline.
“Social statistics as a field is disappearing. It’s an unattractive area for students, so there is nobody to teach later on,” says Dr David Mills, of the University of Birmingham, in The Times Higher Education Supplement (Jan 27).
Money is also an issue because there is an uneven distribution of funding between the natural sciences and social sciences.
“Funding is like jam — in the natural sciences it is spread more thickly than in the social sciences, attracting much needed young researchers,” says the author of the report, Professor Mark Easterby- Smith.
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The ESRC has a budget worth about £142 million for 2006-07, yet this is dwarfed by the funding for medical and natural sciences, which receive more than £500 million each.
But the ESRC is confident that the report will lead to interventions that address the problems highlighted. This could include more studentships and stipends for disciplines such as economics.