Most of the actual work is done by trainees who are a) learning how to do <cutting-edge thing> for the first time and b) may never actually do it again because they're going to move onto something else. The profs are, at best, managing them and even that's often a bit iffy.
Everybody's obviously got to learn somewhere, but universities and research funders are oddly weird about experience and expertise.
Most of the actual work is done by trainees who are a) learning how to do <cutting-edge thing> for the first time and b) may never actually do it again because they're going to move onto something else. The profs are, at best, managing them and even that's often a bit iffy.
Everybody's obviously got to learn somewhere, but universities and research funders are oddly weird about experience and expertise.