Conversation between Technicians from Cambridge and CONICET-Argentina

This interview is a dialogue between two research support personnel from different countries: the United Kingdom and Argentina. On the part of the United Kingdom we have John Nicolson, degree in Geography graduated from the University of Hertfordshire, now coordinator of the Technician Commitment (TC) program at the University of Cambridge. On the Argentine side we have Daniela Alejandra Pastor, degree in Biotechnology and Molecular Biology graduated from the UNLP, Specialist in technology and innovation management graduated from UNMdP, Research Support Staff in INTEMA-CONICET-FiUNMdP Argentina, and currently doing the Doctorate in Social Sciences at the topic: barriers in professional growth of the research support staff of CONICET-Argentina. The purpose of this conversation is to share visions about the role of research support in two science institutions that, despite having distinctive characteristics, share similarities in the problems and challenges of the research support role. This job role is known by several synonyms names: Technician; Research Support Staff (RSS) and Team infrastructure roles (TIRs). This exchange is very nutritious because the problems of this role usually remain invisible in the individualization of the situation, making it difficult to identify common and intrinsic problems of these role in science subordinate to researchers, whos are also affected by the paradigm of the “isolated genius” (Harding, 1997) which means that the scientific system centralizes the production of knowledge in a single figure: The Researcher, perpetuating a pre-industrial vision of making science. This conversation with John Nicolson was a great opportunity to better understand the program Technician Commitment how it is born and implemented in Cambridge to improve the working conditions of the technical workforce in academy and research in the United Kingdom, which due to the increasing complexity of the global innovation system is also highly specialized, decreasing over time the study level gap between technical and research roles. An interesting coincidence identified is the lack of appreciation of the academic level obtained by some job positions of research support staff, under the argument: “the task they perform does not require it”, an idea that surely has multiple consequences in personnel management. About the options of hiring, even when the information obtained from both institutions is not completely comparable, because in the Argentine case only one work contract was analyzed, while in the case of the United Kingdom the entire population was taken, we can say in both cases the hiring conditions are of a stability comparable to that of those who are Researchers, but there are gender gaps on which to continue reflecting. It is necessary to continue researching and reflecting on this topic, to better understand the changes in the needs of supporting science, and to be able to generate management conditions for this human resource that are consistent with their academic expertise, and expectations for professional growth.