[i-blis]

I remember that a significant part — up to a fifth, I would say — of the researchers and lecturers whose seminars I followed in the late 80s in France, either did not hold a doctorate or used to publish a big thing only once in a while but were nonetheless respected by their peers for their knowledge and commitment to science, and enjoyed secure academic positions. Nowadays, surviving in the academy without a PhD (or even, in countries like Germany, without the higher "habilitation") and without abiding to the "publish or perish" rule has become increasingly unrealistic.

But it still happens, albeit at the margins. I have been working myself as a scientist in the academy for the last twenty years and even held assistant professorship positions in prestigious universities in Germany for almost ten years without a PhD and without much publications. In my case, that was most of the time due to a combination of factors: 1) the need for an outsider in the lab (particularly to avoid conflicts over scarce tenured professorship positions) 2) being able to teach and research topics for which more than one person would have been needed otherwise 3) being (a little) known in the field, and known as eccentric but proficient at the job.

Funding is certainly an issue. You do need an academic affiliation (at least a formal one) to apply for grants. But I do not feel I have been less successful in securing funding from European and German research funds than colleagues with PhDs and habilitations and lots of publications. As soon as past projects were successfully completed, it has never been a big issue. The real problem is that in my field only fashionable and pointless projects are being funded lately.

As a consequence, I have come to carry my research almost completely independently. Coding and data analysis for private corporations and casual teaching at the university pay the bills. From time to time, I still rely on academic grants to fund field research. My wife and I work together and we have a very spartan way of life, dedicated to science and study.

Doing science at the margins of the academy implies its share of abnegation, is certainly viewed as bizarre by many but it happens. Although I do not complain, I won't recommend it either.