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From PATRICK TROTTER

I am writing on behalf of unemployed science graduates who feel they
have been let down by the hierarchy of the science establishment in the
UK.

I graduated from the University of Dundee obtaining a 2(i) honours degree
in biochemistry. Having been accepted to study for a PhD at the University
of Glasgow, I learned that the Science and Engineering Research Council
would not finance me because I was born in Northern Ireland. I then applied
for a maintenance grant from the Department of Education for Northern Ireland.
Much to my surprise, and that of my supervisor, they also turned down my
application for a grant as only 25 grants were available to study science
and technology at a postgraduate level outside Northern Ireland.

Since then I have been applying for research assistantship posts, but
am finding, like many of my contemporaries, that life as a graduate is not
a bed of roses. I find myself in a catch-22 situation: without experience
I cannot get a job and without a job I cannot get experience. I am continuing
to apply for jobs and am still reasonably optimistic that I will land on
my feet and get a job in science, but I fear like many of my contemporaries
I may be forced into a career outside science which would be very sad indeed.

Patrick Trotter Belfast, Northern Ireland