Special Feature - Prospects in Science

Science is well-known for its logical and unemotional analysis, but it also requires imaginative and inventive thought – you only need pay a brief visit to the annual Young Scientists’ Exhibition to confirm this. The range of skills that are learned during scientific study are also highly valued by employers in all industries, so you need not worry about having limited career options or having to work in a lab for the rest of your life (although of course, that would not be a problem for those who enjoy tinkering with test tubes and bunsen burners). In general, science and technology graduates follow one the following career paths:

-Direct entry to a professional career such as teaching, pharmacy; or into the chemical, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, food, sports, microelectronics, computing, healthcare and recreational services and many other science-based industries in the Irish economy.

-Progression to postgraduate (fourth level) education, which leads to employment in industry, business, hospitals, research institutes or higher education colleges and universities.

-Entry to other careers such as business management, banking, information technology, accountancy, publishing, and insurance industries.

Besides a flexibility of career options, science and technology degrees also offer graduates entry into careers with very competitive salaries. This sector has suffered in the past from a popular perception that other qualifications such as business or arts lead to greater wages, but a 2006 report entitled Comparative Starting Salaries and Career Progression in Science, Engineering and Technology has finally put paid to that untruth. Here were some of the report’s most interesting findings:

-23 per cent of chemical & process engineering, 25 per cent of environmental science and 24 per cent of mathematics graduates earned over €33,000 in their first year after graduation

-Those salaries compare favourably with non-science, engineering and technology disciplines – most notably the humanities, commerce, and law. Only 3 per cent of humanities graduates and 5 per cent of commerce and business studies graduates earn more than €33,000 in the first year after graduation. Zero per cent of law graduates earned over €33,000 in the same period

-This trend continues at fourth level, those postgraduate courses with a strong science and technology content lead to higher starting salaries than postgraduates in other disciplines.

Investment in Science

It is widely accepted in political and economic circles that the industries that have driven the economy in recent years, namely construction and services, cannot be relied upon to sustain current levels of wealth into the future. Ireland needs to develop a knowledge-based economy, sustained by a healthy supply of skilled science and technology graduates, if the challenge of the developing economies such as India and China is to be met successfully. Young people, who have a passionate spirit of investigation and are interested in pursuing a higher education and career in science, will be encouraged to hear how highly the political and educational authorities value their aspirations.

Investment in education and jobs within science is increasing significantly on a yearly basis. A stated aim of the National Development Plan is an “Ireland in 2013, which is internationally renowned for the excellence of its research and at the forefront in generating and using new knowledge for economic and social progress, within an innovation driven culture.”  Current estimates indicate that there will be a requirement for up to 7,000 more researchers with advanced degrees (postgraduate masters and PhDs) in the science, engineering and technology sectors than we can currently produce in that timeframe.

Over the lifetime of the National Development Plan (2007-2013), the state will invest €6.1 billion in science, technology and innovation, in the areas listed below - bringing Ireland into line with scientific research performance in leading countries such as Sweden and the US:

-World Class Research STI (Science Technology Innovation) - €3,462 million
-Enterprise - €1,292 million
-Agri-Food - €641 million
-Energy - €149 million
-Marine - €141 million
-Geo-Science - €33 million
-Health - €301 million
-Environment - €93 million

The investment in training, physical infrastructure and commercialisation of research in the areas listed above will be complemented by further NDP investment in Higher Education and the IDA, increasing the total investment in scientific research and development by €2.1 billion, to €8.2 billion. It is definitely the right time to be pursuing a career in science!