As most countries, Italy has its own brain drain problem. National media complain that our mother country spends so much money on instructing brilliant minds, only to see them going to work abroad when it comes the time to get something in return, be this innovation, scientific prestige, or excellence in teaching and mentoring, so to shape up the next generation.
Every so often, some of these brains come back, with much celebration. At times, they are even appointed some highly-wanted positions, including tenure. They are back, hooray!
Hold your glory for a moment. So deep may be their dissatisfaction about their new Italian position, either for its pay (Italian science jobs salaries are among the lowest in the EU) or for the submissive conditions that they encounter on the workplace, or for lack of independence, that some of them are deciding to leave their tenure behind and venture for the promised lands of scientific research.
A friend, Associate Professor, has left to Germany, to lead a big group. Another, Assistant Professor, which in Italy comes with tenure right from the start, also abandoned Italy for the UK, where he got a lectureship.
This morning I met an old friend from the PhD times at UCL, London. She told me that another friend of ours said farewell to his tenure and went on to get a readerhip in the UK. Another common friend may be about to the same thing as well, also throwing his tenure in the trash bin.
The majority of people whom I know and who made it back home are fleeing. What’s going on?
Glad to read it isn’t a mozzarella, Massimo.
I am not an Italian scientist and nor is my husband, but his main collaborators for many, many years are a superb Italian group, so I am all too well aware of some of the crazinesses in your beautiful country.
Nature has reported regularly on some of these issues, also.
My best wishes for your Italian science group, and for a more constructive future for the management of Italian science.