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Tenure time loopers

Nature Biotechnology volume 41, pages 1375–1377 (2023)Cite this article

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Say, “I’m tenured,” and most people think you have a lifelong job guarantee. It is a rare luxury; you would be hard-pressed to find the security that tenure promises beyond academic walls. However, as a mid-career (N.Y.) and junior professor (N.S.) in biotechnology, we challenge academic institutions to rethink the existing tenure model. In short, we are ready to leave the perceived safety of tenure to become ‘tenure time loopers’ who instead undergo tenure renewal every five years throughout their career. This proposed model would focus more on the long-term evolution of research programs and include peer reviewers at all career stages.

In many institutions in academia, tenure-track junior scientists who start their independent research groups as principal investigators are typically evaluated for tenure several years after they start. Tenure is said to secure their lifelong research vision and contributions to science. In most universities, faculty usually begin as assistant professors, and tenure accompanies promotion to associate professorship. However, if a tenure request is denied, that faculty member generally leaves the institution. In some European research institutions, the tenure model is different: junior principal investigators may be expected to leave after a certain period of time, but are generally secure in finding a tenured position elsewhere—a community-level tenure track system. Regardless of the tenure model, this first career stage is not easy. Junior scientists must develop vital research programs, acquire grants, produce research papers, train personnel and build collaborative networks, which will then be collectively evaluated to determine whether they can continue their science.

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Acknowledgements

We sincerely thank Carl de Boer, Anna Blakney, Samuel King and Carolina Tropini of the University of British Columbia, Dayag Sheykhkarimli of the University of Toronto, and Toshio Tsukiyama and Robert Eisenman of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center for shaping our view.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biomedical Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    Nozomu Yachie & Nika Shakiba

  2. Premium Research Institute for Human Metaverse Medicine, Osaka University, Suita, Japan

    Nozomu Yachie

  3. Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Nozomu Yachie

Authors
  1. Nozomu Yachie
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  2. Nika Shakiba
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Contributions

N.Y. conceived the idea of this piece, with content shaped by N.Y. and N.S. Both N.Y. and N.S. led the writing of the piece, with edits and input from individuals listed in the Acknowledgements.

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Correspondence to Nozomu Yachie or Nika Shakiba.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Yachie, N., Shakiba, N. Tenure time loopers. Nat Biotechnol 41, 1375–1377 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-023-01924-3

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