Sir, regarding the letter written by E. J. Kay and K. D. O'Brien (BDJ 2006; 200: 73–74) it is interesting to find that fewer graduates are choosing careers as academicians. I think the main problem does not lie with poor interest but with the cultivation of interest in research. Comparing the dental students' magazine Launchpad with the equivalent medical students' magazine StudentBMJ, it is easy to see why. Launchpad is written with students in mind but is it really written by students? Looking back at an issue I can safely say that three-quarters of the pages are mainly written by lecturers for students. I am not saying this is bad but it needs to have a balance. StudentBMJ is headed by a student editor and the magazine is divided into many sections from education (written by lecturers and students), interviews with famous clinicians to viewpoints (mostly written by students). There is even a section where important research articles that are published in the BMJ are summarised in the StudentBMJ. Students are encouraged to submit articles and articles are peer reviewed by other students. The magazine provides a transition period where students are nurtured to read more important articles in established journals. This may help students understand more about the importance of research.

Research projects are mostly conducted in a dental students final year. There is not much that can be done given this amount of time which coincides with the hectic schedule of applying for jobs. Most students are just geared up to finishing it and putting it out of the way.

Once interest is there, then it is down to a student's own effort. From my experience, I think most lecturers are more than happy for students to contribute ideas or participate in any ongoing research projects that they are conducting.