ABOVE: The University of Oxford is one of several UK universities that have introduced mandatory retirement ages for faculty.
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Had he been at almost any other institution in the UK, Hagan Bayley could have studied membrane proteins for as long as he wanted. But at the University of Oxford, the chemical biologist was asked to retire from his professorship of 16 years this coming September, and to give up his lab—along with the 20 graduate students and postdocs who work there—at what he considers the relatively young age of 68.
Fortunately for Bayley, he is able to stay three additional years, but that’s only because he applied to university administrators for an extension—a process he says dragged on for seven years, after he was denied twice and had to go through an arduous appeals process.
It’s a challenge that several Oxford academics have taken on since the university ...
