Where will the geophysicists come from?

Abstract

We all know that money is tight and hard choices have to be made. But the decision by the Natural Environment Research Council to stop funding taught master’s courses has serious implications. Geophysics is one of those academic subjects for which there is steady subject-specific employment – and demand from industry for more. Taught master’s courses – supported by NERC, by industry and by individual students – have supplied that demand in the past. Postgraduate training works in this field because there is far too little awareness in schools that the subject exists, let alone that employers are crying out for these specialists. The RAS report on Geophysics Education in the UK (available on the Science Policy pages of the Society website) made precisely this point in 2006, and many geophysicists in the UK community are working to change this state of affairs, with outreach materials for schools. Nonetheless, the fact remains that geophysics in schools falls between Earth sciences, taught largely qualitatively, and physics. Loss of master’s places will make it harder for people to move into this important area of research and industry. The decision is especially bad news for the many entrepreneurial geophysics companies that are not big enough to fund more master’s places. It could also be bad news for new disciplines that are driving research forward yet remain largely unknown in schools. Taught master’s courses help people move into developing fields at the right level and provide industry with highly trained, motivated staff. We would appear to be losing not only a valued route into industry, but also a significant path towards heightening the impact of our sciences – just at the time when that is supposed to be a key goal. Editorial NEws