“We should not consider it a disaster that someone trained to a high level doesn’t remain in academia,” Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, president of the European Research Council, told a panel discussion about science’s “lost generation” last month. Read more
I’ve already written about how PhDs can prepare for and decide whether or not they should pursue a postdoc. Here, I will discuss what more universities and funding agencies should be doing as stakeholders in training and employing researchers. Read more
You are coming towards the end of your PhD – so what next? There are many options open to you; one obvious one is to apply for a postdoc position. You should think carefully about what you want to do and not just pursue this through inertia. I have supervised many engineering PhDs and some postdocs in my 32 years as an academic. As Head of University College London’s Doctoral School, I oversee the environment and policy for 6000 doctoral candidates and 3200 postdocs. Read more
There’s a difference between mentoring and doling out to-do lists. This is something I’ve learned over the past year, my first as a mentor. Mentoring undergrads became part of my job only recently – in the past, research came first. Most advisors value research outcomes over mentoring, and departments certainly place more value on publications. Before this past year, I was used to just a single undergrad working in my lab, and I thought of them as worker bees, not as future colleagues. Read more
The proposal from the advisory body in Washington DC calls for more career counselling at the graduate and postdoctoral levels, better data on career outcomes at those levels, three-year caps on postdocs under principal investigators and new non-tenure track academic research positions, among other changes. To implement all the proposals would require a US$2 billion increase to the US National Institutes of Health (NIH)’s budget, as well as subsequent budget raises to prevent future funding bottlenecks. Read more
Like many other European researchers, I moved to the US for my postdoc. While some stay in the US, and others return to Europe after their postdocs, I’m almost certain that anyone who has followed this path will have encountered a few shocks along the way. Choosing the right fit for your postdoctoral training is just as important to choosing the right lab for your PhD. Based on my experiences, here is a list of the things that I think are worth checking in advance to avoid thinking “I wish I had known” too often. Read more
When I was looking for a PhD lab I had a pretty clear idea of the techniques I wanted to learn and master, and, essentially, I thought that was everything I needed to worry about. But the right PhD training is crucial to establish a good foundation for what comes next – either a job in industry, a postdoc in academia, or something away from the bench. Choosing the right lab is important, and there are considerations beyond gaining specific technical skills that need to be mulled over before making a decision. If I were to start another PhD, this is what I would look for: … Read more
Leaving’s never easy. Especially when leaving a world as complex and intricate as academia, says Judith Reichel. Read more
Recent comments on this blog
African astronomy and how one student broke into the field
From Doctorate to Data Science: A very short guide
Work/life balance: New definitions