Dr. Arjumand Younus:

It is not as severe in STEM subjects as humanities, but it is there. I did my PhD in computer science, and I could not secure an academic permanent contract. I never wanted to move to industry. I wanted to stay in academia. I love teaching. However, someone has to pay the bills and that is why I moved to industry just last year. This problem of hourly-paid contracts is there in STEM subjects in UCD and TCD. Although, every year, one sees some permanent positions advertised, the problem is the boxes that one has to tick to get into that puts researchers such as myself at a significant disadvantage. I would not have so many publications because of my short-term contracts. Postdocs are just two years and they are there in order that one develops one publication and teaching profile. UCD does not give postdoc teaching contracts anymore which is the right call. Hourly-paid lecturers, as Dr. Kennedy said, do not get a penny for research. How does one expect someone who will apply to a permanent position to tick all the boxes when one does not give that person the adequate supports to do so? That is a big problem.