Like a *great* postdoc project

Very nice! The care taken in both design and analysis provide a compelling case. An important brick in the awareness wall.

Catching the tram up the mountain is always a highlight for me.

Then combine this environment with the incredibly low levels of retention of ECRs in the NHMRC Investigator scheme….🤯. The not so clever country.

I see too many DECRA and L1 FT without underlying positions. To make it worse, Embedded Fellowships, as described, are not restricted to ECRs. Universities will need to step up for ECR salaries, and if they wont now why would they at scale needed (200 DECRA p/a) in the future?

And what problem is it solving if they say yes?

Reviewed for plenty, never been paid or offered. May be a discipline thing. But, any evidence paying increases review acceptances or review quality?

And only for “a small number of outstanding individuals”

“Embedded fellowships for up to 2 years will reward excellence by financially
supporting a small number of outstanding individuals while distributing NCGP funding to more
people and projects”

Very much opposite to NHMRC(+). But, someone has to pay salary (eg, 200 DECRA, 100 FT p/a).

Looks like institutions on the hook for a significant salary bill. What could possibly go wrong?

In addition to being ill conceived, the scheme is tremendously wasteful. Very poor retention of 2019 and 2020 cohorts, across all levels, suggests these million dollar investments are ‘once and done’ for most recipients. Like pouring the hard won MREA down the sink.

Comparisons with award data from 2019 and 2020 rounds are telling. Turnover appears substantial.

And had ranking systems been around, it is doubtful whether a non-German university would have been in the Top 10.

This is an excellent, if sobering, book that documents the rise (and fall) of universities (and their national economies) - in three countries.

www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...