SciLifeLab

Charlotte Stadler

SciLifeLab – or Science for Life Laboratories - is the national centre for molecular life science in Sweden. While it started as a local effort in the Stockholm-Uppsala region as a collaboration between 4 universities in 2010, it has now expanded with sites at all major university cities in Sweden and gained international recognition. Scilifelab gathers top researchers in the life science field and is one of the largest research infrastructures not only in Sweden but also globally. The mission of SciLifeLab research infrastructures is to offer cutting-edge equipment and know-how to allow for globally competitive research that otherwise would not be possible in Sweden. As such, many unique technologies are offered as a service at SciLifeLab, and the researchers and staff employed in the infrastructure units are true technology experts who ensure the infrastructures remain cutting-edge. The close collaborations between the infrastructure unit and the research groups also allow for seamless implementation of the latest protocols and methods.

Historically, the view on core facilities and the staff working within have often not been recognized for their expertise and ability to perform cutting-edge experiments but rather seen as a base service provider to the researchers within the department where they are hosted. Today, as more and more advanced methods and instrumentations have entered the life science field, increased expert competencies are needed to accurately apply the methods and run the expensive instrumentations used.

With the fast development, it has become a main challenge for an individual researcher to master all these new technologies that are increasingly needed to publish in high-impact journals. This has led to an increased need for core facilities, and it has also been a strong motivation for the creation of additional national research infrastructures that could contribute with their expertise to a broader research community. While the importance and recognition of facilities have increased, the scientists and technical staff working at the facilities need further recognition and opportunities for career development.

For a facility – local or national - it is key to retain the expertise of dedicated scientists to remain cutting-edge and adopt the latest trends and tools. In industry, the need for experts and multidisciplinary teams has been acknowledged for a long time, and as experts in their field, many staff scientists are offered positions with better salaries in the industry. Spatial Biology is a particularly strong emerging field, and many of our senior staff have left for industry positions during the last two years. Transitions between academia and industry and vice versa are not a bad thing, as they contribute to increased knowledge transfer. 

In fact, an academic mission is to educate experts on the societal needs. However, academia and research infrastructure centres need to offer competitive positions to attract and retain their technology and scientific experts. While it can be hard for a non-profit research organization to offer a competitive salary, other opportunities that make it attractive to remain an expert within the academic setting could be given. For example, increased opportunities for personal development that also strengthen the individual CVs and possibilities to be involved in internal research projects and implementation of novel methods are benefits that are not for granted within the industry.

At SciLifelab, there are no less than 40 infrastructure units that together consist of 600 scientists, where 70 % hold a PhD. While they are all employed and affiliated with any of the host Universities with their rules for positions and promotions, a possible career path within the SciLifeLab Infrastructure would be moving from being a unit staff scientist to becoming Head of Unit with overall responsibility for the unit operations, and then to become a platform director or co-director, with the responsibility for a group of several units. Finally, the Infrastructure Director is overall responsible for all infrastructures at Scilifelab and is part of the entire SciLifeLab management group. While it is important to know of possibilities for promotions within an organization, this route is limited to a few and not necessarily the best career for a highly skilled technology expert.

At SciLifelab and for me as a Head of Unit and platform Co-director for Spatial Biology, career paths and recognition for infrastructure staff have always been important and close to my heart. I believe a successful team is achieved by the people, and I believe the primary role of a leader is to give all team members the best prerequisites for doing a good job. This includes recognition, thrust, and a willingness to let people grow by taking on new challenges and increased responsibilities if desired. From a conservative view, it is easy to think that working within a research infrastructure would mean performing routine work, only following directives from the academic researcher or company requesting the service. However, even routine work often requires expert skills and competence, which are crucial for generating useful data that is needed by the customer. Therefore, I believe research infrastructures should be regarded as expert consultancy firms rather than as traditional service providers!