Originally Posted by Unregistered

Nowadays many polys have research centres doing some R&D work trying to get their name in the papers. Which means more publicity for them, which attracts students and is a good marketing tool, which also means more brownie points for the senior management.

The research projects are mainly too 'deep' for the poly students hence is mostly run by dedicated research staff, since the poly lecturers themselves are usually too tied up with the usual teaching/admin duties to devote time to such serious project work.

Bear in mind though that research scientist KPI will very much hinge on the success of the project... and in my mind, the job is not so stable - since the main mission of a poly is still producing diploma grads, not cutting edge research. Who knows what may happen once the project is completed, or the centre is down-sized owing to lack of student numbers in the supporting diploma?

I guess it's a useful way for new PhDs to build up their research credentials, so it's okay as long as one doesn't look at the long term prospects of the job, but rather a stepping stone to a serious, proper R&D position.