FUTUREPROOFING TODAY’S WORKFORCE FOR TOMORROW’S CHILDREN

Murdoch Children’s Research Institute is ushering in a new generation of data scientists, traditional ‘wet lab’ scientists and clinician scientist fellows with sought-after and futureproofed skills.

While we aim to recruit and foster the best talent in these areas, there are many challenges. These include competing against ‘Big Tech’ to attract data scientists and machine learning specialists, enlisting wet lab scientists with expanded skillsets to meet today’s demands and helping clinician scientist fellows manage clinical workloads while conducting worldclass research. Overcoming these challenges is crucial to maintain Australia’s world-class medical research capabilities.

In the fiercely competitive data analytics space, ‘Big Tech’ companies in the USA and UK can offer software engineers and data scientists attractive salaries, flexible working options and clear career pathways. To keep experts on as major players in Australia’s Health and Medical Research industry, there must be clear incentives.

Professor Daniel MacArthur leads Murdoch Children’s Centre for Population Genomics, a major initiative with the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney that fosters Australian research talent through collaborative, innovative, and values-based employment.

Professor MacArthur understands that Australian academia needs to provide a ‘compelling narrative’ that inspires data scientists and researchers at all stages.

“It is difficult to compete with big global players, where the focus has always been on building very large data sets and retaining talented staff,” he said.

“In this new world of genomic technology, large databases and AI, the competition for talent will be fierce – while there will always be great scientists in Australia, where they go is a different story.”

Within the Centre, Professor MacArthur leads OurDNA, a project that aims to increase representation of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities in genomics research.

In addition to community engagement and co-design, a dedicated team of data scientists, software engineers and computational biologists is required for large-scale data analysis.

Our team manages and interrogates enormous amounts of data, at a scale that is on par with many of the leading genomics initiatives around the world, providing a globally competitive environment for computationally skilled scientists,” Professor MacArthur said.

Murdoch Children’s Heart Disease leader and Novo Nordisk Foundation for Stem Cell Medicine (reNEW) principal investigator Associate Professor David Elliot said there was a need for ‘multidimensional’ career pathways.

“We need to ensure that student researchers in Australia are trained in both clinical and wet lab settings, giving them more options and broader skillset – especially in paediatrics and medicine broadly,” he said.

“However, research challenges such as competing for critical funding and working to short contracts with modest salaries may limit the appeal of working in the biomedical research sector.”

Associate Professor Elliott said despite industry challenges, Murdoch Children’s brought together passionate researchers, dedicated to finding novel and effective therapies for children and adults alike.

“My lab looks at pluripotent stem cells (types of cells which have unlimited capacity to divide, self-renew and differentiate) and how we can use those to create new therapies for heart disease,” he said.

“We tend to attract values-driven people that share the same mission to improve the lives of children globally, and we ensure they possess digital, computational and laboratory skills, so they are truly industry-ready.”

Murdoch Children’s Neurogenetic Research Group (BLC) Team Leader and molecular biologist Dr Kiymet Bozaoglua agreed that we need to look ahead when it comes to the future of health and medical research in Australia.

“Being a wet lab biologist in the genomics era requires computational skills in interrogating and handling data as well as talent in statistics, general science and in programming or coding,” she said.

“Health is also an important consideration when attracting and retaining talented staff in academia and research, as many research and clinician scientist fellows face substantial workloads in addition to being parents or caregivers. We must provide opportunities for personal and professional development, as well as support for wellbeing.”

Murdoch Children’s Melbourne Vaccine Education Centre (MVEC) Medical lead, Dr Daryl Cheng, said numerous competing demands were also a challenge for clinician scientist fellows.

“I was drawn into both the clinical and research spaces because of the dual opportunity to treat patients face-toface, and also be part of the latest innovations, technology, discoveries, and therapeutics,” he said.

“While this is extremely motivating, I know that many fellows face major competing workloads, and may struggle to manage the demands of each given role.”

Dr Cheng said that longer contracts and more flexibility in medical research would help retain Australian talent in the long-term.

“Our trainee doctor contracts are short, as are researchbased contracts, which doesn’t allow enough space for clinician scientist fellows to foster long-term engagement and contribution,” he said. “We should also create non-traditional pathways, so clinician scientists have better defined stages, opportunities and mentorship to advance their careers which are not purely based on grants and papers.”

Dr Cheng said that despite structural challenges, offering a well-rounded and supportive work environment that is as dynamic and adaptive as its people is key.

Murdoch Children’s is working to overcome these challenges to ensure our future workforce competes against the best and brightest on the world stage and continues to improve health for all.