Bugra Han Egeli, MD

No reward - no duties.  75% of respondents have reduced the hours spent on academic duties since 2020 (Nature polls). Mostly due to burnout and unwillingness to work for free. This included attending conferences, peer reviewing manuscripts and grant proposals, committees, mentoring and even teaching. Why? Because scientists are tired of not being able to do #science. - Students are tired of being unappreciated and overloaded - Faculties are tired of “community duties” that become overwhelming (conferences, committees, reviewing, outreach, etc) And everyone is tired of small salaries, zero empathy and little credit. The problem is greatly summarized by Isabel Müller (in the article): “There’s so little acknowledgement that people have difficult, complicated lives outside of work.” A year ago, Nature described how PhD students don’t want to be postdocs and faculties are leaving academia. Now, we see that those who stayed are trying to resist the system from the inside. But the problem is - the system is too rigid, too traditional and too elitist. So, as a community, we can change it only by raising our voices and expressing distaste with the status quo. I applaud Nature for writing about these issues so regularly. The academic world has too many interdependent parts which should be addressed concurrently. This is why we should stay united and strong as a community. Regarding the academic environment we all hope to have, I loved how Isabel Müller put it in the article: - I hope it becomes the new normal to say: “My life matters. My work is an important part, but I decide what my life looks like, not my employer”. #AcademicTwitter #education