Top scientist on permanent cash hunt

“It depends on how you measure it. But I spend, at the most, 25 per cent of my time working on tasks that you could call research, and about half of my time on administrative duties.”

This is according to Janine Terra Erler, who is head of research at the Biotech Research and Innovation Centre (BRIC) at the University of Copenhagen.

If I did not have to apply for money all the time, I would have more time to do research. Everything is about raising money. It is a game where you do not know whether you win or lose, so it’s all very unpredictable.

Her group does research which includes work on a particular type of cells, fibroblasts, which spread cancer in the body when they are active. If scientists can turn off the cells, they can prevent the spread and thereby perhaps cure an otherwise incurable cancer.

There are currently 17 researchers in her group, most of them are postdocs.

“When I look at my to-do list, I spend most of my time on administration and on writing grant applications. It has become the primary task, but my role is also to manage, to put together a good team, and to ensure that projects are progressing. I have to raise money so that I can keep my laboratory staff and ensure the continuation of the research projects. It is the postdocs and the PhDs, that carry out the experiments,” says Janine Terra Erler, who still considers herself a scientist.

“It’s still me that gets many of the ideas. We do a lot of the thinking together in my group, so yes, I’m a scientist, but my job requires  that I am a manager too,” she says.

Constantly chasing money

Janine Terra Erler believes that the lack of time for research is due to the research funding system, where an increasing share of the money is being distributed in competition between researchers.

She has received an YDUN female researchers grant of approximately DKK 6.5 million from the Danish Council for Independent Research DFF, but she is also supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the Danish Cancer Society, Innovation Fund Denmark, the Lundbeck Foundation and the European Research Council.

“If I did not have to apply for money all the time, I would have more time to do research. Everything turns out to be about raising money. It is a game where you do not know whether you are going to win or lose, so it’s all very unpredictable,” she says.

Young scientists living in fear

She says that many of the younger scientists in her group are on one year contracts. They live in the fear that the group cannot afford to extend them.

Your employee’s life and career is in your hands, as it is you that has to ensure that their work can continue.

She therefore works out a plan for when to start looking for funding for all employees, and she talks to them about how to reduce their uncertainty.

“Your employee’s life and career is in your hands, as it is you that has to ensure that their work can continue. My job is not just about me. I would not call it pressure, just an obligation. It’s something that I think about constantly and take very seriously,” says Janine Terra Erler.

She emphasizes that she loves her job and has not regretted that she became research director.

“You have to learn to live with the fact that this is how it is, and that it should not stop you from doing what you love, namely research.

“If you want to be in the lab yourself, don’t let your research group grow too big,” she says.