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A spokesperson for the Universities and Colleges Employers Association is quoted as saying that the fixed-term regulations should "iron out" the problems of research staff who are employed by universities on a series of fixed-term contracts. But the research councils seem determined to make the problems worse.

I have been a contract research staff member for 31 years. My college has now offered me a permanent contract, but the Medical Research Council has said that as an "established" member of staff I could no longer have my salary paid from a research grant. This seems to be the position of all the research councils - with the exception of the Economic and Social Research Council.

Charlie Owen
Institute of Education
University of London