Research career stories

Alastair did his doctorate at the University of Cambridge in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences. He is now a consultant neurologist and a senior lecturer in neurology at the University of Bristol.

“I had been training in clinical medicine for over five years and was working in hospitals pursuing a career as a clinical neurologist, but during my specialist training I took time out to do a PhD. I did my research at the University of Cambridge between 1999 and 2002 in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences, which is part of the Department of Medicine based at the Brain Repair Centre, Addenbrooke’s Hospital. My research focused on the basic science of multiple sclerosis (MS). I have an interest in neuroscience and liked it as a junior doctor – but I became interested in MS really because that is where the opportunities were. I had also done an undergraduate project on myelin biology and worked for an MS doctor in my junior neurology job.

“A PhD was required to get a training job in neurology, so I did my research between junior medical jobs and specialist training in neuroscience. I am currently a senior lecturer in neurology and a consultant neurologist at the University of Bristol, dividing my time equally between research and clinical practice. As a group leader I currently supervise two postdoctoral scientists and one laboratory technician. My research interests remain in the basic science of MS, so I have been able to continue some of my previous studies. My research is funded by several charities including the MS Society and Ataxia UK.

“After my PhD I returned to my neurology training programme for a further four years. I also undertook a year of postdoctoral research at the University of Cambridge and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. After finishing my neurology training I moved to the University of Bristol to take up a post as an academic neurologist, which had been my aim for a number of years.

“I continue to be involved with research and still work in a similar field to my doctoral research subject. I am now more involved in the planning of research and obtaining funds but still have an active role in performing experiments. In neurology, as a medical speciality, a PhD is a desirable (though not essential) qualification due to its popularity as a career. Neurology is a subject where research is moving at a fast pace, so knowledge of research is an important component of the job.

“My doctoral research was useful and a necessity for my current job. I understand the processes of research and some of the workings of higher educational organisations. It has been useful to learn from mistakes and missed opportunities, and to translate that into becoming an effective supervisor.

“The career path to become a clinical academic is pretty standard. I would advise anyone considering it that it is important to stay in contact with clinical units in order to keep up those skills.”

“Creating something that enables other people to grow and develop has been really enjoyable. Having the autonomy to decide what I want to do every day has been excellent too.”

“I began my undergraduate degree in psychology in my mid-twenties, having started but decided against a degree in philosophy and Russian, and having successfully – for a time – managed a paint spraying business. Having a good eye for business opportunities has served me well in both this and subsequent ventures.

“I identified a supervisor at Warwick University who I was very keen to work with, but who I was told was not taking any more students. Despite this I managed to organise a short meeting with him, and during this time I managed to convince him to take me on. My doctoral studies were around the area of positive psychology, and specifically a study of those who have overcome traumatic events.

“Two years into my doctorate I got a job at Leicester as a lecturer, which I continued after my doctorate for three years. I enjoyed the research and teaching but deplored the admin, and the system which told people what they had to do. My philosophy is about getting people to do the things they are good at and indeed the area of my organisation’s focus now is positive psychology, or identifying people’s individual strengths for them to build on and achieve.

“The Centre of Applied Positive Psychology started out as a not for profit company, the aim being to combine academic values with commercial rigour and focus. We do a lot of consultancy for organisations, helping them to get the best out of their employees while maintaining an active research side. We have subsequently changed the set up of the business, and we are now a limited company which includes a charitable arm. This is still a challenge because not many recognise the charitable work we do. We offer discounted rates for charities, and all members of the team have community days on their contracts which involves going out and working for charities.

“I developed a lot of extremely useful skills which serve me to this day, but on seeing research results and having the idea for my enterprise I realised that there was no place for it in an academic setting. With my idea and my academic qualifications and business background I decided to make a go of it. My wife and I decided that it was an excellent chance to take the plunge and this is what I did. My family in general were extremely supportive during this time.

“I drew a lot of inspiration from The Jigsaw Man by Paul Britton. He was in his mid twenties, he already had a child with another on the way. He worked nights and went to universities during the day – I thought if he can do it so can I! Creating something that enables other people to grow and develop has been really enjoyable. Having the autonomy to decide what I want to do every day has been excellent too. There is a lot more pressure to accompany this though and I would urge those thinking of embarking on setting up their own business to bear this in mind. If you are the kind of person who doesn’t thrive on pressure then you might want to consider whether you will thrive in the business world. My doctorate gave me the ability to ask pertinent questions, to write well which I practiced and honed, and of course the work I did has a lot of applications to what CAPP does now.”

Alex decided to set up his business, an independent software vendor, after initially trialling it during his final year as a doctoral researcher.

“I began my academic career studying medical biology in Amsterdam. I then proceeded to study cell biology for my doctoral research at the Netherlands Cancer Institute. While studying for my doctorate I took up a new hobby of computer programming. It was around this time that I had an idea for a business programme targeted at scientists carrying out doctoral research.

“The hiatus between my doctorate and post doctoral research presented an opportunity to put my business idea into practice. Besides two other ventures – in partnership with partners in America and Cambridge – my main start up is called Mekentosj and we started as an independent software vendor three years ago. I employ four people including me, so I have to get used to making the tea as well as running the business! The software is basically a kind of iTunes for scientists’ research papers and articles. As papers and articles are added, the programme creates a library of information.

“I decided to set up this business after initially trialling it during my final year as a doctoral researcher. It was essentially a decision between carrying on with postdoctoral research in a new scientific area or starting my own business. I had come across numerous examples of what was needed, or ‘gaps’ while studying for my doctorate, and the development of the program was informed by this and my knowledge of cell biology. I started selling the product soon after the first day of my postdoctoral study, and continued more seriously when I realised I could be doing it full time.

“I have found running my own business quite challenging, but in a fun way – there have been many long weeks and nights! The satisfaction of running my own business makes this worthwhile though, especially the satisfaction you get from thousands of people using your software worldwide, and giving positive feedback. I have drawn quite significantly on my experiences as a doctoral researcher – applying the software to scientists from my field of study, but also skills such as presentation, communication and writing skills have doubtlessly been built on from my doctoral researcher days. My years as a doctoral researcher taught me to think critically and academically – highly useful for those embarking on their own business.

“Many friends of mine are scientists who were extremely helpful to me during the setting up of my business. They often helped with testing of software, while my father (an ex-accountant) assisted with book keeping. My supervisor was helpful in the sense that he let me do what I wanted, although he was generally only ever focused on his own work.

“My advice to doctoral researchers considering starting their own business would be to do it, and not to hesitate. I would say that the biggest stage is the first jump, don’t worry if it takes a while to get started! It does take a while to get mentally prepared.”

Latin and ancient Greek teacher in a secondary school and project manager in a higher education institution, Belgium.

Former research staff in ancient languages at the Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium. This story comes from our What do research staff do next? project, investigating the careers of research staff who moved from research posts to other occupations and employment sectors. You can use these stories to better understand how these researchers transition, what careers they have and their reflections on the transition process and current career paths.

Research staff experience

I was a research fellow at the Université libre de Bruxelles for four years. I specialised in Greek, Latin, and Semitic languages; specifically, linguistic contacts between ancient civilisations, particularly lexical borrowings and the alphabet. During this period I worked on my doctoral thesis on Semitic loanwords in ancient Greek. In addition to writing papers and presenting at conferences, I helped to create a multidisciplinary research unit on the Mediterranean world and organised a workshop for the unit.

I loved my subject, and the intellectual stimulation of writing papers and attending conferences. But there was much about my life as a researcher that I was not so happy about.

I often wished I could get immediate results from what I’d written or prepared: after submitting papers for publication, you can wait months for a reply, and with your thesis, you have to wait years before knowing the impact of your research.

The research career is a very lonely one, and even if you have colleagues, you always feel somewhat alone.

Unless you get a very comfortable grant (in Belgium, from FNRS the National Fund for Scientific Research), or a permanent position, a research career means looking every day for new grants and spending lots of time applying for them (so many forms to fill in, always with the same information!).

Although classical philology is a very interesting research field, it’s not as highly valued as the hard sciences or economics and so, it is difficult to get grants. Research is becoming an exclusively economic matter; you have to get financial results. We are a long way from the view of science as the progress of knowledge.

Transition to new career

When my FNRS grant ended in autumn 2011 I was unemployed for almost a year, although I still had my thesis to present, which I did in spring 2012.

This period gave me some time to think. I took some classes in Dutch and English, and applied for many vacancies in different fields – museums, publishing, administration – and received many disappointing responses.

In the end, I reconsidered the possibility of becoming a secondary school teacher. I had first excluded this option, because I felt that giving lessons to young people was not interesting (I’d had a negative experience of teaching in the past.) But, for a number of reasons, I thought again. First, I needed some money(!), but I also wanted a real job – being unemployed was making me really unhappy. I wanted to feel useful to society and to be proud of myself. But also, I couldn’t imagine never using Latin and Greek again in my work. And so, the only possibility, apart from research, was school teaching.

The problem was that I did not consider teaching enough of a challenge, considering I had a doctorate. I felt I needed to add another dimension. I decided to look for a part-time teaching job and a second post that would use my academic background to advantage. I was very fortunate: at the same time as getting my teaching job, I secured a second role, one which is more administrative, but at a prestigious specialist higher education institution in Brussels, where I manage the research projects of my colleagues. In addition, my second job has very flexible hours that I can fit round my teaching post.

Current jobs

In my secondary school job I teach Latin and ancient Greek 17 hours a week (8/10th full time equivalent) to pupils between 12 and 18 years old. I have a lot of independence; I’m the only Latin and Greek teacher in my school, except for a colleague who teaches the first year pupils. So, most of the time, I do not have to follow the ‘good advice’ of other, senior colleagues; I prepare my lessons on my own. But having my colleague is great if I want to collaborate on a project or arrange a visit for all of our pupils.

I thoroughly enjoy my job. Personally, I don’t experience ‘lows’ as a teacher. I do regret that many teachers seem to lack ambition. Teachers who do not look for challenges, who choose teaching just because it fits in with family life, are poor advertisements for the profession.

The highs of teaching for me lie in the many challenges at school: we have to educate young people, to help them to grow up and become adults. In the field of Latin and Greek, the challenge is even bigger, because more and more people consider these languages dead, and I have to prove the opposite to my pupils (and sometimes to my colleagues and to my director). But I am very passionate about these languages and it seems I can transmit my passion to my pupils: at the end of the summer term I received some lovely gifts and thank you notes. Pupils, when they are enthusiastic (which, fortunately, is often the case with mine), are the gift of this job.

In my project management role at the specialist higher education institution I work 13 hours a week (1/3rd full time equivalent). I manage the research projects of my team of about ten people and I assist with some research projects. I work in a very prestigious and pleasant context. There are always new projects and my tasks are varied. The research fields of my colleagues are psychology and engineering. I’ve enjoyed taking on the challenge of working in new discipline areas.

Competencies old and new

In my project management role, my knowledge of the research world helps me a lot: to organise academic meetings and visits, to manage budgets, to write reports…

In school, obviously I’m using my Latin and Greek constantly. Moreover, I think that my previous experience as a researcher has a strong influence. I think (I hope…) I am more precise, objective and proactive than many of my colleagues. I don’t let myself be pushed around by my colleagues or my director. And, to my surprise, I am more patient and indulgent with my pupils (yes, they do not know many things, but that’s normal, I am there to teach them these things).

Teaching has taught me to be less shy in front of an audience and to organise my lessons and presentations better: if you are not precise when you are speaking to young people, they will not understand anything: unlike an educated audience, they cannot compensate for your inconsistencies.

Reflecting on my career path

I do not regret anything. I am very happy with my current situation and I wouldn’t change anything in my past career.

The only thing I missed was writing high level papers (even though I love my pupils, the level at school is not the same, of course, as at university), having discussions and meeting interesting people at international conferences. But I have found a way to achieve this: at the end of my first year of teaching, in June 2013, I was missing the challenges of academic work and so I decided to contact former colleagues. My aim was to re-enter, but at my own rhythm. I did not want to do research full-time, but as a ‘hobby’: I do not want to lose the plus points that my teaching career brings.

Now, I’m involved at the Université libre de Bruxelles again, with the hope of eventually getting a course to teach. Last year, I organised a workshop in Classics and called my postgraduate and postdoctoral friends to present their current research (as did I). Recently, at the invitation of a colleague, I gave a lecture on the Greek language in the Roman era. And I am planning another, more international, workshop. I don’t want to become a full-time professor, just to have my own class, two hours a week, for example. It is the final thing I miss.

Advice

Keep possibilities other than research in mind. Yes, it is not easy to find the prestige of the university outside higher education, but in the end, your job is what you make of it.

CEO of social media strategy company

Having completed her doctorate in political history, Alexandra is now the CEO of Social Signal, a social media strategy company. Her doctoral study taught her how her clients think and developed her analytical skills.

“In 2004, I received my doctorate in political science from Harvard University. My dissertation examined the phenomenon of ‘hacktivism’ – politically motivated computer hacking – as a window on how and why people engage in online community action. I interviewed more than 50 programmers and activists worldwide, tracking their motivations for participating in projects ranging from circumventing China’s online censorship scheme to creating a parody of the WTO web site.

“For a long time I have been trying to share my enthusiasm for the Internet’s potential as a tool for community-building. In 2001 I co-founded DO-Consult, the world’s leading forum for researchers and practitioners in online consultation and public engagement. As the Research Director for Digital 4Sight’s Governance in the Digital Economy, I created and guided an investigation into the future of government and democracy for a consortium of 20 governments and businesses from around the world. My writing on technology issues has appeared in media outlets like the Toronto Star, CBC Radio, Business 2.0, and the Chronicle of Higher Education.

“So, why did I move from academia into starting a business? Basically,
I had only the briefest flirtation with the idea of taking an academic job. I applied to three and was the preferred candidate for one but the dean at that university refused to hire a junior person for a mid-level position. This was ironic because at the time there simply weren’t any non-junior people with digital expertise, which was the focus of the position. However as well as not being prepared to move to another city for a job, my focus on digital media meant I’d have to create each course more or less from scratch, which would make the teaching load much heavier. I wouldn’t be able to rely on relatively fixed teaching materials years on year! The small number of positions on offer directly related to my area of interest was a problem, while the academic/tenure clock also conflicted with my biological clock somewhat. I was 33 with one child, and – unlike consulting work – academic pay wouldn’t allow enough household help to make that intense pace of work feasible.

“From 2005 to the present I have been the founder and CEO of Social Signal, one of the web’s leading progressive social media strategy companies. We are known for our expertise in online engagement and participation, and major projects have included work for NetSquared.org, Tyze.org, The Elders, Facebook Green Gifts, ChangeEverything.ca and AmericaSpeaks. The company devises social networking solutions partly based on my research carried out during my doctoral study. Through years of my doctorate and running Social Signal with my business partner, we have developed unique expertise in this area – building up an evidence base for exactly how online conversation can help business, and ways to encourage participation. My research into the motives for online social participation has supported this start up, and we have numerous national and international clients. One project involved facilitating a meeting of international heads of e-government for the OECD – note that this project was before starting Social Signal, while working on my PhD.

“Skills which have served me well from my doctorate include the fact that my interview subjects are the kind of people I now work with. I really learned how they think and how to talk with them. Also my analytical skills are much stronger – I know how to break a problem down and think about it differently, and how to organise my thoughts more.

“I’d strongly recommend that doctoral students work in a for-profit business with close contact with management so that you get a sense of what it means to work in/on a business before starting one. Get some basic business skills training before you start, for example how to read financial reports, HR issues, etc – and learn about running a business to see if it’s for you. Also realise that you’re not going to be working in your business but rather on your business – so if business isn’t intrinsically interesting to you, you probably don’t want to start one. Also consider freelancing/consulting rather than starting a company that employs other people – it’s a totally different ball game. Recently I have returned to a quasi-academic role that combines my industry and academic experience. As the head of an applied research centre I act as a bridge between academic researchers and industry partners, leading projects that have both an academic research and business outcome.”

Alison completed her doctorate on the work of Dod Procter RA. She is now Head of Learning and Teaching at the London College of Fashion.

The following text is a transcription of a career story collected by interview.

“My name is Alison James, I am Head of Learning and Teaching at the London College of Fashion and my PhD was a biographical analysis of Dod Proctor RA looking at her life and work. London College of Fashion is a higher education college, part of the University of the Arts London. I do teacher training, I teach on dissertations, I do educational projects and innovations, I work with course teams on curriculum designer delivery. I work with students on projects on reflective practice. I make the tea, I…yeah, every, well lots of things. I think I was a bit of a slow burner because erm I think a lot of sensible people probably did their post-grad immediately after their first degree. I’d had enough after my first degree, I wanted very much a life change for all sorts of reasons.

“So it was 17 years before I did an MA… and then one day it was like falling in love, I found this erm qualification on a website which was about biography and education and I thought that’s it. That’s it! And a whole, whole heap of things that I’ve always been interested in really gelled at that moment. By then I was you know, very much a mature student, I was really ready to roll, I really wanted to learn. I was terrified of being left behind because I was so much older I felt, than a lot of other people maybe doing their MAs at that time. And I just hit it like an explosion and I loved it and I just did not want to stop that learning and that growth. And as I came to the end of my MEd the University of Southampton said why don’t you do a PhD and there was a bit of me that just thought I’m going to have to do it, because I just want to know if I can. I never ever embarked on a PhD in order to belong to a gang, but you suddenly find you are in a gang, there is a kind of belonging. I thought I probably could do one, but I wasn’t 100% convinced, you know it wasn’t a dead cert in my head. You know, oh I will just go and do a PhD and I will get it. I think there was a level of confidence, a level of belief, that had come with re-engaging with educational research but, I am a bit superstitious, its never a given.

“When you have done something as big as a PhD I think it also shows you are in for the long haul, you can deliver. You can persevere – you can tackle something which is quite deep and quite complex. I think there are all sorts of associations with the fact that you successfully completed a PhD. The confidence that it brings and that sense of validation that comes with having achieved that feeds into how I now approach things… I feel I have the right to say and do things if you like. That sounds a bit daft, but the opportunity to work at university level. You know I took on a role within the London College of Fashion, which is a college, one of six in the University of the Arts, but the interests that have come through the research that I have done with both the MEd and the PhD have led me to be able to undertake investigations at university level.

“I think it counts for, it counts for an academic and professional credibility. Definitely. It’s opened a lot of avenues for me, to be able to continue a range of projects. Certainly in terms of my employability my university, like lots of other universities, has been very heavily involved in the Research Assessment Exercise. It automatically meant that I was able to contribute publications to that. You know, it was another kind of err… little bit of my professional capital if you like, it was another thing I could do within the organisation. It’s also opened… it’s an exaggeration to say international doors, but it, the research also has lead to writing collaborations with colleagues abroad, collaborations on projects which have also lead to educational publications not necessarily related to fine art at all. But I think some of the theories that came through there. So I think it’s just opened up a whole, whole range of opportunities really, but I would say it’s given me the confidence to spot them and to want to engage with them as well.”

Amanda gained a strong understanding of the academic community and the key issues for the research and academic world through her doctorate, which was also invaluable to non-academic roles. Now she works as Senior Consultancy Associate for Cambridge Enterprise.

“I completed my doctorate at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, in 2000. My research focused on the structure of part of the HIV-1 genome. Having decided that I wanted to move out of the laboratory and develop other skills, but still remain in a scientific environment, I moved into scientific policy, working for the Food Standards Agency.

“I then had an opportunity to work in the HIV therapy area for a global healthcare market research company. I managed a team running large studies on HIV treatment patterns and worked closely with the pharmaceutical industry. In this role I further developed my presentation and networking skills and learned new skills in sales, marketing and management. Time management and analytical skills used throughout my doctorate were critical.

“I then relocated to the US for family reasons, where I continued to work for the same company on a freelance basis. On my return to the UK, I took up a role at Nottingham University School of Pharmacy, training doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers on the pharmaceutical industry and the job opportunities available. I also ran a doctoral training centre in therapeutic targets. I was therefore using my contacts and experience of working with the pharmaceutical industry in both roles.

“We relocated again, this time back to Cambridge. I now work for Cambridge Enterprise, effectively the technology transfer arm of the university, facilitating the commercialisation of technologies arising from the university community.

“My doctorate taught me to take every opportunity to learn from other people and to be self aware about what I enjoy and what my key strengths are. Carrying out research in an academic environment, I gained a strong understanding of the academic community and the key issues for the research and academic world. This understanding has been invaluable to my roles over the past nine years. Lastly: don’t be afraid to take what you have learnt from one job and move it in a different direction gaining further skills.”

Andrew completed his doctorate in computer science at the University of Kent at Canterbury. He has had a variety of positions including at a government research organisation in Germany, at the University of York as a researcher and at a large internet company as a systems analyst. He recently took the decision to change direction and is now working as a potter.

The following text is a transcription of a career story collected by interview.

“My name is Andrew Douglas, and I am currently a potter working and living near Kings Lynn in Norfolk. I have a PhD in computing science which I did in ’90-’94 at the University of Kent in Canterbury. My first degree was in computing science and I did a, a sandwich degree and when I did that I, I was fortunate enough to work for a company in Germany, which was to all intents and purposes a government research organisation. The work that I fell into doing was, was not research but it had a similar kind of what I would, what I thought at the time would, be what it would be like to be doing research.

“I started reading around various sort of bizarre subjects within computer science and got hooked on something called functional programming. Went back to the University and did my final year and then after that I had a choice. Either go through… everybody else was going onto proper jobs. I had a proper job lined up. I didn’t want to do that, I wanted to go research. I wanted to do my own thing. Something that was interesting and I had it in my mind that the way to do that was to go on and do a PhD. And that’s what I did. The place that I got at Kent was, was almost accidental anyway in that… erm… they’d offered it to somebody else, err, who couldn’t come. And they just rang me up in the middle of August and said we’ve got a studentship for you, come and fill in the forms. So I jumped on a train the next day and went down there and that was that. I was signed up.

“I went on to do a… two years of post doctoral research at the University of York again in something completely different. I… I’d done this PhD in type theory and function of programming and in fact, in fact I hadn’t been awarded it at that time, I hadn’t even written it up and I just fell out of that, and this offer of two years at York came up doing parallel systems and image processing and I just thought, yeah that sounds brilliant, and that in many ways was more enjoyable than doing the PhD because, err, the way that I actually, being a member of staff I fell into a group of people and, and I, I was much more a member of the team than I was when I was at Kent, which seems a bizarre thing to say. But I think that was just the way it is. I think it’s quite exciting really because you know I started out at the age of 22 thinking that’s the kind of life I wanted to lead. I wanted to… not interested in doing rogue stuff, I’m interested in, in learning really. That’s what it’s all about isn’t it, it’s learning through life. And having those skills to do that. And I guess that’s what I got out of my PhD is the ability to learn. I don’t regret doing the PhD I think it was a great experience and it was a great time and at that time that’s, I enjoyed the subject and that was what I wanted to do.

“I’d always bought a lot of pots. Glassware and you know various works of art and things. Started doing an evening course about four or five years ago and, err, wasn’t particularly good at it either when I got there. And erm, all of a sudden things seemed to click and to be able to make them was just a revelation really. This is how I intend to make a living. It’s not a very good living, I must admit. It’s, you’ll never get rich from it. Err, I’m fortunate I’d got to a point in my career where things had started to click and made a bit of money and it just worked out that I could stop and start doing something else instead.”

Andrew completed a doctorate in operational research at the University of Lancaster while working for the Ministry of Defence. He is now an independent operational research consultant running his own company, Andalus Solutions Limited.

“I completed a doctorate in operational research at the University of Lancaster. I studied part-time whilst also doing a full-time job. My research was sponsored by the Ministry of Defence, my employer at the time. It concerned a real-life problem, namely the need to forecast the demand for spare parts for aircraft. I quit my job to devote time to my doctorate when it became difficult to manage my studies – in all, it took six years. I undertook my doctoral research for personal development – I wanted to push myself. I had to make a lot of sacrifices for my studies – I had a long-term plan and I stuck with it.

“I am now where I planned to be, an independent consultant working across a number of industries. I have a daughter who has just turned one. At the time of her birth I was working on three contracts at once, which was not easy given the lack of sleep. Life is a lot more relaxed now.

“Having a doctorate gives me extra distinction on my CV and business cards. It has also made me more confident that I know what I am talking about when speaking with clients. And it allows me to justify charging higher daily rates than my peers!

“I would advise doing all you can to network. You never know who might want your services after meeting you at a conference, reading your article or seeing your online profile, perhaps years after you sowed the first seed.”

Andrew completed his thesis on agrarian capitalism in England at the University of Oxford. He then became a team leader at the Victoria County History and is currently Senior Properties Historian for English Heritage.

“I studied for my doctorate at the University of Oxford. My thesis focused on the emergence of agrarian capitalism in England during the early eighteenth century, using the Ditchley estate in Oxfordshire as a case study.

“I now work for English Heritage as a Senior Properties Historian. I’m part of a small team responsible for providing research to support the interpretation of properties. This involves writing reports, commissioning research from external experts, writing text for exhibitions and audio guides, and writing or assisting with the writing of guidebooks.

“After submitting my doctorate I secured a post as research assistant on a two year project at the University of Exeter before my viva. Having spent four and a half years working alone on a specific research question, it was refreshing to be working as part of a team, and within a far more structured timetable. Unfortunately following my viva I discovered that my thesis required revision, but I deferred this work until I had completed my contract in Exeter. I then returned to Oxford for a year to complete the corrections. Following this, I initially found it difficult to find a full-time job, and survived for a further year in Oxford on casual teaching and short-term research commissions.

“In 2000 I secured a one year research post at the University of Leicester. This was followed by a two and a half year research position at Coventry University gained through contacts I had built up whilst in Leicester. However, at this point I decided to move away from an academic research career. I had applied for quite a few lecturing posts without much success and I realised that I did not want to work as a research assistant for the rest of my career. So I applied for, and got, a job at the Victoria County History as a team leader on a new initiative which aimed to bring the research of the VCH to a wider audience. This project bridged the gap between academia and community history and seemed like an ideal career move as it opened up new avenues without closing off existing ones.

“At the Victoria County History I was responsible for co-ordinating a team of volunteers whom I had to recruit and train. I was based in an academic department at the University of Greenwich, but managed to build up wider contacts with record offices, local councils, schools, community groups and bodies such as English Heritage. With the end of the contract approaching in 2007 I was prepared to explore other avenues within the heritage field as well as academic positions, and my experience of writing for a general audience and working with volunteers and community groups stood me in good stead when I applied for the post at English Heritage.

“I have drawn on my experience as a doctoral student in virtually all the jobs I have had since leaving university. The research and writing skills I learned as a doctoral student have proved invaluable, as has the ability to give clear presentations. Teaching experience I picked up whilst doing my doctorate has also proved useful when working with both students and volunteers. Underlying all of the career moves that I have made has been an interest in the interaction of people and places in the past. This I owe to the interest that was first generated in the Ditchley estate during my thesis research.”

Andy studied for his doctorate in the Industrial Relations Department at the London School of Economics (LSE) before becoming a senior lecturer in industrial relations and human resource management at the University of York.

“I studied in the Industrial Relations Department at the London School of Economics (LSE). Throughout my doctorate I was attached to the ‘Future of Trade Unions in Modern Britain’ research programme at the LSE’s Centre for Economic Performance as a research assistant. My research topic was the political economy of trade union decline in Great Britain between 1980 and 1998.

“I had completed an MSc in industrial relations and before that had worked as a technician for a company that provided interpretation services for multilingual conferences and meetings. A lot of these meetings were trade union and industrial relations related, which is what sparked my interest in the subject.

“I am now a senior lecturer in industrial relations and human resource management at the University of York. I got my first lecturing post (University of Kent) as soon as my doctoral funding finished. Getting a job slowed down progress on my doctorate – I was overloaded with teaching in my first year and under pressure to publish. I moved to the University of Leeds two years later, finally finishing my doctorate.

“Although the pressure to publish slowed down work on my thesis, it resulted in much higher quality research. I received the Labour and Employment Relations Association’s best thesis award. The combination of a strong publishing record and international recognition for my doctorate has made it easy for me to get jobs, especially since competition for posts is not as intense as it is in some subject areas. After Leeds I moved to Warwick and then back to York when the post that I am now in became available.

“The process of conducting research, writing working papers, getting comments, presenting at seminars, going back to the data, then honing the research into a publishable paper, which I learned doing my doctorate, is absolutely central to the job I have now.

“The most valuable aspect of my doctoral training was experiencing the research environment and culture in the Centre for Economic Performance at the LSE. I learned from the best in my field from all over the world, and it set me very high standards. The place where you do your doctorate is central to the value you derive from it. If you do your research in a world-class centre of excellence, where you present your work to the leading people in your field, you are going to get more from the experience than if you have no one to talk to but your supervisor and a couple of other doctoral researchers. The first time I presented a paper, it got torn to shreds, but I learned so much from the experience that it was worth it!

“I would recommend presenting your work at conferences and workshops and working on at least one paper aimed at publication in a leading journal during your doctoral research. This might slow you down a bit, but you will learn loads from the referees’ comments, and if you manage to get published, it will make getting your first job much easier.”

Andy completed his doctorate in materials science and eventually decided to do an MBA to enable him to get the full picture of how a business works and marry this with the engineering that he already knew. Since then he has set up a number of different businesses.

“I did my doctorate in materials science and was funded by ICI. I was focusing on trying to make man-made materials replicate natural materials – in particular replicating the strength of natural ceramics which are formed out of very thin layers. My supervisor came up with the material and I was modelling how the material behaved under mechanical loading. Subsequent successes here opened this avenue up to commercial applications, and I worked in several organisations applying this science and other learnings from my PhD until the age of about 30.

“I eventually decided to do an MBA. Sometimes when you are working for a commercial organisation in a scientific role, you notice that the decisions made can conflict with your expectations of what could or should be done. You realise that the more commercial functions such as marketing and financials come into play too, and I did an MBA to enable me to get the full picture and marry this with the engineering that I already knew. Obviously this is important for being able to run a business, whether it’s your own or someone else’s. I knew deep down that I wanted the challenge of setting up my own business. The motivation was complex but included the pure challenge of seeing if I could do it, but I also wanted to be able to recruit the team of people I worked with.

“I set up my first business, Active Hotels, immediately after my MBA with my cousin Adrian Critchlow. This ended up becoming quite big in the end. We employed about 150 people, were growing at over 100% per annum top line and we sold for about $160m – it is now worth many billions. The initial success does give you some credibility in grovelling for cash following your first venture, although as with many things the success is partly luck and partly due to your own endeavours!

“Most of the companies I have helped set up since then have been Internet-based. In my opinion this fits perfectly with an engineering background. You have a plethora of data and can calculate in considerable detail what generates profits and what doesn’t. You can measure in considerable detail what happens on websites, what transactions take place and you can use modelling to optimise it. It is surprising how well these things marry together.

“I am doing all sorts of things at the moment, I have started up several companies, and have been involved in several others at various points but most right from the beginning. I am currently chairman of a company called Top Table, an online restaurant booking service. I am Chairman of Green Traveller, which helps people go on low carbon emission holidays principally in Europe. I am director of company called Reevoo which helps electrical retailers collect feedback, and consumers to choose the right electrical product, and I am also a director of a venture capital trust, and chairman of a company (i2o Water) interested in preventing water leakage to conserve resources.

“I am a big fan of a doctorate for business. I was obviously in a numerical and scientific-based doctorate so I am not sure I can comment on all doctorates. However the intellectual rigour it teaches you to put things through is massively useful. The doctorate teaches you to analyse all the possible reasons for things and to defend your processes. There is a danger of thinking that your way of thinking is the best way and – even if it is – the rest of the world often don’t quite use this reasoning, so you’ll need a variety of methods of bringing your colleagues with you. Sales courses have been very useful to me, however small companies like mine can find it difficult to fund training, so this where it can pay to get into a large company early on in your career. There have been certain influential individuals. One particular person recruited me straight after my doctorate, and helped develop a broader understanding of how businesses and teams work. We have a very complementary skill set so we still work well together too.”

Andy has been involved in a few business start ups and feels it is not something you ever lose the appetite for! “You stand and fall by the decisions you make, it’s great not having to do everything by committee…”

“I have always loved science and I am a technophile at heart, so it was an easy decision to pursue a doctorate after my undergraduate degree. I completed my doctorate in protein biochemistry at Aberdeen University, and I focused on the purification of a particular enzyme, so it was pure research without many commercial or practical applications. I didn’t really know whether I wanted to pursue academic research long term or move into a company. I eventually realised that the academic route was long and uncertain, especially as it seemed to rely on soft funding a lot of the time. I would say subsequently I’ve been concentrating on technology transfer, business development, and intellectual property portfolio management.

“I worked for UK Trade and Investment as a research and development investment adviser. The objective was to work with large overseas drug companies and try to understand what kinds of research and licensing opportunities they were making, basically trying to encourage them to invest in the UK. I have a colleague at Nottingham Trent University that I’ve known for some 12 years and watched his technology platform grow, and I was eventually persuaded to join a start up company based on that technology.

“I am now Chief Executive of that start up company, called Compandia. Compandia is a bio-informatics company, and in particular we use advanced algorithms for data mining of complex datasets. The focus is on stratified or personalised medicine and biomarkers which are of particular interest to pharmaceutical and biotech companies. The other part of my time I am an investment adviser for Invest Northern Ireland – also dealing with innovation and commercialisation.

“My doctorate was excellent at ensuring I developed the skills of independent thought, to design my own experiments and dictate the way my research went. I would say that I haven’t drawn directly on the science, but I appreciate the ways in which science can meander and am good at seeing early opportunities – I have a track history of filing for patents very early for example. Over time these have moved on to become significant intellectual property protecting valuable products in the market.

“I don’t think anyone or anything else was of a particular influence on my career decision making, I think there was always just a nascent interest in technology and business. Working previously as a technology scout I visited hundreds of small companies and academic research groups and assessed what stages they were at in terms of their research and investment – and this gave me an excellent perspective on start up companies, the good and the bad!

“Having been involved in a few business start ups, it is not something you ever lose the appetite for! You stand and fall by the decisions you make, it’s great not having to do everything by committee. Once you do it one time it’s a bit of a drug, and you’re inclined to do it over and over again!”

Anna undertook a PhD focusing on agricultural development in Chile at the University of Birmingham. She was a geography lecturer and a research project manager before becoming a researcher for the Department for Work and Pensions.

“I undertook a PhD focusing on agricultural development in Chile at the University of Birmingham. I was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and managed to complete the degree in four years. The doctorate was certainly hard work, although I lived and studied in Chile for a year, which was fantastic.

“After finishing my doctorate, I got a job as a geography lecturer and taught a number of courses that were closely connected to my PhD. I enjoyed the academic role, both the lecturing and the research. It continued to give me opportunities to go to South America and to do interesting and fulfilling work. However, I also noticed that I was doing less hands-on research and was increasingly ending up as a project manager, supervising other researchers as part of large-scale projects. I also started to feel that I could not see myself working in an academic environment for my whole career. While I was doing well with my research, I did not feel driven enough to be a professor.

“After five years as a lecturer I felt it was time for a change. I looked around with a pretty open mind and saw a job in government social research in the Department for Work and Pensions. Up until then I had only vaguely realised that the government did social research, but I fancied something different so I applied and got the job.

“When I left academia, I realised that I would probably never go back, but this did not worry me unduly. I felt excited that I was moving on to something new. However, it took me a while to adjust to doing research in a new context as I found I had less autonomy and personal control over the research process. The role does however give me the chance to influence government policy development.

“I have worked on a wide range of issues since I’ve moved into government research and with a wide range of research contractors, academics, policy makers and lobby groups . The area I have probably worked in most has been the evaluation of lone parent employment programmes. I am now ‘on loan’; to a government Advisory Committee as their research and policy specialist. This allows me to work on a range of topical issues from across the whole of DWP policy. While I have consistently used my methodological training, very little of what I have worked on has had any connection to specialisms that I built up during my PhD.

“I really enjoyed the experience of undertaking a PhD and working as a lecturer, but the move to government research was definitely the right one for me. While it was not my primary motivation, I think that I have probably done better financially than I would have in an academic role. The work is interesting and varied but has enabled me to have a good work-life balance. I now have two young children and work flexibly, which might have been more difficult in academia. The balance of work and family would also have been complicated by the non-UK basis of my academic research.”

Founder and Director of Cofactor Ltd (scientific publishing consultancy).

Former research staff in genetics at the University of Heidelberg, Germany.
This story comes from our What do research staff do next? project, investigating the careers of research staff who moved from research posts to other occupations and employment sectors. You can use these stories to better understand how these researchers transition, what careers they have and their reflections on the transition process and current career paths.

Research staff experience

I was a postdoctoral researcher in the University of Heidelberg, Germany, for 20 months, studying the development of the embryonic zebrafish brain. I had previously completed a PhD on development, genetics and evolution of early vertebrates, and had written three research papers.

During the postdoc I had difficulty getting experiments to work and I lost a lot of confidence. My interest in brain development wasn’t enough to motivate me through the more tedious aspects of experimental research; I regretted moving away from evolutionary biology, which fascinated me more.

Two achievements had a long-term effect, however: I became semi-fluent in German, and I co-authored a minireview article in a high profile journal with my principal investigator (PI). I also gained experience in life as a scientist, including managing my time, presenting my work and reviewing papers.

I decided to leave research for a number of reasons. The lack of confidence with lab work was the main factor, together with a lack of support. I realised that experimental work wasn’t my main forte and it became clear that a job in science writing or publishing would be better for me. The insecure career structure for research staff was also a big reason, as it looked like I would have to keep moving every few years, to different countries, and continually apply for jobs and grants in order to stay in science. I missed the UK and wanted to be able to return permanently. And the timescale of job satisfaction in research felt too long term – you could go weeks or even months without getting a result you could be proud of.

Transition to new career

When attending conferences as a postdoc I chatted on a number of occasions with journal editors from the company I later joined. I talked with them about what their jobs involved and expressed potential interest in one day doing that kind of thing. Together with coauthoring a minireview from one of their journals, this meant that when they were looking for a temporary editor for maternity cover my name occurred to them and they invited me to apply. I didn’t research other alternatives much; I just jumped at the chance, put all my energy into applying for the job, and got it.

Support from colleagues in the same institute but different labs was crucial, particularly other women. My PI supported me in so far as he encouraged me to apply for a non-lab job, told me I would be good in publishing and gave me a good reference.

In that first six months I wondered about applying for jobs back in research, but it didn’t take long for me to be sure I wanted to stay out of the lab for good. In editing I got job satisfaction every day with an article edited, a new issue coming out, or an agreement from an invited author. I had an excellent manager. Most of the editor jobs were in London, where I wanted to live, and it seemed clear that getting other publishing jobs would be easier than getting a research job.

So the temporary editor job led to a permanent editor job for another journal in the same publisher, and then to one with another publisher, where I stayed five years and rose to senior editor. I then decided to go freelance, and in 2014 I set up my company, Cofactor.

Becoming self employed

The decision to go freelance after seven years as a journal editor took about nine months to bring to fruition. I realised I wanted a change of some kind and started thinking about how to do it. I had a few telephone sessions with a life coach, which helped me work out my goals and focus. I wanted more flexibility and freedom and wasn’t interested in promotion to managing a journal – I loved dealing with the nitty-gritty of individual articles and wanted to continue ‘at the coal face’, so freelance copyediting seemed a good option.

I researched options, including admin temping as a backstop in case freelance editing didn’t work out. Knowing I could earn enough to live on from temping gave me enough confidence to say to my manager that I wanted to leave my job, but they persuaded me to try going part time for six months. I ended up working alternate weeks, which left me lots of time to start other projects. After the six months were up I was certain I wanted to go freelance so I left the job. It also helped that my employer promised me freelance work on their articles, which got me started as a freelancer.

Going freelance was a challenge but my contacts in several publishers and the fact I lived in London helped me to get work straight away. To start with a lot of this was in-house cover for assistant editors who were away, and this helped me build up more contacts in more publishers, as well as gaining lots of experience in how different journals and publishers work. I joined the Society for Editors and Proofreaders, did training courses and gained enough credits to become an Advanced Member of the Society, which gained me work through their directory. The mutual support from members of the Society was very valuable.

Setting up a company

I enjoyed being a freelance editor, but after a few years I wanted a new challenge. I had accumulated quite a lot of knowledge and experience about scientific publishing so I decided to focus my freelance work on science (having branched out in several random directions). I started a Twitter account and used it to find out what life was like in science nowadays, given that I had been out of the lab for years by then. I started retweeting interesting links and making comments and found that I gained an increasing number of followers. This led to various opportunities and contacts, and I felt I was getting back into the world of science. I gradually built up my contacts, knowledge and experience by taking courses and reading in between the freelance work. In particular I got training in being a trainer and started to give workshops on how to publish a scientific paper. Then, when my personal circumstances were right, I decided to set up a company. I now have a team of freelance editors and consultants and thus can take on more work, including more workshops for researchers. This launched in June 2014 and so far business is going pretty well.

Running a company is a lot more challenging than running a freelance business, even though I am the only employee of the company. I need to do a lot of marketing, for instance getting a logo and website professionally designed, and I need IT systems to keep track of potential customers and ongoing jobs that freelancers are doing. I have learnt how to be a salesperson without losing my integrity, and how to manage freelancers. There is a lot of juggling and a lot more investment of time and money, but this is balanced by the greater long-term potential for profit than just being paid for each hour I work.

Focusing on helping researchers means that I can venture back into the world of research in a new role, and I love being back in that world.

Competencies old and new

My current job mostly uses skills I have gained since I left research. Time management, networking skills and self-motivation are crucial, and I developed these more in my in-house and freelance editing years than I did as a researcher.

Reflecting on my career path
I wish I had known how many options there were outside academia with a biology PhD and that they were possible for me. I had no idea! There was no Vitae then, of course, and no online social networks, and I wish I had had the support from them that is now available.

I wish I had realised earlier that resilience was a crucial skill for a scientist. In hindsight I lost so much confidence at every knock when others might have bounced back. If I’d realised that this was the thing I should work on above all else, and ask for help with, I might have done some even more amazing things than I have! I might even have stayed in science, though who knows whether that would have been better or worse for me in the long run.

My future aspirations are to grow my company steadily and to invest some profits and time in interesting projects to do with science communication and improving the system of higher education and publishing.

Suggestions and advice

Firstly, if you want to stay in research, don’t compromise on finding a research topic you are completely fascinated by. I compromised by moving away from my first love, evolutionary biology, in order to get a postdoc job, and that meant I wasn’t motivated enough to persevere with getting tedious experiments to work.

To change to a career away from research, or even if you stay, the most valuable thing you can get is contacts. Networking is crucial – I have got all my employed jobs through contacts, none through answering an advertisement, and the same is true of much of my freelance work. Some amazing opportunities have arisen through someone recommending my name, and I have never been able to predict where these opportunities would arise. So if you are good at something and some people know it, get out there and get to know more people and ask them to recommend you. Network continuously, online and in person, and you never know where the rewards will come. And networking can also tell you about options you hadn’t thought about.

My final piece of advice is to continuously work on your communication skills, whether you want to stay in science, work in science communication or publishing or do something else. Get good at giving talks, writing for scientists and the general public, talking to strangers, and using online networks of all kinds.

uk.linkedin.com/in/annasharmaneditorial/

Leverhulme Trust Research Fellow, University of Leeds.

Previously research officer for a third sector charity and former research associate at the Open University, UK.

This story comes from our What do research staff do next? project, investigating the careers of research staff who moved from research posts to other occupations and employment sectors. You can use these stories to better understand how these researchers transition, what careers they have and their reflections on the transition process and current career paths.

Research staff experience

I’m a social scientist who’s completed three fixed-term contracts in academia. I’ve also had two positions outside higher education. Recently I returned to academia again.

After finishing my doctorate my first posts in academia were two, 10-month fixed term contracts as a Senior Teaching Associate in Lancaster Environment Centre at Lancaster University. Next I secured a two-year contract as a research associate at the Open University, based in Milton Keynes.

In this role I supported Prof Brid Featherstone in her research around complex and marginalised families and its application within social work practices. I worked on several projects: as researcher for an evaluation of an advice and advocacy line for the Family Rights Group; conducting qualitative interviews on an ESRC-funded project which explored young men’s relationships with services; conducting interviews for an evaluation of the health impacts of a local urban regeneration project.

Each project allowed me to develop my interests in men and masculinities, grandparenting and family research. I published several journal articles, presented conference papers and chaired a seminar about ageing masculinities, from which I edited a collection of articles. I also submitted a proposal for research to the Leverhulme Trust, which I subsequently found out had been successful.

I felt that I had to leave higher education research, though, because I was coming to the end of my third fixed-term contract and was struggling to cope with the stress of academic job-hunting. As mother of a young child (18 months) and with a partner thriving in a stable and successful career, I decided that uprooting my family was not an option unless I could secure a permanent job. Permanent research positions are few and far between in academia and very few permanent lectureships were advertised at the time.

Managing transitions

Eventually I accepted the position of research officer for the bid team at a large charity. I felt that this would still allow me to conduct social research while using some skills gained in higher education research. The role was permanent and also local to where I live so it offered security and the potential to develop my social networks.

I had considered several possible directions, mostly within the third sector because of my political views and my desire to work for somewhere that cared about people, particularly those who are marginalised and rendered vulnerable by this marginalisation. I searched for research work, public engagement work, education support work and charity work. I considered doing another degree with an applied focus but rejected this due to financial constraints.

I found the transition to another career outside academia difficult and emotional, mainly because I didn’t want to leave academia. I experienced a palpable feeling of loneliness and lack of support: I felt like I had failed. My institution offered plenty of academia-related career development opportunities but few that focused on career opportunities beyond. I did attend a careers workshop which provided an open space for thinking about all career options but unfortunately this didn’t help with the practical aspects of job searching.

Coping with lack of continuity in my career, which has required a lot of personal energy and time, was not a new challenge. After my first senior teaching associate position I worked briefly in market research for a small company. I left this job because the teaching position became available again.

I overcame these difficulties by conducting extensive research of the job market online in my spare time and by developing my non-academic CV in readiness. I talked to friends about their jobs and career journeys to get a sense of what I might be able to do. It was by chance that I spotted my eventual job. I noticed the organisation’s offices when out at a restaurant, checked their website on getting home – and found the position on the vacancies page.

My second return to academia was even more unexpected than the first. I took the Research Officer role under the knowledge that I would not get the Leverhulme Trust research funding I’d applied for. But someone turned it down at the last minute and I was awarded it instead.

The insecurity and timing of contracts and funding in academia can be really tricky to manage and very stressful. I had to really consider whether to take another risk and accept the fellowship. In the end, the prestige of the award, the flexibility to do it part-time and the length of the contract of three and half years (longer than my previous posts) helped make up my mind. Research remains my passion and I feel I am edging that bit closer to the ‘holy grail’ of a permanent position.

Work outside academia

While I now work as a Research Fellow at University of Leeds, my previous position as a Research Officer provided me with invaluable insight into life beyond academia. In this role I supported colleagues bidding for social care contracts either to retain services that the organisation already provided or to secure additional contracts for new service users. I researched the policy context in which local authorities were operating, local activities and support infrastructure, and demographic data and local area characteristics.

This research was very different from higher education research because it was used to help to secure finance from local authorities. In this sense the job was a market research position. I did not need to be as critical about the data. What was generally needed was descriptive background data to help optimise the bid responses.

I also did research to provide an overview of strategic directions for the charity: I produced one report about specialist social care markets and considered the potential in the markets for people with complex care needs.

When my research support helped to win a bid and secure multi-million pound contracts and a good quality service, this was a definite high. I also enjoyed writing the research report and thereby being part of business planning.

Competencies old and new

In my research staff role I gained competency in researching online in order to contextualise research questions. This was helpful when selecting information that would most effectively support bid writing, as were my critical reading skills: these enabled me to pick out key points within policy documents swiftly. In academia I’ve also gained strong written and analytical skills that helped me to express my ideas clearly through reports and other written outputs. Other transferable skills like meeting deadlines and contributing in meetings were also put to use.

I had to learn about how the charity sector works very quickly. Deadlines were more frequent than in academia and I had to learn to summarise information more succinctly. I also had to learn how to be managed in a different way. In my charity role, management was more task based, while in higher education I had more freedom and more opportunities to develop my own career experiences.

Reflecting on my career path

My career path has been anything but what I expected. While I’m glad to be back in higher education, my jaunts outside have been valuable: gaining a greater understanding of the charity sector and how it works has helped me to make more sense of my academic interests.

Social research has been my passion for a long time and I feel that it is the most challenging and rewarding work that I have done. My aim is to remain in academia and to secure that long-sought-after permanent lectureship.

If this isn’t possible, it’s good to know that there are options beyond academia with opportunities to use research staff skills. However, I still feel that I know very little about possible routes to a successful and rewarding career outside higher education. It would be useful to be better supported in terms of finding work outside of academia that is suited to someone with qualitative research experience and a passion for the humanities.

Suggestions and advice

I would recommend thinking about and researching career options both in and out of academia very early on so that 1) it’s not a shock when the end of the contract approaches and 2) you can avoid ‘leaving-academia-is-failure’ thinking. Work elsewhere can allow you to use your skills in new and creative ways, provide unexpected insights, and lead to new directions.

Try and seek out any help and support that you can. Attend seminars and events for researchers and establish relationships through your research with other sectors in order to open up possibilities for the future.

http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/anna-tarrant/23/271/90

Anna’s doctorate was funded through BBSRC and GlaxoSmithKline to research drug resistance in the organism that causes tuberculosis. After a postdoctoral research position at Rockefeller University in New York she now works with the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development.

“I completed a combined bachelors/masters degree in molecular biology and biochemistry at Oxford University. My final year project sparked an interest in research and I won a ‘co-operative’ doctoral studentship from the BBSRC and GlaxoSmithKline to research drug resistance in the organism that causes tuberculosis. I thought I would pursue a career in research, but was unsure whether this would be in academia or the pharmaceutical industry. My studentship allowed me to work at GlaxoSmithKline for six months, which was a perfect opportunity to decide which environment I liked best.

“Having decided that academia could be for me, I went on to postdoctoral research at Rockefeller University in New York. By the middle of my contract through attending conferences, I had become really interested in global public health issues and international development. I realised that my interests are broad and that I could not get excited about writing a research proposal for a faculty job. I decided to look instead at the not-for-profit sector.

“I wanted to learn more about global public health policy research and advocacy so I took a job with The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance), a not-for-profit TB drug developer which aims to develop drugs that are not only effective but affordable and accessible. I started out as liaison for the Stop TB Working Group based there and have since moved into a research management position, co-ordinating off-site research projects and helping to evaluate new research opportunities, as well as generating ideas for new drug discovery projects. Both my roles at the TB Alliance have required a research background and my academic training and knowledge have been put to good use in each.

“My doctorate has been crucial to my career. Subject knowledge, connections gained and the ability to critically read scientific papers all continue to be extremely important. My ability to manage projects, multi-task, solve problems and think in an analytical way were developed, to some extent, during my doctorate. Writing my thesis and papers taught me how to write clearly for a critical audience and taught me patience! I learned to work effectively with all kinds of people. Mentoring students helped me immensely – I am sure I am a better manager and motivator today because of that experience. I am not daunted by the prospect of a very long, complicated project as nothing seems that bad after finishing a doctorate! I can manage my time effectively, motivate myself and deal with difficult people – perhaps these things are the most important transferable benefits derived from a doctorate.

“With hindsight, I realise that during my doctoral years I lacked knowledge of career opportunities available to me. The advice from my careers service and mentors was quite narrow. I did not try hard enough to find out about my options or spend enough time thinking about what really interested me and how to go about getting the career that I wanted.”

Medical Research and Device Validation Consultant.

Former Research Assistant in the Division of Women’s Health at King’s College London (St Thomas’ Hospital).

This story comes from our What do research staff do next? project, investigating the careers of research staff who moved from research posts to other occupations and employment sectors. You can use these stories to better understand how these researchers transition, what careers they have and their reflections on the transition process and current career paths.

Research staff experience

I worked in research positions for King’s College London (KCL) for over eight years.

I obtained my nursing degree in South Africa (SA) in 1998 and always had a great interest in research. However, my lack of research experience resulted in many unsuccessful applications and interviews. I decided to venture into medical secretarial work and, in 2000, through the networking opportunities this provided, obtained a position as research assistant in the Women’s Health Academic Centre at St Thomas’ Hospital, part of the Division of Women’s Health at KCL.

What started out as a post for a few months turned into three years of renewed contracts. I enjoyed the work immensely, learned much about research and got great exposure to submitting and presenting abstracts and writing papers.

This led to the opportunity to return to SA in 2004 – to get married – and enjoy more family time while still doing research. From 2004-06 I worked at a tertiary hospital in Cape Town as research coordinator in a UK-funded study.

My husband and I then decided to return to the UK. I enjoyed another three years of great collaborations and experience-building back at St Thomas’. During this time I was awarded first prize for best poster at a conference and the Susan Tucker memorial prize at St Thomas’.

I have very fond memories of my years at KCL. Not only was I presented with countless opportunities to grow and improve, but I also had the great privilege of working with fantastic mentors.

Transition to new career

Sadly, in 2008 my father passed away unexpectedly and, realising the brevity of life, we decided to return to SA to spend more quality time here with our respective families. I had to consider my available job options – and I really did not wish to go back to nursing.

I realised that the research I had become so closely involved with in the UK also had great potential to be completed in SA. Even more so as most of our studies required lots of patients with high blood pressure and there was no shortage here. I didn’t have many entrepreneurial skills, but the environment was kind and I had the advantage of experience no one else had in that specific field of research in SA. So starting my own small business became my preferred option.

I was approached to undertake a new research study locally, based on the experience I’d gained in the UK. It involved training other staff, establishing new connections at the hospital, ethics applications, equipment purchases, etc. However, looking back, everything fell into place. I registered a business name, started taking care of all the administrative preparations and made use of the networking skills gained to find and train staff to assist with data collection.

My aims were to use the experience I gained in the UK to supply services, to teach valuable skills to local hospitals, and to keep collaborations with my UK colleagues active.

Believing in my abilities was the most challenging aspect! The other challenge was to convince people of the value of the research our group was doing. The support I received from my UK colleagues helped enormously in building my confidence to engage/network with local key people to establish a research base.

Current job – and how it compares

Nowadays my role at my own company (Validate Global) mainly involves networking with medical device companies, overseeing data collection, keeping staff motivated, performing data analysis, writing manuscripts for submission to peer-reviewed journals, and looking for opportunities to make an impact on local communities – as Kimberley (Northern Cape, SA) has an extremely high incidence of people with hypertension (high blood pressure).

On the up side, it is great being able to work from home and having flexible working hours so that I can also spend quality time with my family – my husband and I have two children aged four and ten months respectively. I’m also grateful for the opportunity to be ‘home’/in SA, while still doing what I love: research! I’m also in the privileged position to still work in close collaboration with UK colleagues and to have an honorary contract with KCL. I also still present at conferences as much as possible, but attend fewer international ones due to the high cost of travel from SA to Europe.

On the down side, I miss the office interaction with other research staff and the mentorship of my senior colleagues at St Thomas’ – I’m not in the hub of a multi-disciplinary unit anymore. There is always such a wealth of ideas and energy there! Nowadays, I’m pretty much focussed on a specific area of research, whereas at KCL we were often roped into other studies to assist. At the time of course, that could be very frustrating, but it gave exposure to various disciplines and, looking back, that was really helpful.

Competencies old and new

I learnt practically everything I know of research from my work at KCL. The mentorship and exposure was incredible, not to mention the free short courses that I was able to attend, presented by KCL – from use of difference software to presentation skills, handling conflict, project planning, etc.

My work at KCL helped me to gain confidence in the research field and skills I use on a daily basis: writing/reviewing manuscripts; using Excel, Access, Word, etc; the opportunity to interact with all kinds of people, from professors to patients.

In my new role I’ve had to learn how systems work locally and to adapt some working procedures to strive towards the efficiency I knew was possible from my previous experience. KCL gave me the great opportunity to influence local ways of thinking.

Reflecting on my career path

Looking back it was an incredible privilege to be part of the research staff of a very dynamic unit. Sometimes the frustrations of several studies running concurrently and sharing a research office with several other staff (translating into lots of chatting sometimes?!) put even more pressure on time management and focussing on getting things done. In hindsight, however, these were extremely valuable skills to learn!

My aspirations all relate to my current work: I would really like to look back in a few years and see that we have not only raised awareness of the importance of accurate medical devices and the accurate measurement of vital signs, but that the confidence and skills of staff have dramatically improved. I would also like to see hypertension addressed in our local communities – with better adherence to therapy and fewer hospitalisations and hypertension-related mortality and morbidity. I guess, like most people, I would like to see that we are making a difference.

Suggestions and advice

Enjoy the opportunities and challenges that research presents. Make the most of attending conferences and presenting your work there, be it poster or oral: use the opportunities to develop presentation skills and interact with the wide variety of people attending the conference.

Make use of the free courses on offer at your institution and grab hold of the chance to develop skills you haven’t concentrated on.

Be friendly. Be respectful – many researchers will follow in the halls and offices you now work in; make it easy for them and for research to maintain an honourable position. Be honest, always. Don’t burn bridges – you never know where those relationships could lead in the future. The world is a small place…

You are where you are at the moment for a reason. Even though it may be frustrating at times (as it was for me!), keep focussing on what is good and valuable. I can guarantee that the skills and experience you are gaining will not be in vain. Go make a difference today – start by smiling.

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/annemarie-de-greeff/14/355/2a5

As CEO of Kromek Arnab feels the technical side of his doctorate is of less importance than other skills he learnt during that period: the discipline to finish things; the need to create your own plan; to drive your own plan; and to be focused but creative.

“I finished my first degree, a BSc, in Calcutta. After that I worked in India in a family business. I then had the opportunity to study and work in the UK in engineering and electronics for five years, and from that had a good offer of studying a doctorate in physics at the University of Durham.

“The doctorate gave me the opportunities to train as an independent researcher and during this time the experience developed my abilities to be self motivated and self guided. Above all the doctorate gave me discipline.

“I am currently the Chief Executive Officer of Kromek. This was formed in 2003, initially to manufacture semi-conductor materials. It has since changed its product specialisation and now produces detectors and semiconductor materials for colour X-ray detection and imaging for a range of markets, including detection for liquid explosives.

“It is an IP rich company with over 60 patents to date. Its products have global applications and the company is highly visible in the press, employing 50 people in the UK and USA, including 11 with doctorates. Kromek has raised considerable private equity funding and has a wide range of shareholders. My current role is to lead the business – to identify opportunities, raise money and manage the business.

“There have been a number of turning points in my career such as the opportunity to start my company when I had planned to enter investment banking, and the route I chose gave me a big initial salary cut. I particularly enjoy the whole challenge of creating and growing this business, building something from a sheet of paper, a business that positively affects people’s lives. It is all exciting. To some extent my doctorate experience has supported my current role. The technical knowledge side has been useful – I can understand technical arguments, however the technical side of my doctorate work is of less importance than other skills I learned during that work. My role is not day-to-day management of technical issues, rather the more generic skills I learned during the doctorate have become more important: the discipline to finish things; the need to create your own plan; to drive that plan; and to be focused but creative.

“I regarded my doctorate as a job – I worked from 8.00am to 6.00pm and, although I received good support from my supervisor, I was strongly self-motivated. During this time I did some personal consultancy on behalf of the University, which was also useful.

“There have been many people who have positively influenced my career: my dad; my angel investor; the Professor of Physics at Durham University; and the current Company Chairman. I have been lucky to have crossed paths with so many good people, as you learn from people everyday.

“In terms of general learning related to my business, I have not learned from other courses. I think it important to learn from mistakes, and it is important to learn your own limitations, ‘learning to fly while flying’. Taking risks is an important element in business. Unless and until you take risks it is difficult to make big gains. Other important things are to be innovative, to create, follow and then expand on a vision, have confidence in yourself, and surround yourself with people better than you. Human capital is most important.”

After completing his doctorate, Arnaud had a short post doctoral research role before joining QinetiQ – and, subsequently, The MathWorks – as an application engineer.

“Before I started my doctorate, I knew that I wanted a career in industry. As a French national working in the UK, I was able to count my studies in articulated vehicle safety as part of my national service requirement.

“After my PhD, I had a short postdoctoral research position at Nottingham University to tide me over and finish things off. I then worked as a project engineer at QinetiQ, for two years before joining The MathWorks. My present role, with a leading global provider of engineering software, consists of helping customers to identify how our software can address their engineering challenges.

“Although I never wanted an academic career, I do not regret doing a doctorate as the knowledge gained and hands-on experience have proved useful in subsequent roles. It also helped me to develop problem-solving and project management skills.

“Some employers in the industry do not value a doctorate as much as industrial experience, so you have a tough job selling yourself. In the longer term, if you want to pursue a technical career, having a doctorate and the experience and skills that it provides should be an advantage.”

Research Manager of the Medical School and the University Hospital of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

Former research staff in tumour immunology at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium.
This story comes from our What do research staff do next? project, investigating the careers of research staff who moved from research posts to other occupations and employment sectors. You can use these stories to better understand how these researchers transition, what careers they have and their reflections on the transition process and current career paths.

Research staff experience

I was based in Brussels (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), in the laboratory of Medical and Cellular Therapy, headed by Prof Kris Thielemans. I worked there for over 12 years, first as a doctoral student and then as research staff. My main research area was tumour immunology, more particularly the optimisation of an autologous dendritic cell-based tumour cell therapy. I developed a one-step novel technique to modify dendritic cells in potent inducers of anti-tumour immunity. This technique was then applied in several melanoma trials, and was quite successful. The method was also patented and is now being further developed in a spin-off company. Trials for breast cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, colorectal cancer and also HPV are planned or have already started. Another achievement was being co-supervisor of two PhD students who have now successfully defended their doctorates.

For a number of reasons I became unhappy in my work. First, I felt that my personal life and career were incompatible. My partner is very often away from home, and after our second child was born I wanted to have more time to take care of the children. (I now work four days a week instead of full time.) Also, doing scientific research was getting very frustrating, as success is not always linked to hard work, but often to chance. In the end, I became fed up with these ‘failures’. Furthermore, I supervised several PhD students, and I took their ‘failures’ and frustrations quite personally, in the sense that I was as unhappy as they were about it. Finally, I got tired of the constant pressure to publish and obtain grants and funding.

I really wanted a job that would enable me to come home and not worry about it. Also, I always worked on scholarships and these two to three year contracts do not give you a long-term perspective. This gets more and more important when you have children, buy a house and so on. I now have a permanent position and I feel that I accomplish more because I am not constantly faced with failures and ‘bad’ experiments. Overall, my job is more satisfying.

Transition to new career

I did not specifically start to look for another job. I just felt unhappy in my former position and then, in 2012, there was a job opening in the faculty/associated university hospital for my current position, which I found very appealing. I talked about it several times with a professor in our faculty, and she encouraged me to apply for the job. The transition to my new job was sometimes hard. I came from a team where a lot of things are discussed in the group, and where I always knew who to go to for help. I moved to a job where I was quite on my own and had to find out a lot of new things which I knew almost nothing about. I was also alone in my ‘team’, so that was a big difference.

Fortunately, as a scientific researcher, you learn how to be creative with problem solving, so that is what I did and I soon felt more comfortable with my new job and learned a lot in a short period of time.

Current job

I am the research manager of the Medical School and the University Hospital of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. I represent a kind of satellite of the central R&D department. I give advice to the researchers about funding opportunities, applying for personal or project grants (internal and external, national and international). I inform the research community about new calls that could interest them, but also about information sessions, brokerage events… I take care of the institutional scientific fund, which finances scientific projects performed in our research centre and of another fund which finances research infrastructure. I also assist the research council of our centre in its daily activities and in policy making.

Competencies old and new

The capacities developed as a researcher that I use most are creative thinking, problem solving and being able to work independently. Because I was a researcher myself, I am able to understand the needs/highs/lows/wishes of the people to whom I give advice. Also, people respect me in my current job, because they know that I was ‘one of them’ in the past.

I learned a lot of new competencies after moving from medical research to research management, mostly communication and administrative ones. The new job also required me to develop my skills in diplomacy!

Reflecting on my career path
I would not do anything differently. I am quite happy with how things went. I had a nice career as a researcher and I hope to have the same as a research manager. My aspirations are to carry on being successful in this role. It would just be nice to have more internal budget and to be able to finance more good projects from internal money.

Suggestions and advice
I think the most important advice is: make sure you are happy with your job. This might seem a cliché, but at the end of the day, you spend a lot of time at work, and it is such a pity when this is not making you happy.

Barrie is the Research Director at Monica Healthcare, a university spin-out applying wireless technology to healthcare. He feels that his doctoral studies in electronic engineering were very useful to him in fostering independence and an aptitude to seek out answers to questions on his own – and developed his capacity for critical analysis.

“My background is in electronic engineering – having completed my doctorate in 1978 and having spent a period of time working in industry. I am currently an academic at Nottingham University, where amongst many other tasks I supervise a number of highly motivated and talented postdoctoral researchers. In parallel with my university work I am the Research Director at Monica Healthcare Ltd – a spin-out company formed in 2005 with some of my former doctoral research students. We have brought a foetal monitor using wireless technology to market from my university research laboratory. Monica currently markets and supplies this product across the world via 23 distributors. Monica Healthcare was the culmination of 15 years of research at the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and the School of Human Development at the University of Nottingham.

“Several factors have combined to enhance my commercial appetite, and consequently led to the setting up of the business. During my duties as an academic research supervisor I enjoyed an excellent working relationship with several doctoral students some of which expressly indicated an interest in commercialisation. In two such instances these doctoral researchers were awarded Medici Innovation Fellowships. These fellowships offer funding for doctoral researchers to develop their commercial awareness in areas such as corporate law, intellectual property, developing a business strategy, company registration and mentoring in the design of a viable business plan. As well as my experiences as a researcher and lecturer at Nottingham University I have also worked in industry which has allowed me to appreciate the practical aspects of design and manufacture of a product for a particular market. This industrial experience provided excellent opportunities to develop my commercial awareness where I was involved in high volume production and testing of commercial products.

“In the mid 1990s, questions were being asked about the value of HE research to UK Gross Domestic Product, e.g. what were the commercial impacts of government funding? League tables and targets were subsequently adapted to include commercialisation aspects in 2000 and 2004, and then in 2007 clear evidence of spin-outs/licenses created within an academic institution was required as part of the RAE (now REF). The requirements for universities to create commercial opportunities were clear, so fellow academics effectively had to dance to this tune. Reinforcement by our the government was critical to being able to persuade academic colleagues that patenting new developments was preferable to publishing.

“As a university academic I have directed these doctoral researchers to develop the expertise necessary to the development of Monica Healthcare Ltd. While I value the skills I learnt managing such researchers, the energy of these researchers in bringing the product to market has been invaluable. We have created a spin-out company from the work of supervised doctoral researchers who were able to turn a research idea into a workable medical device ideally suitable for the clinical market. After the completion of this doctorate we were able to be awarded two Medici Innovation Fellowships to accelerate the process of taking this technology to market.

“Undertaking doctoral studies is highly recommended as it fosters independence thereby generating an aptitude to obtain answers to questions on one’s own. Doctoral study also greatly develops the capacity for self-analysis and a critical eye, something which is continually stressed to all doctoral students. This critical eye for data has proven especially useful in responding with sufficient clarity to venture capitalists (VCs) requiring assurances before investing. Here, the ability to communicate with fellow researchers was a highly important preparation for being able to sell and communicate one’s ideas to such VC’s.

“I welcome these recent government initiatives to encourage entrepreneurship within universities, and the recognition of the importance of research with commercial and social value. Formerly, the attitude within academia was ‘publish not patent’. Now the importance of knowledge transfer within the academic world has increased and this has in turn provided an impetus and a commercial focus to what universities can offer to the country’s manufacturing base.”

Barrie describes himself as being a “portfolio careerist”, with autonomy and independence as his main values. He learnt a great deal from his university experiences, which helped him to develop his entrepreneurial career – not least of which was learning to write books, as they are always a great marketing tool and networking device. Barrie did his PhD in Psychology.

“I was a researcher at the National Foundation for Educational Research, and then joined a new research unit at Leeds University as a research assistant. I was fortunate to have a boss who insisted that you jump in at the deep end and a colleague who was as entrepreneurial as I was. We both got lectureships and had our first book published at the same time. At an early age we realised that a book was likely to open many doors career-wise. I worked on my PhD at the same time. Even at this time I took on a range of other jobs and opportunities. For example, I taught at the Workers Education Authority (WEA) and at a US campus that was based in Menwith Hill. I’ve always enjoyed doing a range of different things. This is how I learned to teach in an experiential way as your class did not show up the next week if you didn’t engage them. These jobs also gave me additional income which was great.

“I eventually became the head of the research unit where I worked, and wrote four books by the time I was 30 – including a pop psychology book. I also spent a lot of time on the international conference circuit. I’d met an academic in the management studies department who introduced me to the world of management consulting. I started to go to America in the summer vacations to tutor on management training and personal development courses. I was networking and getting invited to go to American universities. I got a couple of associate professorships and built up a network in the States.

“I’ve never planned ahead more than six months in my life. There was no great plan. That has raised eyebrows throughout my career, as ‘career development’ was the area that has most defined my achievements and success. It was always about the opportunity to learn new things and do things that excited me. However, I was getting increasingly bored with just lecturing at the University. There was not much opportunity to do much that was truly creative. Anything I suggested was rejected for being too way out. I was considered a bit of an oddity.

“I was then invited by the LEAs of Yorkshire and Humberside to set up a unit within the University that was to provide in service training for teachers (the payoffs for networking again). Although in theory I had to report to the Head of Psychology, basically I was in charge and attracted all of the funding. I’d created my own operation and was independent. This was really my first experience of running a business and within four years I had about 70 people working for this organisation.

“While I was still based at the University, a colleague and I developed some new ways to publish materials that would enable teachers to reproduce our materials. Our academic publisher was very uncomfortable with this, and so I tore up my contract with them and decided that we would set up a publishing company. I realised that I needed money to do this, and we then went out and did lots of private sector work to generate money to develop the company.

“I was the Director of this training unit at the University for six years, and during this time I spent a lot of time teaching teachers, careers officers and social workers to teach ‘life skills’ (as we were then calling it). This also included teaching people as to how to manage unemployment. I felt like a hypocrite talking about this from the safety of a tenured post. So I decided to jump. But like many entrepreneurs I was prepared. By the time I left I was moving into a business that was already making money. We developed this company, Life Skills International, into a successful training, consulting and publishing business. From then on I then had less and less contact with the world of higher education, and I didn’t really miss it. After a number of years we sold the training and consultancy half of the company to an international management consultancy. I was CEO of the joint venture, but there was an ownership change in the company – and the promises that were made did not materialise. After three years I left and returned as Chairman of Life Skills International. After a few more years we sold that to a Canadian company and I had to think about what to do next.

“My most successful book in sales terms was a workbook for career and life management. So – when I hit 60 – I wrote a book and the content for an accompanying website about my generation (the baby boomers) to help them manage their career and life development for the second half of their lives. I have had a portfolio career for much of my life – in fact my last book was about this topic – and I am still writing, presenting, consulting and doing some non-executive director work. I never want to retire.

“I have also just started up a new company with my long term business partner, but significantly including three fellow owners all under 32. Autonomy and independence are my main values. The money was never the motivating driver. The motivators were that I could be independent and learn new things. I think that there are an awful lot more people around who can be entrepreneurial than are doing it. I did learn a great deal from my university experiences, which helped me to develop my entrepreneurial career – not least of which was learning to write books, as they are always a great marketing tool and networking device. The other thing I learned was the importance of establishing your brand, but interestingly I have only defined this succinctly in the past couple of years.

“My main life theme has been helping people to become architects of their own futures. Never let others design yours for you, and resist the temptation to design theirs.”

Bill realised that he’d been living a freelance life even while he was working – people didn’t call the Polytechnic, they called him at home. He wasn’t trying to set up a business, but the transition from employment to self-employment was practically seamless.

“I left school at 16 and went into the insurance business. I was a religious convert at the time and – on completing national service – went to theological college. However, by the time I’d completed the course I’d realised that theology had turned me into an agnostic, and so I went into teaching for 12 years. During this time I got a reputation as a visiting lecturer, and I was freelancing quite a bit before I left secondary school teaching. So I was already in some sense partially self-employed.

“While I was working as a teacher, a researcher came into my school and asked me such naïve questions that I was left wondering how she could ever expect to get her MPhil – and so I thought, if she is doing it, why don’t I? So I then I self-funded myself to do an MPhil – which eventually turned into a PhD, which I completed in 1976. During that time I left the school where I was working and became a lecturer at the University of Reading.

“Once I was working at the University of Reading I could work on my research while I was teaching. I had access to statistics and a computer (all punched in on tape). I also needed a lot of help with methodology. One of the other lecturers gave me a lot of help on issues like sampling, hypothesis building and the principles of research methodology, and this support equipped me to do original research.

“Before I finished my research I was asked to apply for a job as a senior lecturer at the National Institute for Careers Education and Counselling (NICEC) which was based at Hatfield Polytechnic. I managed to get my PhD at the end of my first year at NICEC, and this enabled me to get promoted to Principal Lecturer.

“I’ve never seen myself primarily as a researcher. I spent more time on development than I did on research. Obviously research is important, but it is there to provide a framework within which we can say ‘this is what needs to be done’. Research is so you know what to do, but development is doing something. I used my research and analysis mainly to write training materials. Research was a means to that end.

“I was at Hatfield Polytechnic for 18 years going all over the country. I was paying my way in the polytechnic by running courses, developing networks, setting up frameworks, producing materials, getting sub-contracts, and so on. I wasn’t keeping the fees at this point as I was an employee. This was before the Internet, but I built a network of centres that would deliver NICEC material in training courses using the freelancers that I found for them.

“Retrospectively, I realise that what I was doing was not unlike running a business. However at the time I resisted the idea that we should expand this activity, which I suppose wasn’t very business-like. I’ve been like this with my own business, I’ve never advertised, I’ve never even bought complementary pens. I just wait for the phone to ring, and it does.

“By the time we got into the early 1990s, the polytechnic felt that it wasn’t making enough money out of us. So I took early retirement and set up my own business. I realised that I’d been living a freelance life as, even while I was working, people didn’t call the polytechnic – they called me at home. The momentum was pretty much uninterrupted. I wasn’t trying to set up a business, but the transition from employment to self-employment was practically seamless. I haven’t found the administrative side of running a business at all problematic. I like working out how things work, I keep on fidgeting at things until they work, and I’ve approached running a business like that.

“I see myself as somebody who does things in a very distinctive way. One of the reasons that I’m still working is that I’m sure I’m not getting in anyone’s way. If I wasn’t doing this I don’t know who else would be doing it.

“I don’t think I’m a person who has massive visions about where I should be. I’ve sought influence and I want to make a difference, but I’m a ‘what’s next?’ kind of bloke. I want my life to have some meaning and to make a dent. This requires some sense of direction, to think that it is more likely to be ‘over here’ than ‘over there’, but I’ve never been able to give an answer to the question ’what do you want to be doing in ten years time’.”

Managing Director of Xeroshield Ltd, based in Roslin, Scotland.

Eleven years as a researcher at institutions in Colombia and Brazil; three years at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.

This story comes from our What do research staff do next? project, investigating the careers of research staff who moved from research posts to other occupations and employment sectors. You can use these stories to better understand how these researchers transition, what careers they have and their reflections on the transition process and current career paths.

Research staff experience

Most of my academic career involved studies of phlebotomine sand flies, vectors of Leishmania in 89 countries worldwide. However, following a short-term fellowship with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama and field research in Colombia for my PhD, I focused on studies related to ecology and control of these insects in Latin America. I returned to Colombia as a research fellow at the Fundacion CIDEIM in Cali (1990-5), carried out two surveys of Leishmania vectors in Ecuador and then spent six years as visiting lecturer and researcher at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais and Centro de Pesquisas Rene Rachou, both in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. On returning to the UK I spent three years at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) where I again carried out research on sand flies in Brazil. My greatest achievement was to be selected to receive a stipend as one of Colombia’s 150 most influential scientists under a Colciencias programme in 1994 (Colciencias is Colombia’s Department of Science, Technology and Innovation.) I published 56 scientific articles between 1987 and 2012.

Transition to a new career

The transition from higher education research wasn’t difficult for me – I had already been working part-time for my own small company. I also benefited from regular contact with academics in several other universities through collaborative projects – even managing to keep publishing articles for four years after leaving academia. I visited several parts of the world I’d never seen before as an academic.

I’d already had a lot of academic freedom and no teaching duties so it was not a great wrench to leave academia – and of course I no longer had to endure long train rides and separation from my family every week.

During my last year the LSTM changed to an open plan system which I didn’t find at all conducive to long exchanges of ideas or scientific discussions of any sort. So I really didn’t regret my decision to leave rather than continue to seek short-term grant funding.

My academic career had been quite fragmented, involving lengthy spells in four different countries besides the UK (US, Colombia, Ecuador and Brazil). I greatly enjoyed working in countries where I could go into the field whenever I wanted and talk to people directly affected by the disease I worked on, in their own languages. The downside was that none of my contracts lasted more than six years and I never occupied a senior position in any of them. Furthermore, I found the attitude of most UK and US researchers to their Latin American collaborators to be somewhat paternalistic; we were largely charged with collecting material, acting as interpreters and ensuring that their occasional visits went smoothly and pleasantly rather than being seen as equal partners. I hope this has changed somewhat now that many Latin American researchers in my field have advanced degrees and are able to maintain more regular contact with their UK counterparts through the internet.

Current job

I set up Xeroshield in 2005, while I was a research staff, to develop novel ideas for insect control, suitable for use by the widest possible range of people and offering safe, sustainable and environmentally friendly alternatives to conventional chemical pesticides. I conceive of the ideas, seek funding from the public and private sectors to carry out proof of concept studies and generate IP, with a view to commercialising the technologies that we produce. My job thus entails a wide variety of scientific, administrative and commercially related tasks.

Competencies old and new

My academic experience was crucial to establishing Xeroshield, providing me with the knowledge, expertise and practical experience I needed to develop new ideas as well as the basis for a network of potential collaborators worldwide. However it provided no training whatsoever in business and I have had to acquire all of this knowledge in the past ten years.

Reflecting on my career path

I have had an enjoyable, intellectually stimulating and interesting career but feel my early intention to provide a link between Latin American and UK institutions was naive and hampered my academic progression. I never occupied a senior position in any of the countries where I worked and left the UK too early to provide myself with the solid base I would have needed to do this.

I also underestimated the conservatism of many academic institutions and ignored the politics involved, always feeling that good ideas would receive the necessary support even when they contradicted existing dogma. In recent years there has been increasing pressure to link academic research to commercial gain and my lack of interest in developing vector control measures based on conventional pesticides or genetically modified organisms would hinder my ability to obtain the necessary grant funding.

My decision to leave academia has allowed me the freedom to develop my own ideas, secure funding from a variety of sources and seek opportunities to produce commercially viable technologies that would at least provide me with financial security for the rest of my career. However, I would also welcome a return to academia on a part-time basis as a research or teaching associate during the last years of my career.

Suggestions and advice

I feel it is very important to build one’s reputation and establish a sound network of collaborations and funding streams before moving out of the UK, particularly to developing countries. Researchers should maintain these links where possible, not least because it may be necessary or desirable for them to return to the UK in later life. Young researchers should determine early on in their careers whether they are suited to working in academic research and be aware that if not, there are alternatives in the private sector, including setting up a business of their own.

While there is obviously a place for ‘blue sky’ academic research I feel more consideration should be given to more applied technologies that might provide solutions in the shorter term. Academic researchers should never lose sight of this and should perhaps receive some training in how to take their ideas on to the market.

Overall, my advice is: do all you can to discover where your particular talents lie and make sure that these are fully exploited and appreciated in the jobs you accept. Although your career may take you in different directions, try to draw up some sort of path which can be modified as necessary.

http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/bruce-alexander/24/bb5/7a4/

Senior Manager, Commodity Research, at leading diversified global mining company.

Former research staff in earth sciences, University of Grenoble, France and University of Keele, UK.

This story comes from our What do research staff do next? project, investigating the careers of research staff who moved from research posts to other occupations and employment sectors. You can use these stories to better understand how these researchers transition, what careers they have and their reflections on the transition process and current career paths.

Research staff experience

Immediately following completion of my UK doctorate, I was awarded a French government research fellowship to continue research with a collaborator at the University of Grenoble in France. I spent around eight months there, with research focusing on the mechanism of earthquake activity in the western region of Greece, and the consequent interpretation of the tectonic forces at work.

Following this I gained a Natural Environment Research Council research fellowship to join a newly formed research group back in the UK at the University of Keele, with research focused on the application of seismology and rock mechanics to engineering applications (e.g. mining, petroleum extraction and civil engineering). My own research was focused on developing methodologies for understanding the mechanisms driving rock fracture around underground tunnels – with applications in the mining and civil engineering sectors (such as underground nuclear waste disposal). I worked in this laboratory for four years.

The work at the Keele research group led to opportunities to undertake consultancy work for commercial clients. My research group leader, a number of other colleagues and I then started a small spin-out company to serve these clients’ needs. I took on the role of general manager, responsible for a wide range of activities from day-to-day office management, to business development and project management.

My main, and immediate, reason for leaving the higher education sector was the excitement of the challenge of starting a new business venture and all the opportunities that brought. Underlying that, I had already decided that academia did not offer me the overall variety of experiences that I wanted from my career.

Transition to new career

The transition from academic research to spin-out consulting company was quite a natural one in many ways. The technical work we were doing was very similar (albeit with less of a research focus and more of a focus on meeting specific client needs). I had already been looking at jobs that offered the opportunity to use my technical expertise in a commercial setting (e.g. in engineering consultancy firms, oil companies, etc.) but hadn’t found exactly the right role by that stage.

In terms of making the transition, the biggest challenge was to develop sufficient commercial acumen so that clients had confidence we could deliver a timely professional service. As with any small start-up, resources were tight and everyone had to chip in at all sorts of levels (and make sacrifices) to make it work – but it was exciting to be part of something genuinely new and cutting edge.

Support was provided by a number of colleagues and contacts from my network (including those met through working as a tutor on career development courses for doctoral researchers – GRADschools!) Just having people to bounce ideas off and share some ‘war stories’ with was very helpful. It gave me confidence that others had experienced similar challenges and that the hard work and patience would pay off.

Another career shift

After working for the technical consultancy for around five years, I was looking for a new challenge and decided to take time out to complete an MBA. This was very instrumental in opening my eyes to a wider range of career opportunities that might be suitable for me – not just relying on specific technical skills, but also on the broader range of transferable skills – data analysis, project and research management, communication of complex concepts, and so on.

On completing the MBA I joined the strategy consulting arm of a leading consultancy and data provider specialising in the mining and metals sector. I worked in various roles in this company, from working on and leading consultancy projects to, finally, managing a research team of twelve, responsible for a key sector of the company’s coverage.

Five years later I was offered a position undertaking research into the commodity markets with a large global mining company, based in Singapore. I spent three years there before returning to the UK for a more senior role in a different company – my current employer.

Current job – and how it compares

I’m now Senior Manager, Commodity Research, in a global diversified mining company. My role is to understand the fundamentals of supply and demand for various commodities and metals of interest to the company and thus determine the future prospects for these materials. This work is a key input into the companies’ strategy and business development decision-making process.

The actual work involves building and maintaining databases and economic models and undertaking basic research to understand the technological limitations and possible future developments that may impact the prospects for a given commodity. I then prepare reports and presentations for key stakeholders in the company.

The highlights of my job are doing meaningful and interesting analysis that has a direct impact on company strategy and investment. There is never a dull moment and the pace is quite fast, switching quickly from one topic to another as the market changes in response to global events and economic drivers.

The lows are the flip-side of that coin – there is often not enough time to do everything one would like. We live by the ‘80:20 rule’ – doing just enough to be fairly confident of the correct answer, without going through all the fine details and covering every possible base.

In many ways the research work is similar to the academic research I did previously, in the sense that we deal with ambiguity and uncertainty and have to manage data that is often conflicting and incomplete. Generally though, the answers are out there somewhere and it differs in that there isn’t much totally new ground to uncover. Given the time frames we work to, we generally don’t have the ability (or in fact the need) to go into the very fine detail and break new ground.

Competencies old and new

As well as employing those data analysis and interpretation skills learnt in academic research, I often still draw on the ability to develop and manage research plans. Keeping things on target through milestones and project reviews was familiar from previous academic research work.

Competencies I’ve had to develop include the ability to communicate succinctly, whether by written note/memo or in a presentation. Senior managers rarely have more than minutes to review work, so everything has to focus on the very high level implications, while having all the background ready in case of follow-up questions. It’s also important, in my experience, to think through the implications of the results of any work and engage at a very early stage with any stakeholders impacted, as this saves extra work later on.

Reflecting on my career path

I’m not sure I would have wanted to miss out on any part of my career to date. I may, on reflection, have spent a bit too long in some of my early roles (spending more than four years as a postdoctoral researcher before deciding an academic career wasn’t what I wanted was maybe too long!), but it’s never felt boring: I’m lucky to have always had interesting work and very motivated and interesting colleagues.

In future I will likely remain in the mining sector – perhaps exploring other roles in strategy, research and project management.

Suggestions and advice

Work out what it is that gets you up in the morning – is it the thrill of researching new areas, the enjoyment of working in a research team with a common goal, the pleasure of sharing ideas and results with a broader audience…or something else? Think how these aspects of being a researcher will develop in your career and think where you want to be in five years. Then keep in the back of your mind a ‘plan’ of how you might get there: what skills will you need, what experience will you have to get, what people and contacts can provide you with the advice that could be helpful? Take every opportunity you can to add to the skills and experience that might help.

In my view, some of the skills and experience gained through academic research are actually not so common in the commercial sector and are highly valued there. So it’s not too late, even after five or so years in research (as in my case) to make a transition if that’s what you want. You may just need to help the recruiters outside academia understand what skills you’ll bring with you.

Cara completed her doctorate in molecular pathology, then worked for three years in educational development – where, amongst other tasks, she taught PhD researchers. Through this she became interested in medicine and made the decision to train as a medic.

The following text is a transcription of a career story collected by interview.

“My name is Cara Owens and I am currently doing the graduate entry level programme in medicine at Kings College, London. I did my PhD in molecular pathology. So basically I was trying to identify gene fragments in bacteria. So I spent a lot of time in the lab running molecular assays to try and identify particular areas in the gene number for bacteria we are working on. The bacteria actually infects mushrooms. I know, I used to tell people I do a PhD in mushrooms! But I didn’t actually see that many mushrooms throughout the whole the whole 3 years that I was doing it. But the bacteria that I look at is called pseudamones and it’s obviously a member of a family of bacteria and one of them would be an important pathogen in the clinical setting as well. So what we gain about, learn about one bacteria we can then apply and identify the same sort of things in others. I really love science which is why I did the PhD in the first place.

“And I really loved research, it’s a fabulous thing to do, to sort of have three years to really focus in on something it’s a bit of a luxury to be honest. I did my PhD and then I actually worked for three years in, in educational development and did a lot of teaching. And through that I met a lot of doctors who were doing their PhD ‘cos I was actually training PhD researchers at the time, and from just from talking to them I got more and more interested in what they did, and saw myself as somebody who perhaps could fit in quite well in that area, and I think there was no particular moment but I think it developed over a few months, a couple of years ago now. A lot of medics will do their medical degree first and then do a PhD later, which is probably the normal way of doing it, but for me I think I never really knew what I wanted to do.

“I knew I wanted to do science but I didn’t, it wasn’t until I got into research that I realised that I would like to move into medicine. I honestly, honestly thought I was definitely going to be a scientist, a researcher, a nerd as my brother would say, I was always going to be a nerd. But I really wanted to do that. I never really thought it would take me towards medicine, and I hadn’t really ever thought about it much at that time. To think back when I was 18 I’m not sure I would have had the same level, of sort of focus that I have now. Perhaps because I have given up a lot to do this degree in the first place. And so therefore I am much more focused and I know that this is definitely what I want to do. And then secondly I wouldn’t have had the experience of developing sort of self, you know self motivation and sort of self erm… organisation. So I think those are quite useful now. I think even simple things like being able to plan and manage my own time and my own studies. Because obviously in the graduate programme it’s very intense because we only do it in four years whereas the normal programme is five years so you have to be able to be independent. And I think the PhD has enabled me to have that independence because I did my own project for three years. There are times when you do think why am I doing this? I could be out earning money, I could not have this hassle of coming in on a Saturday morning to do this little bit of research. And I think that’s always the case, and in hindsight, I can look back and laugh at it now but of course there were times during the PhD when I did think oh why am I doing this to myself?

“But now, having gone through the process I am really glad I stuck with it and I would recommend it, it’s the best thing you can do, it’s just such a good experience for well, certainly for me and I think for a lot of others. Been a bit of an enigma around PhDs in that employers haven’t really, outside of academia, haven’t really recognised the value of it or understood what it’s about, and I think that’s quite understandable. I think now it is changing, especially when I look at some of my colleagues who have done PhDs and are employed in very different areas than you’d ever believe, that they ever thought they’d be employed in. So they’re not in academia, they are in other things, so it goes to show that maybe there is a more of a recognition of the PhD as not just a, you know a research project but the person coming out of the end of it.”

Caron runs Kingswood, a change and performance improvement consultancy. She would advise others to “focus on the skills that your research has given you, and not just the knowledge. There are many parallels between consulting and the process of being a doctoral researcher…”

“I did an applied biology degree at Hatfield college, including a year out in industry. In my final year I started to specialise, then I pursued my doctorate and post-doctorate in a pharmacy department. I had always thought that people with doctorates were really special, but it was only really when I did my year out that I started to get to know them as people. One person I met in particular was really inspirational in a good sense, while other people I met weren’t so inspirational and led me to think that if they could do it then I could too!

“My doctorate was in the area of biological pharmacology, specifically drug absorption. The field was cancer therapy, an area in which many existing drugs are peptide based. Following oral consumption, and in the transfer across membranes, many drugs are broken down, becoming inactive. A lot of my work was on how to ensure that medicines remained active in this transfer process, so that patients could take life-saving drugs by mouth rather than by injection. It was while I was doing my postdoctoral study however that I realised I loved the subject and skills I had, but I didn’t love the mechanics and discipline of being a researcher.

“Following my studies, I was offered a job in technical support in the pharmaceutical industry – which I took. I went from technical support to factory management, to big project and change management. After 11 years I then moved to consultancy, working for a company that managed warehousing and transport for other companies, involving the setting up of logistics operations. So I developed a lot of commercial and change experience, and my skill-set and knowledge-base grew so much in this time. There was no science involved during my work there but, because I had been moving from pure science and much more into operations anyway, this wasn’t a problem for me. Skills such as analytical and critical thinking developed during my doctoral study subsequently stood me in very good stead.

“I am now the Chief Operations Officer at Kingswood Plus, a change and performance improvement consultancy. There are three people employed by the company but I have a lot of associate consultants too – not directly employing people enables me to be as flexible as I need to be. I decided to set up on my own for a number of reasons. I realised that I could do a lot of what I was already doing on my own without working for other people, and I also wanted to have choices over who I was working with. I really love the constant new challenges too.

“It has been the hardest thing I have ever done but very rewarding. Managing the finance and sales has been the hardest thing. While I am a good operator (and this is what I sell to other people!), it is the upfront selling of that which is very important, and also the pure administration and finance stuff which you don’t get taught that is the challenge. I would say to others, focus on the skills that your research has given you, and not just the knowledge. There are many parallels between consulting and the process of being a doctoral researcher – despite what people may think!”

Catherine stayed on in the lab to do postdoctoral research immediately after receiving her doctorate. Then she moved to London and got her current part-time job as a career development fellow.

“I was awarded my doctorate by the Open University (UK), having undertaken my studies at the Weatherall Institute for Molecular Medicine in Oxford. The subject discipline was biochemistry and pharmacology. I obtained a PGCE immediately after my degree. I then studied for an MSc in neuropsychopharmacology, all at the National University of Ireland. During my masters I gave birth to my first daughter.

“After teaching science and maths to school children for a short period, I moved to the UK with my family and worked at Oxford University as a research assistant. I decided to register for a doctorate on a part-time basis. I published four papers in high-ranking journals during this time. My second daughter was born during my doctorate.

“Attaining a doctorate gave me an enormous sense of achievement and a tremendous boost in confidence – the confidence was the most important thing. The doctorate provides recognition and this has enabled me to work more independently and to seek collaborations for certain aspects of projects. Doctoral training also helped me to develop analytical and critical thinking skills, which are important both in research and in non-lab based work such as my current internship. With the benefit of hindsight I think I should have sought careers advice and taken steps to develop my transferable skills more: I would have made more effort to get to conferences and to network.

“Immediately after receiving my doctorate, I stayed on in the lab to do postdoctoral research. I then moved to London with my family. Five months later I got my current job as a career development fellow. My current post is part-time. I have responsibility for driving a project looking at a membrane protein involved in fatty acid homeostasis. I work at the bench and share the supervision of graduate and postgraduate students. I am intellectually involved in the development of other research projects within the group. I also write progress reports for funding bodies and research papers.

“Outside the lab I am a member of a committee conducting an impact assessment of the MRC’s corporate governance and communications policies to ensure they conform with the new equalities legislation. I have also undertaken (part-time) a science policy internship at the Institute of Biology in order to gain hands-on experience of working in the area of science policy and to get experience of a non-traditional academic science role.

“I would advise taking at least one postdoctoral research post, but do try to gain a personal fellowship early on to support an academic career. Otherwise try to find internships early in order to gain experience of other science roles. I have been on numerous transferable skills training courses, which have been very useful. I realised that I did not want to remain in academia because there were so few posts available, and because it is difficult to pursue an academic career whilst bringing up a family. I therefore sought experience outside the lab in order to strengthen my CV for applying for non-research posts.”

Charles completed his doctorate in the Institute for Manufacturing, in the Department of Engineering of Cambridge University, and went straight into a consulting role. Now he works as Management Consultant, McKinsey & Co.

“I completed a doctorate in the Institute for Manufacturing in the Department of Engineering of Cambridge University in 2008. I looked at the generic components and structure of the decision-making involved in assessing breakthrough innovations within companies.

“After graduating in physics, I worked in the satellite industry. I started off in the R&D department, moving to business planning and regulatory strategy. During this time I realised that many of the ‘tools’ used to manage companies did not apply to the innovation domain, and I wanted to find out more – undertaking original research in the area seemed like a good way to address this.

“I went straight into consulting after my doctorate. A significant draw was the fact that McKinsey & Company actually has a specific entry point for doctoral graduates as well as a tailored training and development package, i.e. recognition is given to your intellectual and problem-solving abilities, but more of the basic vocabulary of business is taught (most other employers I spoke to simply referred me to their undergraduate trainee programme). I was also attracted by the intellectual challenge and rapid development trajectory. The intensity and pace of the work always means that you are having to think as hard as during your doctorate – just faster!

“Although there is some overlap between my research subject and my current work area, the transferable skills I developed during my doctorate have been more important. It has left me with important communication skills. The ability to take a large and messy problem, scope it, work out priorities, then carve it up into manageable chunks is complemented by an increased ability for self-management. On a personal level I valued time spent amongst intelligent people with a passion for what they do. I attended a GRADschool and would highly recommend it. As well as the fantastic company I learnt a lot – notably that there was life outside my PhD!”

Engagement Manager (Regional), British Science Association.

Former research staff in cognitive neuroscience at University College London (UCL) UK.
This story comes from our What do research staff do next? project, investigating the careers of research staff who moved from research posts to other occupations and employment sectors. You can use these stories to better understand how these researchers transition, what careers they have and their reflections on the transition process and current career paths.

Research staff experience

After my PhD in the USA, I came to London to do a postdoc in cognitive neuroscience. The project was EU-funded and involved collaboration between twelve research institutions. In the two and a half years I was at UCL I attended interesting conferences, travelled to different parts of Europe and wrote half a dozen papers.

From about halfway through my PhD training, I decided I didn’t want to stay in HE research long term: my postdoctoral position was a means to a different end. I’d decided that the career I really wanted, and was best suited to, would be in science policy or science communication. However, in the USA, such jobs were going to more senior academics. I decided to look for a postdoctoral position to gain experience and credibility as a future job candidate. Moving to Europe really appealed – it would certainly be different and I had never lived abroad.

My postdoc was very enjoyable in many ways, but throughout I still desired to work outside academia; it confirmed to me that while I love science, a research career is not for me. My passion is not for the day-to-day business of research, collecting and analysing data; what I most enjoy is project management and seeing people engage with science.

Transition to a new career

Since I was already interested in careers that bridged science and other sectors, I took on voluntary roles during my doctoral training and then while I was at UCL to connect with the world outside higher education. My plan was to extend my skills and experience so that I could demonstrate to potential employers my passion for communicating science and my ability to manage projects outside the lab.

Part way through my postdoc I knew I wanted to stay in the UK afterwards. I had realised by this time that the path to jobs in science communication was different over here. The research staff experience that had seemed so important to acquire was not, in the UK, the asset it might have been on the other side of the Atlantic. I had a strong sense that it could be difficult to convince UK recruiters of my suitability on the strength of my research-staff skills alone. Other candidates would have experience and qualifications that recruiters could relate to more easily – such as a background in event management or a master’s in science communication.

More familiar to recruiters, and therefore easier to provide convincing evidence about, I figured, would be the experiences and skills I developed in voluntary activities.

Much of my volunteering was ‘one-offs’ like volunteering at the Royal Society Summer Exhibition and The Big Bang Fair. My most important longer-term commitment was with the UK Research Staff Association (UKRSA), which aims to provide a collective voice for research staff across the UK. I joined the committee very early in my postdoc and eventually did a one-year term as co-chair.

At the same time, I made sure I didn’t neglect my research projects – as shown, for example, by the number of papers published. My principal investigator let me work very independently, which enabled me to take the occasional day off for, say, a UKRSA meeting so long as it didn’t affect the progress of my work in the lab.

I applied for several jobs in science communication as my fixed-term research staff position came to an end, and secured a number of interviews. As it turned out, the first one resulted in an interesting job offer: British Science Association (BSA) National Science and Engineering Week Project Manager. (The BSA’s purpose is to advance the public understanding, accessibility and accountability of the sciences and engineering in the UK.)

In the selection process both my experience co-ordinating large research projects and my volunteer activities and leadership roles were probed. No-one else in the organisation had research staff experience, so the business-related skills I had gained through my project, such as managing students, multitasking, and presenting and reporting to colleagues and partners, took some explaining during the interview.

Although the job was fixed term for one year and not especially well paid, I decided to take it. I figured that project management at the BSA would develop me more than the work involved in other roles that I was interviewing for, and ultimately would look stronger on my CV.

Current job

A year and a half on, I am still at the BSA, having been promoted to my current job of Engagement Manager (Regional). The role is to support and grow community-based engagement with science – both local projects and events – across the UK. I find this kind of role very fulfilling. I love helping people access science in a way that is relevant for them.

In a typical week I might meet with a partner organisation to discuss joint outreach projects and events, chat via email and phone with volunteers and event organisers across the UK who are planning science events, and contribute to a funding proposal – as well as do routine tasks such as signing off volunteer expenses, checking the progress of key performance indicators and reviewing the resources we offer our audiences.

Competencies old and new

Starting at the BSA was quite disorientating – even the open-plan office fazed me at first! The BSA has charitable status but, like most of the voluntary sector, runs like a business, which felt very different. Adapting to how businesses work took some time but, since my role involved building on skills I already had, I found my feet in the end. It was great – and still is – to have a role based on things I enjoy a lot: being organised; dealing with all sorts of people; managing projects.

In my current role I need to be able to adapt my communication skills to a greater range of people than ever before. Engaging successfully with business people has been the most unfamiliar – it’s perhaps where I’ve had the most to learn.

Reflecting on my career path

When I was an undergraduate the USA did not have master’s degrees in science communication. So I took a roundabout route to my career – but a good one in the circumstances, I feel.

I’m not sure whether I’d like my next move to be within an organisation working at national level (like my current job) or whether to consider moving to a smaller organisation such as a regional museum. It’s hard to compare the potential impact you could make in each kind of role – smaller organisations can make big local impacts, while in a national role you can help facilitate widespread change. I may also consider eventually moving on to a role working more closely with scientists, helping them engage and communicate with general audiences. But for the time being I’m thrilled with where I am and what I’m doing!

Suggestions and advice

Do stuff beyond your research project. If you want to move outside HE make your CV not just about the skills and experience you have gained within HE. In my view, your application will be more compelling if you can include relevant experience from elsewhere.

Appreciate volunteering experiences. I secured my BSA job on the strength of my university employment and volunteering activities – I had no other paid work on my CV. I don’t think this was particularly unusual: I’ve now had some involvement as a recruiter, and have found that what counts is the quality of the experience, not whether it is paid or unpaid.

If you can afford to, consider taking a salary cut for your first job after academia. Don’t dismiss one that could give you valuable skills and experience because it pays less than you think you are worth: it could be a valuable stepping stone.

If you are interested in science communication the UK is an excellent place to get training and a qualification. It doesn’t have to be a master’s – there are shorter courses too.

http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/christina-fuentes-tibbitt/12/a06/b75/

Cora completed her doctorate in Latin literature at the University of Newcastle and is now Associate Lecturer at the Open University.
“For my doctorate I studied Latin literature in the Classics Department of the University of Newcastle. I researched the Roman writer Tacitus and his use of visual description.

“I have just finished my two-year initial probationary period at the Open University (OU). I teach Roman history and Latin to adult learners. Technically it is a temporary job, but every few months more work seems to come my way. For example, I have been taken on as a history examiner, I have also been asked to write the assignment questions that will be sent to every OU Roman history student across the world, and I have even been booked to run a residential course in Plymouth. I jump at any and all opportunities because I love this job – it’s varied and interesting, and I never know what’s around the corner. I get to meet the most extraordinary people, some of whom have remained friends long after the end of their course.

“My doctorate led me here by a convoluted path. While I was a doctoral researcher, I was offered some undergraduate teaching work. No training was provided, and I was very nervous about jumping into teaching with no preparation, so I went looking for a distance-learning course which would give me some grounding in the theory and practice of teaching – and found the Open University. I took one education course, then another. By that time I was hooked. I took some courses in subjects relevant to my doctorate, and almost accidentally ended up with an OU masters degree in education. When I finished my doctorate, it seemed like the most natural thing in the world to apply for work at the OU, particularly since lecturers get free courses!

“My doctorate has been very useful to me – and not just because of the authority conferred by a title! The subject knowledge I developed during my doctorate has given me both the qualifications necessary to get this job and the ability to do it well. My doctoral research gave me a grounding in research skills, which I now find invaluable. I have just published my first article in a classics journal, and hope to finish my first book very soon.

“My doctorate changed my life. It opened doors, and it also opened my mind. I take on challenges now, in my life and my career, because I have faith in my own abilities. I was the first person in my family to go to university, and I ended up with a doctorate in ancient languages – proof that anything is possible, if you want it strongly enough.

“I would not change much about my time as a doctoral student, but I do wish I’d made the most of the opportunities I was given. I wish I had taken the modern language courses on offer, done more IT training and presented more papers at conferences. My doctorate taught me a lot about Tacitus’ use of visual description, but that is a very narrow field, and of limited use to me now. The things I value most today are the skills I learned during my time as a doctoral student – if I had known that when I started, I would have developed my skills further.”

Associate Editor, Nature Reviews Genetics, Nature Publishing Group UK.

Former research staff in cancer genetics, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, USA; Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK.
This story comes from our What do research staff do next? project, investigating the careers of research staff who moved from research posts to other occupations and employment sectors. You can use these stories to better understand how these researchers transition, what careers they have and their reflections on the transition process and current career paths.

Research staff experience

I did my PhD and a short post-doctoral stint with Scott Lowe at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, USA from 2002-2007. This was a great learning experience in a vibrant and high-profile lab. The best part was the variety of opportunities to learn: the lab studied diverse but important areas of cancer (such as oncogenes, tumour suppressor genes, chemotherapy responses, genetic screens, in vivo models, apoptosis and senescence). My own research focus was to help develop the new (at the time) technology of RNA interference screens to investigate mechanisms of chemotherapy resistance in cancer.

Additionally, the lab was full of intelligent researchers at various levels from all around the world, with a mix of scientific and clinical backgrounds. Finally, the graduate school at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (the Watson School of Biological Sciences) really made a big effort to make sure our PhD experience extended beyond focused lab research by exposing us to a vast range of academic courses in broad fields, in addition to the frequent on-site conferences.

Following my PhD I moved back to the UK, my native country, and worked for three years as a post-doctoral researcher in cancer genetics at the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre, Institute of Cancer Research, London. There I studied potential therapeutic targeting of the DNA repair defects in cancer cells.

Transition to new career

For many years throughout high-school and higher education I envisioned that my career path would take me to an independent position in cancer research and (hopefully) to ultimately make a positive difference to the health of patients with cancer. However, towards the end of my post-doctoral career I began to have second thoughts about this path, for quite a few reasons:

• I was frustrated with the number of years of unwavering focus that most research projects take to come to fruition
• I felt that there was too much uncertainty in the path ahead: uncertainty in my ability to get the right publications to secure an independent position, then uncertainty in my chances of continually churning out enough high-profile publications to keep renewing temporary funding and temporary contracts for a long-term career. It felt like scientific hard work never truly pays off, because there would always be begging to be done in the future
• I realised that my youthful reasons for pursuing cancer research (improving patient health) were naïve, and even a lifetime dedicated to research is no guarantee of a meaningful impact on patients
• Looking around me at very senior lab heads that I have great respect for, many were going through troublesome times in their personal lives (particularly family break-ups). Even if I were able to emulate the professional success of them in the future, I was worried about whether the potential detriment to my wider life would be worth it. By contrast, looking around at friends and family in different career fields, those that seemed to be the happiest had more standard lifestyles of nine-to-five jobs and an active family life.

So, I looked around for careers that would use my scientific training but that could be more varied and stable….

I considered a few future career paths.

I gave a lot of thought to teaching. I’d had some experience of working in schools. I’d been a tutor for high school and middle school laboratory practical classes when I was at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and also a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Ambassador while a post-doc in the UK. However, I felt that teaching at high-school level would mean that my PhD and post-doctoral training would be somewhat wasted. I also considered whether University teaching would be good, but to be a respected lecturer I would probably need to run a successful research group (and continually compete with full-time researchers for limited funding).

I thought about whether a career in the pharmaceutical industry would be a good move, but there didn’t seem to be any more stability in that sector than in academic research.

Finally I set my heart on an editorial role in the publishing world, because that would allow me to deal with cutting edge science (but across more varied scientific fields) while hopefully providing more job stability and a better work-life balance. I applied for editorial jobs that arose at Nature Publishing Group. I was delighted to secure an entry level position (Assistant Editor) jointly with Nature Reviews Cancer and Nature Reviews Genetics in 2010. I then moved up to become an Associate Editor solely with Nature Reviews Genetics in 2013.

Current job

My current role as an Associate Editor is varied and rewarding. We handle manuscripts through all their stages starting with coming up with the ideas of the articles (most of our content is commissioned by the editorial team rather than being an unsolicited submission from authors). When the first draft of the articles are written we then work with the authors to ‘developmentally edit’ their article to make sure that it meets our standards for comprehensibility, structure, interest etc. The amount of work this takes varies greatly between articles, and sometimes there will be multiple rounds of back-and-forth with authors. We then coordinate peer review and finally make editorial decisions about if/when the article is accepted for publication. My editorial predecessors have worked hard to establish a strong reputation for the Nature Reviews journals. Our articles have a high impact and readers have strong expectations of them, so it is important that we continually strive to maintain the highest of standards.

Although handling articles is the main component of the job, no two days are the same because the subject matter of the articles is so diverse and we learn a lot of science just by doing the job. For example, an article on ecological genetics might be quickly followed by a techy one on the latest next-generation sequencing methods, so the work is never dull.

Other aspects of the job are writing Research Highlights about published research that we choose as being of high interest (so that readers can get a quick summary of any papers they might have missed). We also organise special projects such as coordinating article collections, posters, calendars etc.

One of the best parts of the job is the international travel to attend conferences and visit institutions. This is to make sure that we are up-to-speed with the latest research (mainly for inspiring us to commission new articles) and also to interact face-to-face with the scientific community to see if there are any ways that we can serve them better and to get feedback from authors and readers about previous article of ours.

Competencies old and new

Scientific knowledge is the main part of my higher education experience that I still use today. However, because most lab research is fairly focused, scientific knowledge acquired from the lab is only a small proportion of the subject matter I must now have working knowledge of. Attention to detail is another key skill translated from the lab. Other skills that the job requires that I have had to learn on the job are strict timekeeping (press deadlines are not optional), editorial procedures and business aspects of the publishing industry.

Reflecting on my career path

I am very happy with my current career. I love the ability to deal with science from diverse fields, the day-by-day satisfaction of completing tasks (in editing, almost all of your efforts achieve something unlike the long and sometimes indefinite timescales of lab research), the longer-term job stability and a good work-life balance.

I think that doctoral students, research staff and research leaders should be more aware of the diverse career paths that science can take you, and not see a career trajectory towards independent research as the only ‘successful’ route.

Overall, I find my career very satisfying. Although I worried at first about former lab colleagues thinking that I somehow ‘failed’ by leaving hands-on research, I am now in the position where numerous former colleagues have asked how they can follow similar career paths into editorial roles, which reassures me that maybe my career choice was an insightful move after all.

Suggestions and advice

I would strongly recommend moving internationally during a career path: beside the personal experiences and opportunities that come with living in a new place, it is a great professional experience and helps you stand out in future job applications due to unique combinations of skills and experience.

Daryl undertook a computer science doctorate and became the founding engineer in a spin-off computer company.

“I undertook a computer science doctorate in formal methods and electronic hardware design, having previously worked in the same lab as a research assistant on a three-year contract. My manager described my first year report as ‘half a PhD’ so we applied for PhD funding. I intended to submit after two years because of my head start – but this did not happen as, by the end of my first year, my eldest child had been born. Having a baby slowed my progress, but my supervisor allowed me a great work-life balance. I spent time at home while my wife worked mornings, as well as doing lots of undergraduate supervisions to generate additional income.

“My doctorate involved a pleasing combination of pure theory and engineering. Towards the end of it, one of the managers of the project I had worked on as a research assistant started a spin-off company, and offered me an irresistible mix – a salary while writing up a familiar area, and the promise of getting really rich in two to three years tops with my founding shares! It was good fun and brought enjoyable opportunities to work outside my comfort zone – because we were a small team doing customer-facing work, for example, which I realised I was quite good at.

“After about six years the company got no more funding and was sold off to one of our customers. As the entrepreneurial aspects of the work disappeared, I started looking around for other jobs. However, due to health problems I was unable to pursue this in earnest and chose to stay. Soon afterwards the choice was made for me when I was offered redundancy. After immersing myself in my family for a few months I am now looking for a research post. This is what I always hoped to end up doing once I was rich. I hope it will be interesting and give us the flexibility for my wife to relaunch her career.

“The deep knowledge I developed during my doctorate gave me an edge when dealing with customers or engineers who had practical, but often thinly spread, experience. On occasions I have used the theoretical side to engage customers – something extra to offer them. The title can help to create instant respect, especially in the US.

“My advice to postgraduate researchers would be to publish and present at conferences. I did not realise at the time how central this is and how little time I would have later. I have been involved in recruitment and interviewing – one tip is not to worry if you get the answer to a question slightly wrong. You can often use it as a starting point for discussion to show your interest, and to give the interviewer an impression of how well you can take their advice and work with them in solving problems.”

Now a training consultant, Dave feels his doctorate in public international law gave him a huge amount of confidence. The process of finishing something so challenging, navigating supervisors, and managing himself and his time taught him a lot about how he now manages his work.

“I went to university to do law, but realised that being a lawyer wasn’t for me. In my third year I ducked out to do a sabbatical with the students’ union, which was far more fun and far more interesting. The students’ union experience gave me a greater awareness of how you might apply learning. I saw how the skills that I’d been learning in law could be applied in other contexts. After returning to complete my degree, I then went on to do an MA which was a naïve meander in career terms, but made sense in disciplinary terms. I enjoyed the MA, but when I did the dissertation for it I vowed that I would never do a long research project ever again.

“After my MA I went on to manage a children’s leisure centre. My first job there was as a receptionist, and it took me a few months to take over! It was a great experience, a long way out of my comfort zone, and it was the first time I had to manage people. The company was built on a flawed business model and eventually went into liquidation. I then spent some time taking stock and eventually ended up back at university doing a PhD.

“Fairly quickly I remembered how much I hated doing research. However, although the research didn’t work out, the rest of my PhD experience was great – I was teaching, which I loved, working as a sub-warden, and running training courses. I then took the opportunity to become Head Warden. In this role I was head of 35 sub-wardens, responsible for a resident student population of over 1,800. I realised about this time that I could never just get on and do something without wanting to run it.

“The PhD gave me a huge amount of confidence, and the process of finishing something so challenging – navigating supervisors, managing myself and my time – taught me a lot about how I now manage my work. In research you don’t know what you are going to find until you find it. This is what research is about, but it is also the way that I’ve conducted my career since then.

“I then found a job teaching at a university in Bulgaria – the only job I applied for, found in a tiny advert in the back pages of the Guardian. I applied for it to have a bit of an adventure. This then led to a promotion to co-ordinating projects in central and southeast Europe for the educational charity that I worked for, based out of Budapest. Around this time I also went back to the UK to tutor on a couple of GRADschools (experiential training courses for researchers). Following this I then shaped my job in Budapest into running more training courses for academics in universities in Eastern Europe. During this time I had a lot of freedom to do a lot of the things that I wanted to do but I still found the organisation too constraining.

“I resigned and ended up unemployed in Macedonia and did all sorts of things, including increasing the amount of training I did in the UK. After five months I moved to Serbia, renovated an old apartment, did some voluntary work for local NGOs, taught English, and did more training in the UK.

“I would have liked to work full-time in Serbia, but this didn’t work out. At this time I met some people in the UK who were working as freelance trainers specialising in HE. I then realised that I could make a living in this way, so I moved back to the UK. I didn’t have a clear plan to get a company going, but I did get in early on a new course that was launching – and I used this to make more contacts and get exposure in lots of universities. Whenever people asked me to do something I would almost always say ’yes’. I agreed to do lots of things that I hadn’t done before, but knew I could deliver.

“I routinely read the jobs page of The Times Higher and pondered. In my experience freelancers never stop looking for a ‘job’. I’ve just never yet found one that appeals enough to take the risk of sticking on a suit and going to work for someone else. I’ve never really had a proper job and I seem to be doing alright. If I can carry on playing that game until I retire then so much the better.”

Dave completed his doctorate in plant science at the University of York. He is currently the chairman of a small banana business in Africa, having previously worked for the UN.

“I completed my doctorate in plant science at the University of York. My research focused on how plants survive environmental stress, such as drought. My motivation was to use plants to help feed the world, but I discovered that I would not do this from the laboratory.

“After my doctorate I gained an international Wain fellowship with funding through BBSRC, working with the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN, managing the Agricultural Biotechnology Network in Africa based in Nairobi. This gave me invaluable experience of working with development organisations and enabled me to build a network of personal contacts in the field. That network is proving useful now and will doubtless continue to do so.

“I was then unemployed for six months. This is a risk of working in the development sector, which is characterised by short-term contracts. I used the time to write a business plan for multiplication of disease-free bananas. The aim was to set up a sustainable, up-scalable project that covered its own costs by selling banana plants to farmers. I wrote the proposal with a colleague, and we have since launched our own small banana business, of which I am chairman!

“At present, I am in northern Mozambique, working for a fresh produce company that sells vegetables to UK supermarkets. My job is to work out whether and how it would be possible to buy produce from small farmers. This has involved collecting data about weather, soil quality, and from field trials. I have researched how other companies and NGOs work with farmers to adapt their models to the local situation.

“I’ve drawn on my doctorate in various ways. My subject expertise gave me authority and credibility when talking to scientists and plant breeders around the world. The transferable skills I developed have proven even more important. I have had to prepare project proposals and development plans. With my doctorate behind me, I was quite comfortable doing background research into what was needed and what else had been tried, and then explaining to managers in a reasoned way what would be achievable. In my planning I made sure that I had clear objectives with measurable outputs and that I highlighted potential risks. All of this is second nature to a scientist in search of data for their thesis or publications.

“I have been struck how, beyond academia, people make statements without providing evidence for them. Being able to understand the importance of this, and spot when somebody else does not have a good grounding for a statement or judgement, has proved very useful. Similarly, being acutely aware of the difference between facts (like the results bit of the thesis) and opinion (like its discussion), and the need to base opinions on facts, has proved very valuable.

“I only wish now that I had taken more advantage during my doctorate of the training courses that were offered. These were available free of charge. I soon discovered that, in the world of work, training opportunities are severely constrained by budgets!”

Principal Advisor, Climate Change, Mott MacDonald

Former research staff in the Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia, UK.
This story comes from our What do research staff do next? project, investigating the careers of research staff who moved from research posts to other occupations and employment sectors. You can use these stories to better understand how these researchers transition, what careers they have and their reflections on the transition process and current career paths.

Research staff experience

I worked at the University of East Anglia (UEA) Climatic Research Unit for 17 years.

David VinerIn September 1991, after completing my PhD, I moved from the urban north west of England to take up a postdoctoral contract at UEA in Norwich. I had no idea that my new research unit would become hugely influential, or that Norfolk (a largely rural county completely unknown to me) would become my long-term home. In 1992 my Director said that if I wished to stay on I needed to write the follow-on proposals. At 27, I became Principal Investigator of a large project at the hub of the international research action on climate change.

I was working on a UK government-funded project to provide climate data to the scientific community. This was in the early days of government focus on climate change. When the work expanded from national to international level, I reported to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on climate change (IPCC). I was contributing author and Co-manager of the IPCC Data Distribution Centre.

By sheer luck, I had landed in a good place at a good time. I gained a huge amount of experience very quickly: giving major presentations to IPCC members and undertaking a lot of media work for the Unit and UEA, including many live TV and radio interviews. I presented Inside Out for BBC1 and have had profile pieces written about me in Sunday newspapers.

This media presence raised my profile beyond the academic sphere. For example, I was approached by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) who wanted to investigate the impacts of climate change on tourism. This opened up a whole new research area that had previously attracted little attention. I was then successful in putting together bids for research funding for multi-disciplinary projects that brought together climate change scientists, social scientists and policy makers. By the early 2000s I’d led multiple projects as principal investigator.

My eventual decision to leave academia has its roots in this period, when I was asked to take over the running of the Climate Change master’s course. When I developed it from six enrolments a year to 25-plus, the University wanted me to do more teaching, leaving insufficient time to do research as I wanted. But at the same time I was not getting recognition: I was still in a non-tenured post.

My goal had been to become a professor by the time I was 40, but this was clearly not going to happen at UEA. I was offered a Chair by another university but it would have meant moving my family and we did not want to relocate to a different part of the country. I started looking beyond academia for jobs within commuting distance. The experiences I’d had working with various external organisations had made me positive about the idea of moving into a different sector.

Transition to new career

Through a headhunter, I successfully applied for a newly-created post at Natural England – a new government agency – and became their lead advisor on climate change.

At one level the prospect of leaving the University unnerved me. I’d done the same commute to work to the same office for 17 years. My office was my own bit of personal space that I’d been able to design as I wanted. My new role would bring a complete change of working environment. It involved travelling all over England, I’d be ‘hotdesking’ and only based in Norwich one day a week. I was expecting the change to be highly stressful.

But actually the transition was seamless. I didn’t miss my old environment at all: I was too busy enjoying working for my new employer. There were several reasons for this. Natural England had well defined aims and I much enjoyed helping make policy impact on practice. Furthermore, I was working with thought leaders in various academic disciplines in a very collaborative way. For example, in my convening role I had to bring together two experts in biodiversity who had polarised views, but ways were found so that they worked together for the common good. In academia, competition is systemic and this is both a strength and a weakness. In recent years I’d experienced more of the negative aspects of competition than positive ones and I thrived in the change of environment.

Further career shifts

I’d been at Natural England for just over a year when I was approached by headhunters again, about a vacancy at the British Council – a senior role, to design and operationalise a global programme on climate change. Although this was a fixed-term post (unlike my post at Natural England), it had two big draws for me: higher salary and the opportunity to work internationally again. I joined the global leadership team at the British Council reporting to the executive board. Working in over 70 countries I established a hugely successful project that was described by the UK Foreign Office as ‘a national asset’.

I felt less comfortable in the British Council culture and at the end of my contract was ready for something new. I took a four-month career break then started working as a self-employed consultant. From this I was offered a job on a large international development project. It came with a very large salary but I was working mostly abroad, in an inaccessible location (unsuitable for my family to relocate to). I felt this was unfeasible in the longer term so returned to the UK, where I joined my current employer.

Current job

Since late 2012 I’ve been Principal Advisor, Climate Change for Mott MacDonald (a global engineering, management and development consultancy). Mott MacDonald is one of the largest employee-owned companies in the world, with 16,000 working in over 140 countries. My sources of job satisfaction are very similar to those I enjoyed at Natural England: collaborating with fellow professionals and seeing people from different subject backgrounds working well together.

The climate resilience aspects of sustainability have become increasingly important in all sorts of projects. My role involves me in a wide range of activities – bid writing, business development, thought leadership (speaking at conferences, writing papers). I developed a business case for Mott MacDonald to develop its services in Climate Resilience and the company is now investing its own money to do so. An important part of my role is to build capacity within the company and raise our profile internationally.

I’m involved in a huge variety of projects, from feasibility studies for hydropower schemes to risk assessments for buildings projects, to education projects overseas. For example, we are mainstreaming climate resilience into a major education programme in Nigeria (ESSPIN) aimed at strengthening education infrastructure, curriculum and teacher training. I’m even managing to publish still – in autumn 2014 I had an article in Nature Climate Change.

Mott MacDonald provides me with an excellent working environment and plenty of opportunities. There is a Group-wide commitment to providing work of the highest quality that provides value to our clients.

Competencies old and new

All the knowledge and skills I use today are rooted in what I learned at UEA: research skills – how to apply climate change data into major projects; writing skills; programme management; project management, and communication. Most of these were self-taught and developed on the job. The only formal training I had at UEA was a two-day media training course and a PADI Open Water Diving course. Mott MacDonald has provided me with real- world applicable training and a more robust professional development pathway.

The communication skills I developed at UEA have been well used: speaking to large audiences; doing media work; being able to a handle a wide range of people (having learnt how to deal with everyone from students to senior academics).

Finally, my consultancy skills started life when I was in higher education research. All the external projects I worked on – even the short ones – were useful in building up my experience and often gave me international experience too. My role at Mott MacDonald has brought the best out of my skills, more so than in academia and with the British Council.

Reflecting on my career path

When I finished my PhD in hydrology at the University of Salford I had no clear career ambition – I went to UEA by chance. Like a lot of young people I thought only one step ahead. It was only when I was a postdoctoral researcher that I learned the importance of driving your own career path.

Having worked in different settings I’ve learned that I’m best surrounded by other people working towards a shared goal. I love working on a variety of projects and bouncing ideas around with colleagues. Lone consultancy did not suit me. I value working in organisations like my current one where knowledge and evidence is listened to and acted upon, to effect change for the better.

Suggestions and advice

Don’t be afraid to leave academic research. Whether you’ve been a researcher for one year or (as in my case) 17, leaving academia can be a very positive move. Don’t assume you’re going to find change difficult – see it rather as an opportunity to leave behind the negative aspects of higher education culture.

If you decide to leave academia you need to show potential employers that you have breadth of experience, including outside the world of higher education. If your research doesn’t give you suitable opportunities, make your own – go and talk in schools, in the community (I gave talks to all manner of local organisations), get involved in university or other external committees and journal editorial boards.

If you want to use your research to provide evidence to influence policy or practice, there are all sorts of opportunities out there. There are jobs for people who just want to get on with their specialism and have other people broadcast that evidence, and there are jobs for people who’d like a higher profile, and work in more strategic roles.

Try not to make assumptions about different sectors. For example, the private sector is not necessarily the place where you’ll get the highest salary. Many interesting, worthwhile jobs are no better paid than senior jobs in academia. Find out what opportunities really entail; look past the stereotypes.

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Derek completed his doctorate in the Department of Education at the University of Bath, and is now an art teacher at the Vienna International School, as well as being a visiting research fellow at the University of Bath.

“Before my doctorate I was a teacher of art and design, and also the founder and editor-in-chief of the International Schools Association Journal, Skepsis. I completed my doctorate part-time in the Department of Education at the University of Bath whilst continuing to teach. I tried to find out how artists, designers, architects and writers use drawing to generate and develop ideas, and how this process could be applied to education.

“After obtaining my doctorate, I became the co-ordinator of my school’s ‘Theory of Knowledge’ programme, and two years’ later I became the professional development co-ordinator. This position was eliminated, meaning a return to the classroom – with a little less money but time to complete and publish a book on teaching creativity, as well as some lecturing at two universities. I also held a visiting research fellowship for five years at the University of Bath. I have now been given a studio by a patron of the arts where I can write and paint, and I have a new book proposal in the pipeline.

“I did not undertake my doctorate specifically to develop my career. I did it because the area of research deeply interested me, and because I wanted to gain some understanding of creative processes that I was involved in – as a teacher, and as I observed in the practices of others. The career steps thrown up by undertaking a doctorate have been incidental – my ideal career step would be to sit in a library for days on end, trying to make sense of the data gathered from field work among artists and writers, as well as doing some teaching.

“The theoretical understanding gained from my doctorate has changed my own teaching. I have become suspicious of the distinction made between practice and theory. The link between theory and what provokes it continues to fascinate me.”

Research Impact Officer, Oxford Brookes University.

Four years’ research staff experience in the UK as a plant pathologist.

This story comes from our What do research staff do next? project, investigating the careers of research staff who moved from research posts to other occupations and employment sectors. You can use these stories to better understand how these researchers transition, what careers they have and their reflections on the transition process and current career paths.

Research staff experience

My PhD studies were focussed on atypical isolates of a wilt-causing fungus of many globally important crops, which at the time were causing problems in oilseed rape crops in northern Europe but not in the UK. After completing my thesis, I was fortunate to get a 14-month research staff post working on a contract research project followed by a 5-month post, then finally a 24-month post all broadly on molecular diagnostics of diseases of Brassica crops, all within the same institution.

Transition to new career

It was probably a few months into the first research staff post that the feeling that I could not, maybe even didn’t want to, do research for the rest of my life came about. However, it took a long time to be able to admit it to myself. Coincidentally, it was around the time I met my now husband. Looking back, I was finding it difficult to fit in with my new group and the project didn’t feel like it was going well (it wasn’t!). There were times when I was very lonely, almost bereft at the passing of my PhD (as strange as it sounds).

After RAE2008, the vibes from senior management within the department seemed to change as, even though the department had performed very well in the research assessment, it was under tremendous financial pressures, and later on it became clear that the university wished to change the status quo; when I looked to the future I just couldn’t see myself justifying my position there. Yes, I could have looked elsewhere for a research position, but my partner had (and still has) a stable post in an excellent lab in medical research at Oxford and my area of research was niche to say the least. I decided that for us to succeed in our relationship and have the best chance of a happy future, we both couldn’t be in research. His post had better prospects and, on paper at least, it was an easy decision for me to try to make the move to a new, non-research, role.

I had a careers interview at the university careers service, and as preparation, was asked to look at jobs that appealed to me and highlight parts within the job description I liked the sound of. I knew that I didn’t want to retrain (I’d spent enough time and money in higher education), that I really didn’t want to be a secondary school teacher and that I liked working in universities. Most of the jobs in higher education were around research or grants administration, with maybe a couple of sexy sounding science communication jobs thrown in! After that I spent time talking to, then shadowing research-support colleagues at my university and doing a lot of reading around seemingly dry topics like full economic costing.

I finally got to a point where I felt confident that I could apply for a job and make it to interview. Over the space of a year I had interviews for three research support-type jobs; the first two I didn’t get but learnt lots from and had really useful feedback that helped me prepare for the next one. The final interview was for a Research Support Officer post at Oxford Brookes, which I am very pleased to have got.

Since coming to Brookes, I’ve worked in research support, business development and back to research support. I’ve been very lucky to have been able to work on such a variety of things, with tremendously supportive managers.

Current job

I am currently Research Impact Officer at Oxford Brookes University. It’s a post that came out of our preparations for the most recent national research assessment, REF2014. I support impact across the institution – so I can be talking to artists in the morning and computer scientists in the afternoon; it has tremendous variety, which I love.

My role involves working across support teams to develop a systematic approach to identifying and tracking academics’ impact. I also provide guidance and advice on changes to funders’ policy and support academic colleagues on the routes that they can exploit to develop their impact.

To my mind, impact is about demonstrating how research matters to the wider world and, to be honest, I have yet to come across a subject area that is unable to do this. In my work I am able to work strategically with senior management and in an operational capacity with academic and research support colleagues.

To be honest, there is very little about my job I dislike. As in many other universities, navigating our internal bureaucratic structures can be challenging at times, but the obstacles are certainly not insurmountable.

Competencies old and new

I think that the basic approach to any experiment is a highly transferable skill. My PhD supervisor always encouraged the ‘thought experiment’ prior to undertaking any piece of work and I keep to this principle today. The ability to analyse complex sets of data, quickly develop competency in bespoke software applications, adapt to changing agendas internally and externally, present and write effectively – these are all things gained from my research career that I use regularly.

Something that was completely new to me was the value and articulation of processes – so much of what we do is about working with researchers to make their research practices better. If a process is unworkable for colleagues, then it fails but if it works it can be of great benefit to all parties. I think I still find it challenging, within my own mind-set, to consider the human side of things that need to come together for a process to work.

Reflecting on my career path

I wish I’d known that I am not a failure for moving out of research, and that it shouldn’t be seen as such. I did feel that I had let my PhD supervisor down somewhat, and this is probably something that I still carry with me.

After five years in a support role I do feel that I am at a point where I could look to progress my career – but at the same time my current job is enjoyable, challenging and works with my home life and I’ve finally realised that there is nothing wrong with this!

Suggestions and advice

Research, as it turned out, wasn’t for me but that doesn’t mean it isn’t for you. If you love your discipline, being a researcher should be the best job in the world. But if you do want to try something else there are jobs out there.

It sounds obvious, but it’s really easy to slip into the mindset that just because you have a doctorate it means that you are instantly employable…you’re not. It’s just as, if not more, important to prepare well for interviews; if it’s a non-academic job go the extra mile to demonstrate how your experience in research is applicable for the post in question and spell it out!

Head of Biomedical Research, Multiple Sclerosis Society, UK.

Former research staff in molecular neuroscience, King’s College London, UK.

This story comes from our What do research staff do next? project, investigating the careers of research staff who moved from research posts to other occupations and employment sectors. You can use these stories to better understand how these researchers transition, what careers they have and their reflections on the transition process and current career paths.

Research staff experience

I did my PhD at King’s College London (KCL) Institute of Psychiatry. After obtaining my doctorate in 2009, I stayed at KCL, continuing my PhD dementia research for a short while, and had a journal paper published. I then started another project investigating a different protein but using similar techniques. Although by the time I left higher education research two and a half years later I’d not published results from this work, it was taken forward as a PhD project.

My boss at KCL gave me a lot of early responsibility. I attended a course on PhD supervision and became second supervisor to a doctoral student. I also gave a lecture to master’s students on Alzheimer’s.

I loved these challenges, the research environment and the camaraderie at KCL. With a group of other researchers I also helped develop a proposal for a public engagement project – a café scientifique. We pitched this to a KCL funding competition, and were awarded £2,000 to implement our initiative.

But despite loving my time at KCL I felt I needed to leave in order to find a permanent job, and one where I could see clear opportunities for career progression. I was well aware of the difficulty of obtaining a permanent post and becoming a research leader. I didn’t have sufficient belief that my dream of running my own lab was attainable.

It felt important to leave research sooner rather than later, to give me the best chance of making a successful career elsewhere. But it was a very difficult decision to make, because I got so much job satisfaction from research.

Transition to new career

I considered all sorts of areas where I could transfer some of my research skills and knowledge: research grant administration; medical writing; editing; school teaching; consultancy. I felt I could do elements of all of these jobs, but none really struck a chord with me.

Then I read a description of jobs in science communication and it really excited me. I was passionate about engagement with science and I’ve always been ‘cause oriented’, wanting to work where I can make a difference. I saw affinities in science communication with my skills too: I’ve been told I’m good at explaining things and I’m quite creative, I enjoy using pictures and diagrams to communicate as well as words.

My job search was very much influenced by wanting to working with people with similar values.

I was successful in my application for job as Research Communications Officer with the Multiple Sclerosis Society (MS Society) at the same time as research funding for another three years became available at KCL. Nevertheless I decided to leave academia.

My new role was to communicate the Society’s research to all it audiences: donors, people with MS and others. This included website content, talks, answering queries, and so on.

Culturally, I found the transition from HE research to the charity sector really difficult. It took me six months to adjust. This was partly because in my new team I was starting at the bottom and had to prove myself all over again. But it was also because of the way I communicated. In academia I’d been used to a collegiate but competitive environment where people said exactly what they thought. My new environment was both more hierarchical and more respectful of people’s feelings. I may have offended people unintentionally and came across as difficult and abrasive! Gradually I learned tact and came to appreciate the benefits of working in a more inclusive working environment.

After a year and a half I was promoted to Research Communications Manager, overseeing the whole of the research communication programme. First I was responsible for one member of staff, and then my team grew to two.

Current job – and how it compares

In summer 2014 I applied for temporary promotion to cover a maternity leave. I was successful and am now, for a year, Head of Biomedical Research. This is a big step up from my previous role. I’m responsible for a £5m research budget and a large team. I have a lot of contact with researchers from universities and research institutions where the Society has funded research.

There are some similarities to the academic environment. Both combine elements of collaboration and competition. In the MS Society I have to make the case for my budget in competition with other departments.

I have a very heavy workload and long hours: partly because I am learning the role, but also because at the moment the Society is restructuring, and there’s lots of business planning to do. I don’t begrudge this: it’s a fantastic opportunity where I’m learning loads of new skills.

There are lots of pluses to my new role. I love managing a team and seeing how all the different contributions come together. I love having a job with the scope to think strategically and be logical. In this I’m trying very hard to focus on outcomes for people with MS.

There are not many downsides to my current job. I suppose that one is to do with confidence in communicating with senior academics. After meetings with established professors I sometimes kick myself for missing a chance to get a point across.

Competencies old and new

Only someone with an understanding of science could work in the roles I’ve undertaken at the MS Society. A research background is essential in my current role, both to be taken seriously by academics and also in order to relate to the research environment, to get the best outcomes.

The general analytical approach and problem solving skills that research develops have also been very useful.

In academia I developed people management skills that gave me a good basis for my current role. The PhD supervision course I attended was particularly useful. It broadened my understanding and gave me techniques (on handling difficult conversations, for example). I also developed people skills through the day-to-day experience of dealing with different, sometimes difficult characters.

As well as adapting to a different work culture at the MS Society I have had to adapt to the language, and learn the importance of following the linguistic norms – the ‘buzzwords’. Other new aspects I’ve needed to learn include budgeting and understanding how a charity works, in particular governance.

Reflecting on my career path

Although I’m very happy in my current job I’m sometimes in two minds about my decision to leave academia when I did. Was I being defeatist? Should I have tried harder? These feelings strike me especially when I go back to a lab on a site visit. But I think I’m looking back with rose-tinted spectacles. If anything, I now feel more at home in the third sector than in academia. I have stimulating colleagues whose values I share. I love the variety of people I engage with – a much greater range than I met in academia. I love getting immediate feedback for the work I do, rather than waiting for months or years for outcomes in academia. I even prefer ‘little things’ like being able to dress more smartly for work sometimes.

I’m also much more conscious of the downsides of the academic culture – how competition becomes unhealthy and non-nurturing. The research career is a tough one (and desperately poor at supporting women in particular). It makes me angry that there is no structure to keep good scientists in universities: an awful lot of skills are lost.

Looking ahead: I am ambitious, but I deliberately don’t have a particular goal in mind. I feel that if I do my best and take on all sorts of new learning experiences and challenges, and learn lots of new skills, opportunities will happen for me. I want to do new things outside work too – I’ve recently become a school governor. So while I think that probably my next move will be a role in research strategy, I’m trying to keep an open mind and see what opportunities are around.

Suggestions and advice

Don’t give yourself such a hard time. You’re not a failure if you leave HE research. With the skills and experience you’ve developed you have many more opportunities than you may realise. Whatever you decide to do – just go for it.

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/emma-gray/38/817/3b7

Erik took a short-term position after his doctorate to support the formation of a consortium. Currently he works as Project Manager for the Medical Research Council’s Clinical Sciences Centre.

“I was awarded my doctorate at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine and the Free University Berlin (Germany). My research project was in biophysics and involved crystal structures of biological macromolecules.

“Previously I studied chemistry in Germany. I first came across molecular genetics and protein chemistry at the University of California, Irvine, as an exchange student.

“I now work in research management as the project manager of the European Union’s 6th Framework Programme Integrated Project, ‘EURATools’. I support the scientific co-ordination of the project with seventeen partner institutes in eight countries. My main activities include reporting, event organisation, networking, integration and communication.

“I took a short-term position after my doctorate to support the formation of a consortium. The 6th Framework Programme had just started to support the co-ordination of large scale projects financially, and I supported group leaders with the preparation of project proposals. One was awarded a grant, which is how I made the decision to continue with research management rather than pursuing a scientific career.

“The institute employed me as group leader responsible for extramural funding within the finance department. I helped to prepare the proposal for the project I now manage.

“My broad scientific education helps me to be a competent communication partner within the research project. However, the specific research I did for my doctorate thesis is of limited importance to my work. More important is my development from being a student to a (somewhat) independent researcher. This has enabled me to think in a structured manner, plan and execute a project, question and verify the outcome, solve unexpected problems, write scientific documents (publications, thesis and later grant proposals), disseminate and present the results. The interdisciplinary character of my education has helped me to think ‘outside the box’ and has formed the basis for a network of colleagues. My doctorate helps to ensure that I am taken seriously by high-ranking scientists.

“It seems that not many researchers have a clear vision for their future life and their scientific career when they begin their doctorate. More important than the specific field is the quality of support and leadership skills of the supervisor and the working environment, including the training possibilities, the reputation of the institution (which creates important contacts and opens doors later), the people, the research infrastructure and the support services.

“For me it is important to remain flexible and open to all kinds of different things. Many useful qualifications, even if they are not always essential, contribute greatly to one’s development into a highly-skilled professional with wide areas of expertise.

“I gained a lot by attending non-scientific courses on career development, time management, administrative and financial skills, and a management course. In addition, networking with people with different areas of expertise has always proved invaluable. Nobody will ever know everything, so having the capacity to find the best person to help you out with a problem cannot be underestimated.”

Esther spent some time in a research role in the UK after a doctorate in physics, and then she returned to New Zealand for work. She came back to the UK and is now Regional Officer at the Insitute of Physics, while also working for the Women in Science, Engineering and Technology Initiative (WiSETI) within the University of Cambridge.

“After a doctorate in physics, I spent some time in a research role in the UK before returning to my native New Zealand. I worked in research roles, working part-time after my son was born, then returned to the UK when my husband took up an academic post in Cambridge. Eventually I won a Daphne Jackson fellowship for returners to science, engineering and technology – an opportunity to change subject area.

“I currently have two half-time jobs. My role for WiSETI has included data analysis, report writing, presenting workshops, running a network and providing one-to-one advice. As a regional officer I spend time on outreach and promoting the Institute’s resources for teachers. I appreciate the variety provided by my current roles.

“The narrow topic of my PhD is no longer of interest. However, the broader skills in mathematical analysis of problems and computer programming are still useful, even in my current roles. Developing the habit of working independently and finding help when needed has proved useful.

“I wish now that as a doctoral researcher I had given more thought to how what I was doing would help to build my career. I would encourage anyone undertaking a doctorate now to be proactive – think about what is really important to you and how you can achieve it.”

Fiona completed her doctorate in marketing, and is now Head of Graduate Development, Kings College London.

The following text is a transcription of a career story collected by interview.

“My name is Fiona Denney. I am the Head of Graduate Development at Kings College, London. So my PhD is actually in Marketing. Basically I am in charge of training and development for research staff and research students at Kings. Which involves putting together and providing a central programme of training and development opportunities for researchers and working within the organisation to support erm, anything, any activities that might support their training and development. I’d done a similar job at Queen Mary University of London, and at Queen Mary I’d worked as a development advisor for research staff, and that just grew, and my workload grew enormously, and the job at Kings was really a natural progression from the job at Queen Mary.

“My career path was, was a little unusual, in that I did a BA in American studies at the University of Nottingham. I left the University of Nottingham in 1994, which was around the time of the last recession, which was not a great time to be leaving university with a degree in American studies. So I then went and did a conversion Masters degree in management studies and picked up the marketing aspect of that. Following that, I went and worked in marketing and fundraising for a charity, and then took the position of a teaching assistant in marketing at what was then the University of Luton – which is now the University of Bedfordshire.

“And I was offered the opportunity to do a PhD in marketing at the same time as doing a fair amount of teaching, and also in-company training as well in the marketing area. It was something that I’d always assumed at some point I would do, because I grew up in a household where my father had a PhD and that was quite sort of a motivating factor for me. The subject itself is less important now than the actual process of doing the PhD. So the area that I’m working in is the development of researchers, and in order to develop researchers I think that you have to understand the research process. The opportunities for people with a PhD in academia are many fewer than they expect. They have to recognise that a career in academia is not guaranteed just because they have a PhD. And the kinds of people that we see at Kings, because it’s a world class research led institution, the people tend to come to do their PhD at Kings because they are assuming that they are going to go into a research career in academia, that’s really what they are aiming for. So it’s an uphill struggle to get them to consider other, other avenues.

“I think they have tremendous potential to pursue careers in almost any walk of life that they choose.

“But the most important thing that they need to recognise is that they are developing a wide set of skills at a more advanced level than perhaps they would do at an undergraduate degree. What we really need to do, is actually to improve the dialogue between employers and PhD students and people supporting research, researchers in academia.

“I had the opportunity when I went to Kings to start up the research, what’s now called the Research and Development Unit, and the Research and Development programme of training and development opportunities. I am somebody that is very motivated by challenge and so I was very motivated to start something new. There were lots of things that we had to overcome within the institution. I am very focused on getting the unit up and running and, really trying to change the culture within Kings a little bit more, so that it’s a little bit more focused on the development of researchers instead of them just being there to do the science or to do their research project.

“I feel very positive about my future, I’m very excited and enthusiastic about the things I am doing at the moment and where that might lead.”

Student recruitment and widening participation coordinator (UK and EU), University of Manchester.

Former research staff in Cardiovascular Research, University of Manchester.

This story comes from our What do research staff do next? project, investigating the careers of research staff who moved from research posts to other occupations and employment sectors. You can use these stories to better understand how these researchers transition, what careers they have and their reflections on the transition process and current career paths

Research staff experience

I have twelve years’ experience as research staff in the Department of Medicine in the University of Manchester.

After completing my doctorate at University College Dublin I moved to Manchester to pursue a postdoctoral career. The University’s labs were based in Manchester Royal Infirmary. The hospital location was extremely useful for my project, which concerned the behaviour of small resistance coronary arteries to changes in intravascular pressure. We wished to find out how the arteries behaved under relatively healthy conditions and in diseased conditions. I had to liaise with clinicians and surgeons to collect tissue samples, coordinate ethics and research passport applications and maintain patient confidentiality, and manage sensitive databases. I published a number of papers and abstracts, attended several conferences, and won a young investigator’s award at an international conference.

I was then offered two-year funding to continue research in this area and develop some projects of my own. Unfortunately, the fellowship application I put together was unsuccessful, but I did gather data for several abstracts and another paper.

My next few years in research involved a succession of short-term contracts, mostly three-month ones. Despite this I enjoyed my work and increasing responsibilities: supervising students; forming collaborations; and regularly attending international conferences. I acquired some valuable teaching duties which I really enjoyed.

During this time I wrote several grant applications. Many came back with positive feedback and encouragement to make changes and reapply, but the result was always negative.

I continued to aim for an academic career. But as I had not secured my own funding I was not the strongest of candidates when applying for lectureships, although I was shortlisted for interviews.

Eventually I became unhappy with the lack of career progression and security. I had been a research staff for over a decade, which is a long time by UK (or anyone’s) standards. The short-term contracts were having an increasing impact on work-life balance, as it was hard to justify time off when chasing the next contract.

Transition to new career

Friends were leaving research after becoming unhappy in the lab like me and I saw them develop successful careers elsewhere. It encouraged me to know that it is possible to leave HE research, not be a failure, and enjoy doing something else. So the hardest thing was just making the decision to leave.

It helped that I’d attended lots of staff training and accredited courses. Completing a level 5 certificate in management was excellent, not only for the skill set gained, but also for showing me there were other things that I was good at apart from research.

I’d also developed a keen interest in public engagement work and had started to volunteer at events in the University and the local region. I began to find ways of doing more, such as securing funding from the Physiology Society to host an event at the Manchester Science and Industry Museum – a really challenging and exciting project. I also became a Widening Participation Award Holder. These one-year positions supported the University’s widening participation activities with school students of all ages. Award holders received lots of training in developing workshops, managing classrooms and communication skills.

Although these activities were difficult to structure around experiments/work/family they were invaluable for showing me what I enjoyed and could potentially do as a career.

I also considered medical writing, school teaching and clinical trial work. But my real passion lay in public engagement and widening participation.

Finding jobs in this sector can be difficult as they are sought after and sometimes don’t make it to an external advertisement. However, keeping an eye on university job web pages, volunteering to work on events and good networking can often lead to opportunities.

Support from my friends really helped; they read my CV and gave advice. One of the biggest challenges leaving research for a non-academic job is explaining why you want to make the change. The only way to address this is to be honest in job interviews. If you have a passion for what you want to change to, this will come across.

Current job

I’m part of the team responsible for the University of Manchester Open Days. We have four a year, each with over 10,000 visitors. I help organise the programme, our student experience exhibition, central speakers and staff rotas. I also coordinate campus visits for schools and other groups. Thousands take part each year: I liaise with schools; organise and staff the visits; and develop the presentations.

There’s a lot of variety and challenge. I also co-ordinate training events for staff, develop training material and website content and manage interns. I regularly attend Higher Education conferences, parents’ evenings and so on. Sometimes I support the activities of other teams within student recruitment and widening participation.

A ‘typical’ day may involve some desk work, organising visits, ensuring all the paper work is in place, rooms are booked, etc. I may need to write a report or a web campaign. I may need to recruit people to work on my events. I will have meetings to attend, or training sessions to deliver, or I may have to dash out to a school or college or another part of the campus to give a presentation. I also need to find time to keep up with current affairs so I’m aware of sector and government policy developments.

Often I’m busier than when I was a researcher – which seems difficult to fathom – but I absolutely love what I do!!

Competencies old and new

As researchers we take for granted all the things we do day to day to keep our research running. Nowadays, I certainly value the project management, budgeting, and report writing skills that I gained and that are vital to my job. Visit information and schools activity need to be recorded and trends analysed so years of working with data have been invaluable. Communication and networking skills are also key.

I’m learning about marketing and communication, branding and policy making – all very enjoyable, and completely new to me.

Reflecting on my career path

I feel very lucky to have made a successful move, and with the benefit of hindsight wish I’d left the lab a few years earlier. Looking at my peers with successful academic careers the one thing they seem to have in common is a willingness to relocate. I enjoyed my research so I stayed where I was for that and family reasons.

I hope to stay in student recruitment and widening participation. There are lots of opportunities open to me. I can apply for secondment positions to try new areas and may do that to gain some broader experience and start to move forward.

Suggestions and advice

If you want to leave HE research say YES to opportunities that will show employers you have interests outside the lab.

Make use of staff training. Pick up some skills valued by employers outside research, such as minute taking, report writing, project management.

Network. Talk to people at conferences, talk to everyone! Job opportunities can arise from this. Work on your LinkedIn profile.

Work on a non-academic version of your CV. (I found this really hard!). Look at your multitude of transferable skills. Employers really value your organisation, attention to detail, communication, budgeting skills etc. Sell yourself!

Be prepared to take a salary cut. You are starting again and while this is a bit painful you will find that you move up the ladder again.

Lots of universities have career fairs for researchers. After finding them encouraging as a postdoc, I now go to them as a panellist and hope that I can help some people who are thinking about making the leap.

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/fiona-lynch/39/603/3b

Self-employed freelance scientist/researcher.

A geologist with three years research staff experience at the University of Uppsala, Sweden.

This story comes from our What do research staff do next? project, investigating the careers of research staff who moved from research posts to other occupations and employment sectors. You can use these stories to better understand how these researchers transition, what careers they have and their reflections on the transition process and current career paths

Research staff experience

I have a somewhat unusual research staff experience, in that for most of the time I was simultaneously employed in a university teaching role in another country.

My research focus was regional geological studies in the North Atlantic area.

After finishing my PhD at Trinity College Dublin (2004–08), I got a contract position as a University Teacher at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. For two years I taught geology full time while keeping in touch with my PhD supervisor, who had moved to the University of Uppsala. Though my post was 100% teaching, we continued to work on papers and grant applications.

In 2010 we wrote a successful grant application, which included a one-year postdoctoral position. At the same time I was offered a one-year extension to my teaching contract. I managed to negotiate running both contracts concurrently – making it a two-year role – 50:50 between the two institutions; based in Glasgow but making regular research trips to visit my colleagues in Sweden.

I left Glasgow in 2012 and continued working as a researcher for the Centre for Experimental Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry (CEMPEG) at the Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University until summer 2013.

Fulfilling my research and teaching roles was complicated by a dual career issue: my partner of 11 years is also a geologist and works in the oil industry.

While I enjoyed my teaching position, I found it difficult to maintain an acceptable work-life balance. Due to large class sizes, marking and preparation extended well beyond a ‘regular’ working week. This was considered normal among my colleagues and was the time commitment expected of me too.

This was compounded by the two-body problem, commuting at the weekends to see my partner, who lived in Aberdeen. This encouraged me to leave the University of Glasgow to finally live with him after nine years of long-distance commuting (variously, Dublin–Aberdeen, Glasgow–Houston, Glasgow–Aberdeen). While my career was progressing, I felt my personal life was being held back.

In a further effort to resolve the two-body problem, I negotiated with the group heads in Uppsala to work remotely, based in a home office in Aberdeen, once again visiting Uppsala regularly to meet with colleagues.

My work for Uppsala University involved a complicated tax arrangement: I had to declare my earnings in the UK where I was resident, but still pay some tax in Sweden where my employer was located. Such administrative issues were very time consuming for both me and the university, and it was clear the arrangement would be unsustainable in the long term.

As my university work comprised short-term contracts and minimal security, I decided, later in 2013, to become self-employed – the continued poor job security was balanced out by the opportunity to work under my own terms. This allows me to base myself in Aberdeen and work part time. I’m currently on maternity leave, having had a baby girl in summer 2014.

Transition to self-employment

I began the transition by working remotely as a postdoctoral researcher, gaining the trust of my colleagues as a dependable independent worker. This gave me valuable experience working outside the regular structure of a university department and research group. As I was living in the UK and being paid from Sweden, I had to learn how to file my own tax returns and familiarised myself with the tax system, which stands to me now when running my own accounts.

Gaining an acceptable work-life balance was key for me. If working as a self-employed researcher turned out to be impossible I considered leaving research completely to become a school teacher, or to work in industry. Since I intentionally restricted myself geographically, future options in academia would be limited.

As a self-employed researcher, the uncertainty of academic funding is an obvious challenge as it controls the availability of projects for me to freelance on, but on the other hand I now have the opportunity to tender for projects outside academia.

I have an excellent relationship with the Uppsala group head, Prof. Valentin Troll, who had been very accommodating of my personal situation. My transition to self-employed researcher would not have been possible without his cooperation and support. Indeed my first freelance consultancy job was from CEMPEG.

Current job

So I continue to work as an academic researcher, just no longer within the structure of a university. I bill for my time, working on research projects ‘on demand’. Unlike a postdoctoral researcher, who is often working towards very strict grant/research deliverables, I tend to have a broader remit, which includes co-ordinating grant applications and outreach work as well as basic research. I have also broadened the services I offer, based on skills honed in academia, to include illustration, proofreading and tutoring, opening up my potential client base.

Though very early days, I particularly enjoy the flexibility of my work, and work part time, normally about 50%. I find I have become much more productive in this time and much happier, a combination of a more complete home life and the ability to put work aside for another day if, for example, I have writer’s block.

The only downside is that as I work from a home office, I do not see my collaborators and clients on a regular basis and I sometimes miss the daily social interaction with colleagues at the workplace. However, I find that regular Skype, email and phone conversations do help to fill this gap.

In my experience, university research positions still inevitably require extra teaching and administrative responsibilities, and while I miss teaching, it also means that my work is now completely uninterrupted, increasing my productivity significantly.

Competencies old and new

As writing and research are the main tasks I typically complete day to day, I am using the same skills I developed while working at a university. However, I have had to develop a strong sense of discipline as working from home has strong potential for distraction. Keeping a clear routine has helped. I begin work once my partner leaves for work, and finish when he comes home. It gives me a defined work day despite not having a commute.

I have had to learn new business skills to take care of my accounts and tax affairs. Becoming self-employed is a very straightforward process in the UK, though there are various levels of complexity depending on your VAT status, whether you are employing people and the type of company you have. I currently operate at the most basic, sole-trader level, which reduces my paperwork significantly.

Reflecting on my career path

I feel that as a PhD student I wasn’t really aware of the lack of job security or the cutthroat nature of academia. I sometimes wonder what things would be like had I followed a more industry-inclined career path. However I have no regrets, considering the places I travelled to during my research career (e.g. Iceland, Faroe Islands, USA, Canada) and the experiences I have had. I would not be in the position to work so flexibly without the experience gained in my past roles and the support and encouragement of my colleagues and collaborators. I get to do the science I love, but work in a flexible capacity that enables a very fulfilling home life. I hope to continue to work in this way, diversify my services, and gain more clients, while still enjoying my daughter’s early years to the fullest.

Suggestions and advice

Don’t be afraid to ask for more flexible working arrangements. I was able to run a teaching contract and a research contract concurrently at 50% each to extend my work period at the University of Glasgow, and while working for Uppsala University I successfully arranged to work remotely.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/fionacmeade

Quality Manager, Oxford Musculoskeletal Biobank.

Former research staff in Renal Pathology, and Transplant Surgery, at the University of Leicester.

This story comes from our What do research staff do next? project, investigating the careers of research staff who moved from research posts to other occupations and employment sectors. You can use these stories to better understand how these researchers transition, what careers they have and their reflections on the transition process and current career paths.

Research staff experience

Having completed my doctoral research, I worked a series of short-term research contracts over three years with the University of Leicester’s Department of Pathology, embedded in the local NHS Trust. I helped develop an in-house technique for gene expression studies (in specialist terms, for extracting and analysing complementary DNA libraries from single human glomeruli).

As my Pathology funding came to a close, I was offered the chance to use these techniques in Transplant Surgery, as well as to set up a new NHS-embedded laboratory for the purpose. Alongside my research into renal transplant gene expression, I also used my programming talents to write a web-based lab information system, a sample inventory system, and a web-based COSHH (Control of substances hazardous to health) assessment program. Together these helped me run the laboratory in a more efficient way for all.

As a result, after four years, I was asked additionally to help out with a new tissue-processing facility for transplant patients, where I gained invaluable experience in quality systems. Two years later, this ‘help’ was transformed into a managerial role, and I successfully converted the facility from its voluntary MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency) accreditation into a Human Tissue Authority-licensed establishment.

This is the point at which my personal research activities ceased, and my career orientated itself towards full-time systems management.

Transition to a new career

It hadn’t taken long after my doctorate to realise that if the best researchers had to struggle for funding, then I stood little chance.

To be frank, if I am presented with an abstract academic goal, I can’t see the wood for the trees – but if I am presented with an abstract system or technical problem, I can usually see a pathway to a solution!

I’ve always wanted to make a difference – so doing a job that others hate has been my way of contributing. Recognising my personal strengths and weaknesses has been key.

The transition was gradual: part accident, part taking of the opportunities presented to me, and part the result of working with my own, less obvious, abilities.

The management of the research laboratory was a natural extension to my research roles; the management of the tissue-processing facility resulted from my success with the research laboratory.

Based on these experiences, and with a desire to ‘get the inside track’, I volunteered to help the nascent Human Tissue Authority perform its first round of inspections. As a result, I developed an ability to interpret relevant UK legislation and Codes of Practice, which led to a request for me to advise on the local NHS Trust’s readiness for gene therapy trials. I was also asked to help with internal research audit and departmental health and safety (in addition to what I was already doing).

Despite an excellent internal reputation, my NHS funding had to end at short notice in 2011, and the University was forced to make my post redundant. After a very brief stint in freelance COSHH assessment, I was employed as maternity-cover Manager for a research biobank at the University of Oxford. When the Manager returned, I was retained as Quality Manager.

With each step, I have considered whether I wanted to distance myself further from bench research. Job security and loyalty have (perhaps wrongly) counted for more than whole-career prospects and financial gain, but I am happy with what I do. From a philosophical perspective, I simply prefer environments where the main goal is not maximising profit.

I am indebted to each of my managers for seeing the potential in me, and for allowing me to develop myself (and their systems) with such freedom. Even in academia, I think this level of freedom is unusual. The most challenging moments in my career have been picking myself up during redundancy, and the constant communication needed to achieve successful change management.

Current job

The Oxford Musculoskeletal Biobank services research groups working both within and outside the University of Oxford, including the Oxford Musculoskeletal Biomedical Research Unit, and the Thames Valley & South Midlands Clinical Research Network.

As Quality Manager, my primary role is to support the Manager in ensuring adherence to the conditions of the HTA licence, the terms of ethical approval, and the requirements of our quality system.

I enjoy designing better ways of dealing with existing problems and tasks. Most people hate the daily realities of quality and safety management, but I thrive on getting the required results as robustly and easily as possible.

I have been initiating a long programme to upgrade the existing robust systems into a more efficient setting, and I have gained valuable experience into the complexities of managing generic research ethics. I have also been a contributor to national and international initiatives to produce biobanking standards.

The highs outweigh the lows in my job. More than anything else, the lows have involved the repetitive communication of rules that I believe are there for a good reason (and not because some bureaucrat wanted to relieve his boredom!).

In many ways, the principles of my job are little different to those in HE research – there’s an overarching goal, a breakdown of intermediate aims, a series of systems to achieve them, and the need to account for every factor. However, the big divergence is the absence of need to search for the next grant!

Competencies old and new

Being able to sympathise with bench-workers, as well as the management and regulatory ends of research, has been invaluable. People forget that we’re all trying to achieve the same goal: the best result in the shortest time, at the lowest cost, by the least painful means!

Having an eye for detail, and the ability to assess results critically, is still a ‘must’ – but you either have it, or you don’t. Being familiar with computer programming was also very useful – not only did it allow me to create my own tools, but I believe it still makes me a useful bridge between IT Professional and User, because I can talk both languages.

It was immense fun, if nerve-wracking, to have the responsibility for a large amount of capital so soon into my post-doctoral career, and to have helped the HTA with inspections in its formative year. Both these experiences reminded me that we lucky few stay in our ruts usually by choice!

Other than that, like most, I have had to develop my time-management skills, and I have broadened my audience beyond the rigidness of scientific presentation and the wonderful informality of academia. Being able to speak ‘clinical’, or ‘management’, or ‘regulator’, as well as developing client/public engagement skills, is vital.

Reflecting on my career path

On balance, I wouldn’t do anything differently. I get to do things that I find interesting, but which others find irritating and boring. It’s like Marmite and Lego rolled into one!

My one regret is that I didn’t try to turn my safety portfolio into a formal qualification until it was too late.

I intend to keep moving upwards, though I accept that it may be a practical challenge at the moment!

Suggestions and advice

Stick at it (if you enjoy research), but remember that life isn’t over if you can’t research any more. Your innate abilities and your training give you a power and freedom to choose that many in the world simply don’t have.

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/gareth-bicknell/37/669/4a3

Helen completed her doctorate in linguistics at the University of New York. After teaching and project management work, she set up her own training consultancy.

“I left university and took the first job I was offered: a sales assistant in a clothes shop. This quickly became a management position, and I was responsible for recruiting and managing staff, liaising with head office, and basic accounts. I liked learning new things – however this wasn’t where I was meant to be, and I left after ten months to do an MA, then PhD, in linguistics at the University of York.

“After my PhD I did three years of postdoctoral research, where I was responsible for managing a project. This involved fieldwork and analysis. I was also responsible for project management and administration, and informally for supervising the researchers on the project.

“While I was doing both postgraduate and postdoctoral research, I did a substantial amount of teaching, which gave me valuable experience for my next career move – to work as a graduate training officer. This role involved the design and delivery of development opportunities for postgraduate students and postdoctoral research staff. This experience confirmed that my passion was for training and development rather than research. After five years I was looking for new challenges and decided to set up my own training consultancy.

“This is working out better than I could have hoped. The challenges are different from those I had expected – never underestimate the value of a helpful accountant! – and I love working with a wide variety of interesting people in different professional contexts.”

Portfolio Manager at EPSRC.

Former Postdoctoral Research Associate in medicinal chemistry at the University of Oxford.

This story comes from our What do research staff do next? project, investigating the careers of research staff who moved from research posts to other occupations and employment sectors. You can use these stories to better understand how these researchers transition, what careers they have and their reflections on the transition process and current career paths

Research staff experience

My experience of higher education research came after a period of working in industry.

Following my undergraduate degree, which included a year in industry at GSK, I wanted to continue working in drug discovery. It was actually my boss at GSK who pointed out the job advert for the job I ended up getting, at a smaller biotech company. I really enjoyed working for the biotech business, as I was more involved in decision making in my project. However, I left that job to do a doctorate – to advance my career, do some different science and develop my transferable skills.

After completing my doctorate I took up a research staff position at the University of Oxford (2012-13). I was working on a Cancer Research UK grant, which was a five-year grant for five chemistry PDRAs, one pharmacology PDRA and three pharmacology technicians. I was recruited in the last 14 months of the discovery project. There was a lot of work to be done in the last year of the project, but by the end I had improved the properties of the lead drug molecule to the point where it could be tested in mice. It was a multidisciplinary project, involving team communication between chemistry, pharmacology, the principal investigator and consultants. I also embraced the challenge of supervising a master’s student for a mini-project on a different disease.

I was never planning on an academic career, but took the research staff position to continue in research in medicinal chemistry. During my doctorate a lot of pharma companies were closing down sites in the UK. I felt that the opportunities for a stable career in medicinal chemistry in the pharma industry were limited.

Limited career opportunities were also part of the reason why I left academic research; I was looking for more job security. I did not want my next move to be another temporary research position. I was also looking to move out of doing lab-based research.

Transition to new career

I was looking for jobs which were still involved with science, but did not require me to do the lab work. My first thought was to work in grants funding, which is where I have ended up, but I also considered working with the Royal Society of Chemistry, medical writing and clinical trials research. Grant funding was my preferred option, so I regularly checked relevant websites including www.topcareer.jobs, www.jobs.ac.uk, and www.researchresearch.com. The University of Oxford organised a careers event which included a variety of talks from a wide range of people including researchers and people who had moved outside of research. This included a couple of workshops and a drinks reception – it was a good event to talk to a number of different people to find out how they got to where they have.

Current job

I’m now a Portfolio Manager at the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). I’m responsible for a research portfolio: this includes processing grants relevant to the research area, sending out the proposals for peer review and organising peer review prioritisation panels. I also keep up to date with current research in the area by visiting researchers at universities and attending conferences. I’m responsible for a number of large grants and training centres, so monitor these grants and attend board meetings. There are also organisation-wide activities such as data analysis and work relating to the strategic priorities.

The job is interesting, as I am still seeing the state-of-the-art research, and a lot broader science than if I was still doing research myself. I enjoy travelling around the country talking to researchers and learning about the science they are doing.

Time management is a large part of the job, which can be difficult when you have a large number of tasks on the go and deadlines to meet. The interesting part of the job is talking to lots of different people, but on the flip-side, it is difficult letting people know that their grant proposal has not been successful. A difference to working in research is the interaction with people. With some research projects you can be very focussed on your own project and maybe only speak to your own group. With my job I need to talk to people in different teams around the organisation, as well as external people at all levels from PhD students to heads of departments.

Competencies old and new

Having worked in higher education is beneficial to my job as I can empathise with the researchers and academics I talk to and I know how the higher education system works. Time management, such a large part of my job, is a skill which was also important while doing my lab research. I started to develop my presentation skills as a researcher in HE and I have given a number of presentations in my job. Some of the presentation skills are similar, but the material I am presenting is very different, and so it is a change in style.

Facilitation is a skill which I have developed in my new job as I have helped to organise and run a number of different workshops with people at different levels of their careers. There are different communication skills to be developed in my job as I have to speak to a variety of people including colleagues, early career researchers, senior academics and industry members.

Reflecting on my career path

I’m happy with how my career path has gone. Since I was 16 I wanted to work in drug discovery, which I did and found really interesting; however, I decided it wasn’t a stable job in the current climate. So my next choice was to work in grant processing, and straight after my research staff position finished I started my job at EPSRC. I’ve had experience of working in a large multinational, a small biotech company, higher education and a government organisation, so for my relatively short eight-year career I have had quite a variety of experiences.

My job is really stimulating and I still have a lot to learn, so at the moment my career plan would be looking at promotions within EPSRC, but my current experience could lead on to a number of different jobs.

Suggestions and advice

Find out what jobs are out there. Attend careers fairs or workshops at your university to learn about alternative careers and go and speak to people at networking events – even though you might find it awkward! Set up email alerts to job sites you are interested in. Find out what jobs people in your department have gone on to do.

Before you send off an application get someone to check through your CV and your covering letter.

Practice is needed for job interviews; there are different styles, including competency based interviews, technical interviews, online assessments and assessment centres. Find out what interviews other people have been through.

http://uk.linkedin.com/in/helenniblock

Skills Development Officer for Postgraduate & Postdoctoral Researchers.

Former research staff in history at the University of the West of England, UK.

This story comes from our What do research staff do next? project, investigating the careers of research staff who moved from research posts to other occupations and employment sectors. You can use these stories to better understand how these researchers transition, what careers they have and their reflections on the transition process and current career paths.

Research staff experience

For a decade after completing my doctorate my dream was to have an academic career. With humanities posts difficult to obtain, I first worked outside of the higher education sector for a couple of years. I then decided it would be helpful to do a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE). I reasoned that a career as an academic inevitably meant teaching, and I didn’t feel equipped to do that purely from my experience as a postgraduate researcher.

Following the PGCE I found employment as a Research Assistant on the Bristol Historical Databases Project at the University of the West of England (UWE) in Bristol. Several university-published articles came out of the project, as well as electronic versions of the databases we had collated, that were sold to local and family historians and others.

The Project ended because we were unable to secure further funding, so my job ended. At that point, nothing else was tempting me to move away from this career – I would certainly have continued as a historical researcher if I’d been given the opportunity.

Transition to new career

At the same institution, I was offered the opportunity to continue in the department as a visiting lecturer – teaching the core syllabus to mainly first year undergraduates, with up to 13 contact hours per week. Historical research is often quite cloistered and solitary, so first teaching and then working with a wider range of people was a challenge. I drew on communication and people skills I didn’t know I had, though having the PGCE under my belt eased the transition.

I think my major achievement as a teacher was in passing on my enthusiasm for the subject to the students. Some years later, I heard that a former student of mine had been inspired to be an historian herself, and was now doing a doctorate. If I had an effect on just one person, I think I achieved something.

My move away from being an academic (if not from working in academia) came after four years of teaching. I was on a rolling short-term contract, with no job security and unclear long-term prospects. I had applied for a couple of research positions within the department, but was overlooked for cheaper pre-doctoral candidates. I was offered the position of Training Officer at the Institute of Historical Research (IHR) in London. It allowed me to stay within the discipline, but with a permanent, full-time position, albeit moving away from purely teaching and research.

Other career experience

Along the way, I worked in other sectors. Between my doctorate and teacher training, I had a clerical job in motor finance. I was also temping as a personal assistant (PA) over the summer vacation between teaching contracts at UWE, to make ends meet. But I did learn a lot from this. By working with a wide range of people, my team-working, people and communication skills were broadened considerably. Some bosses thought it strange that their PA was a doctoral graduate. But, in general I was respected for my experience and my particular skills (accuracy, attention to detail and ability to write). I have long felt that the qualification gives you a certain insulation from the disregard most people have to put up with in the working world.

Current job – and how it compares

I am now a Researcher Developer – and have been so for most of the last 13 years: firstly just with historians at the IHR, and latterly with early career researchers from all discipline areas at Aberystwyth University in Wales.

In my current role I am responsible for the design and organisation of professional development programmes for research staff and postgraduate researchers. I am still (infrequently) engaged in teaching/training as well – giving courses in skills such as time management and team working.

I get most job satisfaction from talking to researchers (often at the end of their time at the university) who ‘get it’: those who have taken the development opportunities offered to them and are prepared to think more broadly about where they want to go with their career.

The aspects of my job I like least are the routine tasks that make me feel just like a glorified secretary sometimes – being in a small department, I have to do things like the finances, persuade people to run courses for us, tell students they have to come to compulsory sessions, and so on.

Competencies old and new

One of my responsibilities within my department is practitioner for two widely used personal development tools: MBTI (an instrument that defines personality type) and Belbin (which looks at behavioural strengths and weaknesses to identify preferred team roles). So I do a lot of consultations with staff and students on what type a person is and how they work best. I think I’ve personally developed a lot since I was a researcher. In Belbin terms, I think I’ve moved from being a Specialist (an expert, but narrowly focussed on a small area) to much more of a Team Worker, though my major type is still Monitor Evaluator (with strengths such as objectivity and judgement). In MBTI terms, Introverted Thinking is my dominant function, but I’ve moved much more into exploring my Intuition and Feeling preferences.

What I mean by this is I think that I (and maybe most academic researchers) can be solitary, introverted, constantly thinking and reflecting by nature. They are also my strengths, and how I operate most comfortably. But interaction with other people was always more of a struggle. And I possibly could have gone on like that, if I’d remained a researcher. Working as a teacher (and being fully engaged as a teacher – not just seeing it as a distasteful necessity to carry on the real work of research) and then as a researcher developer and trainer has made me work a lot more outside of my ‘comfort zone’, developing new skills and interests in the process. The ability to carry out research and reflect deeply never goes, and is still invaluable in aspects of my job – I do give the time to think through and thoroughly research issues that most of my colleagues never do. But I have learnt a lot from them too, over the years, and I think I’m a more rounded person and better at my role as a result.

Reflecting on my career path

I’ve often said that being a research assistant was the best job I ever had. It was partly the circumstances of the period – I met my wife then and had a great social life. But it is still true to say that it was a great experience – being paid for what I had trained to do and loved doing: historical research. My time doing it seemed all too short. But maybe had I done it for longer, my memories might not be quite so rosy. After another four years of doing the follow-on teaching job at UWE, I was sick of being exploited on short-term contracts and wanted a regular job and a life – so I could get a mortgage and so on.

Around the turn of the Millennium, in my mid-thirties, I gave up on the academic dream. I was happy then, I’d found my future wife: enjoying life was more important than pursuing that career. Teaching at UWE and working with historians at the IHR, I’d seen enough to become disillusioned with the academic treadmill. Maybe also, I was moving on. In my career, moving into the area of personal and professional development, though it was kind of accidental, maybe interested me more than I realised at the time. Certainly MBTI/Belbin and personal development work in general is something that interests me now. These are aspects of my career and of our provision at the University that I would like to develop further.

Suggestions and advice

If you still love the research and are able to stay as a researcher, do so. But don’t be afraid to move into something different. Don’t feel you’ve failed if you have not ended up as an academic/research professional. It’s certainly not a bad thing to gain the much wider experience of working in the ‘real world’ outside of academia: the communication skills; the working with people; the respect that’s given to you because of the background you come from. The skills you bring from being a researcher are probably more scarce in the new sector you’ll be working in. It’s very easy to get tunnel vision and believe that your subject is the only thing you can do. You do have a lot more to offer than you think

uk.linkedin.com/pub/ian-archer/37/27a/bb2/

Ian completed his doctorate in philosophy at the University of Warwick. He then became the Head of the Graduate School Office at the University of Exeter, and is now Head of Skills and Careers at the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

“I undertook my doctorate in philosophy at the University of Warwick, and then was lucky enough to be awarded a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship. The topic of my fellowship built on issues which I had uncovered as part of my doctorate – looking more closely at the historical constellation of ideas in German philosophy in the early part of the twentieth century. I feel that I published some useful work as part of my fellowship, and made a lasting (small!) contribution to scholarship and philosophical thinking in this area.

“While I found my fellowship to be an unforgettable experience, I found the teaching very challenging. An academic research career is also very competitive, and I was beginning to fear that I was not going to enjoy the constant pressure to keep publishing new work. There was also a growing feeling that it would be nice to have a job where one could see more concrete results, and get involved in more concrete activities.

“Making the transition from academic study to management was not easy, and I was very fortunate that the University of Durham took a chance on employing me! I think that if I had been encouraged to think more broadly about my career development, the transition would have been far easier. I then moved to the University of Exeter where I became head of the Graduate School Office, and oversaw the university’s postgraduate work and policy.

“I now work as the head of skills and careers at the BBSRC where I am involved in policy and strategy work. While the subject of my doctorate is not relevant to my current work directly, the experience of undertaking a period of research is vital in my work and understanding of the issues facing researchers in the biological sciences. Knowing as well how research can become an all-consuming passion helps me, I think, understand the issues facing early-career researchers and some of the challenges of academic life.

“My doctorate gave me the opportunity to hone my abilities to think critically and systematically through a complex set of issues, learning how to persevere even when faced with baffling and challenging questions. It is natural in a doctorate to be very focused on the research, and certainly I thought very little about the future – the question of what people would do after a doctorate was never really talked about. I think universities are doing much more now to help people think about their future career options, as well as simply enjoying the intrinsic intellectual and personal value of their period of doctorate research.”

Consultant at Helios, working in the aviation sector.

Former Research Fellow in Physics at the University of Surrey.

This story comes from our What do research staff do next? project, investigating the careers of research staff who moved from research posts to other occupations and employment sectors. You can use these stories to better understand how these researchers transition, what careers they have and their reflections on the transition process and current career paths.

Research staff experience

After completing my doctorate at the University of Oxford I spent two years at the University of Surrey in the Advanced Technology Institute. At Oxford my field of study was condensed matter physics, working with high magnetic fields and muon spin rotation. But for my research at Surrey I moved on to work on optomagnetic effects in quantum dots and work on nanomaterials in general. From my undergraduate degree onwards, when I completed three very different summer internships, I’ve always enjoyed new challenges.

The project at Surrey was very interesting and I learned a lot in the position, in particular regarding the project management aspects, from planning timescales to working towards deadlines. Additionally, a major part of any academic position is the ability to absorb new information quickly, analyse relevant data and information to then be able to communicate the results to an audience either in written form or through presentations. I had already developed these skills through my doctorate, but further honed them during my postdoc. This has proven to be a valuable skill for my current position. Furthermore, the interaction within a multinational environment, working with people from all nationalities and cultural backgrounds, was very enjoyable and has taught me to be able to adapt well to different perspectives and working approaches.

Transition to a new career

I left research because I realised that while I still find science fascinating I wasn’t feeling passionate enough about it to stay in this field. What I do enjoy is learning constantly, and variety was something that I was missing in academic research. I feared that although I would become a specialist in a particular field, I would be limited to that one field. I also realised that I particularly enjoy working within a team. Although there is support and interaction in academia, a lot of the time is spent in the lab and lone working is common. It can be satisfactory as well, but I have come to recognise that I work much better in a team environment where I can still own a piece of work but also work with other people.

As soon as I’d decided to leave academic research I started trying to see what I would do next. I looked at everything that I thought might be of interest and also put my CV up on a series of job websites. Before I found the job I am in I was contacted by a few recruitment consultants and went to different job interviews. Amongst other things I looked into becoming a patent attorney, which sounded attractive due to the variety of the project work. I finally decided against it partly because it would have involved years of studying and partly because I was worried that the work might be dry and involve a lot of hours working on your own, which is not what I was looking for.

In the end I applied to Helios, an international consultancy company specialising in air traffic management, airports and space. The job and the company fitted what I was looking for and I was glad when they offered me the job!

Current job

The position as a consultant in the field of aviation has proven to be the ideal job for me. It offers me the possibility to work in an exciting environment, where I can apply my scientific knowledge. The projects I work on are varied and interesting, so that I doubt that I will get bored. I work mostly within project teams and can use my communication skills within the company as well as with clients. I enjoy working with people from very different fields, ranging from industry to policy makers, and working out solutions for their problems. Although I am not working in a lab I am still applying the skills I developed during my research.

So far, for example, I’ve been part of the team developing a strategy and business plan for an air navigation service provider in a fast changing environment. I‘ve also been working on developing a roadmap for the implementation of a new technology, which involves close collaboration with a variety of companies across Europe. Since I am fluent in German and French, and have some knowledge of Spanish and Italian, such multinational projects suit me well – and provide plenty of opportunity for international travel!

Competencies old and new

My time in academia developed me in ways that are very useful in my current job, such as being able to absorb new information and complex problems quickly, and to analyse, condense and present information in a coherent way.

At the same time I have had to learn to adapt to the consultancy environment of working in a business and closely with clients. Making sure to understand what the client is expecting and that what we deliver is adapted to that expectation is particularly important. This is a very different approach to a project compared with academic research.

The learning curve to improve my understanding on aviation and related fields was quite steep, but Helios is a friendly company where support is readily available and so it was not hard to learn.

Reflecting on my career path

I am very happy about the way my career has gone. I could have left academic research earlier than I did but I don’t regret the years spent in academia, as I have learned a lot. My time as a researcher also showed me what I did and did not enjoy, which has led me to my current job.

Suggestions and advice

I would recommend that if you know that you want to move on, then do it, but make sure you know what you want. Do you know what you enjoy and what you dislike about academic research? Then look around at all possibilities and try some interviews out to get a feel for different options.

Don’t discount jobs where you think you don’t have the background as your skill set can still apply: it will be highly valued in a number of different fields, even if you don’t have the specialist knowledge.

https://uk.linkedin.com/pub/isabel-franke-chaudet/4/6a4/995

Data Scientist.

Former research staff in computer science in two government-funded research institutions, France.

This story comes from our What do research staff do next? project, investigating the careers of research staff who moved from research posts to other occupations and employment sectors. You can use these stories to better understand how these researchers transition, what careers they have and their reflections on the transition process and current career paths.

Research staff experience

After a three-year PhD, I had three years’ research staff experience in the area of complex networks. I applied my specialism in several different fields where there is rich data to capitalise on. My co-authored publications range from transportation research (‘Shared bicycles in a city’) to science and public policy (‘Scientists who engage with society perform better academically’).

Following my PhD in computer science at the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, France, I became a postdoctoral fellow employed by the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), at the Complex Systems Institute of Paris Ile-de-France (ISC). There, from 2009–2010, I measured, modelled and simulated complex systems and complex networks (such as social networks), and analysed the large datasets collected and their dynamics. In 2011 I moved to Bordeaux for a one-year postdoctoral fellowship at another public research institution, INRIA (the French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation), where I worked on the visualisation of complex networks.

During 2011 I was offered a ‘chargé de recherches’ (tenured research staff) position by a third public research organisation, having applied through its national competition for permanent posts. However, I’d also been on the lookout for jobs in the private sector. I was offered the job of researcher/engineer in a very small company, and I had to choose between the two.

It wasn’t an easy decision to make – after all, achieving a permanent research staff position had been my number one professional goal. I weighted several criteria in order to make my choice: alignment with my background and skills; potential for working on interesting questions with smart and nice colleagues; pay; commute to work; future career opportunities…

Had I received only the former offer, I would have gone there with no hesitation and I’m sure I would have been happy. However, I chose the private sector route and I’m happy to have done it.

Transition to new career

The total acceptance of my decision from friends was the only – but important – form of support I received during my transition to the corporate sector.

I wasn’t especially active in searching for opportunities outside public research, but I did set up a profile on LinkedIn and Viadeo, and showed interest in the various contacts I was glad to receive, from there and from my PhD advisor.

The first company I worked for provided risk management research services to the financial sector. It sought and applied techniques from different fields of science to help make investment decisions under uncertainty. My role was a combination of original research and computer engineering.

In 2012, I was approached by Criteo, a company that had contacted me on a previous occasion. The job I was in wasn’t satisfying for a number of reasons, so I moved to this very different employer. Criteo is a global organisation with some 1200 employees, which develops new ways for advertisers to attract, and sell to, online buyers.

Current job – and how it compares

My attraction to data – how it can be refined into insights and predictions, like turning freshly picked coffee fruit into the perfect ristretto – led me to become a data scientist. It seems there is some demand for that, which is lucky!

At Criteo my role is to improve the accuracy of machine learning algorithms on big data, especially by generating, analysing and selecting new data to improve the prediction engine.

The setting differs a lot from public research institutions and the contrasts would be worth a whole book! I’d mention for a start:

– the economic pressure to stay profitable

– you have no choice over which colleagues to work with

– good execution: things get done. There is no potential collaboration or article dragging on for years. Done is better than perfect

– the availability of the people and money that are needed to advance projects (your input on which project should be worked on first is valued, but most people don’t choose what they work on)

– about double the pay. Good work is eventually rewarded

– fewer administrative tasks

– quick feedback on most things

– no need to work at weekends (except in startups)

– you can be fired anytime (with a few months’ notice). But if you’ve worked well, you’ll find another job. You do need to keep an eye on your career

– much less flexible working hours

Competencies old and new

In this very different environment, I apply many of the competencies I developed when I was research staff. These include the ability to: work autonomously and define the relevant problems to solve, with rigour and creativity; quickly learn theoretical topics and methodologies, with an in-depth understanding; explain difficult and abstract concepts to specialists and non-specialists. The perseverance I developed in my research staff posts has also served me well!

The main new competency I’ve needed is the ability to deliver work quickly – even if it is imperfect. I’ve had to lose the more perfectionist mentality of academic research.

Reflecting on my career path

I’m happy with my career move. Given the plummeting number of positions in publicly-funded research, there should be more consideration of the potential in the private sector on both sides, both by early career researchers thinking about their future and recruiters planning to hire.

Suggestions and advice

Many researchers have only a limited vision of what the private sector entails, so, get to know it, even if you won’t end up there. Science is based on facts and experiments. Use the same rigour and do your homework: get information from contrasting people and sources so you will be entitled to judge the private sector. It can be a great career path too!

www.linkedin.com/pub/jean-baptiste-rouquier/3/297/452

Jean completed her doctorate on Andy Warhol’s audio tapes, and is now a senior lecturer at UCA Rochester and an art critic working with – amongst others – The Art Newspaper TV.

The above interview took place 15 years ago.

The following text is a transcription of a career story collected by interview.

“My name’s Jean Wainwright, I’m a senior lecturer at UCA, in Rochester, and I am also an art critic, and I did my doctorate on Andy Warhol’s audio tapes. Now I had put on exhibitions with people like Tracey Emin, and Warhol kept being mentioned, and then I thought I really, I really want to do more, not about his screen prints, but rather about erm the films he made.

“I did my MA on Andy Warhol’s video tapes, in fact looking at their relationship to the young British artists as they were then. I went to New York and I got really fascinated, I went to Pittsburgh, I got really involved with the family and then a grant became available to continue to do a PhD, sometime after I’d done my MA and it had to involve some element of sound, and I knew that Andy Warhol’s audio tapes had never been researched before and nobody had had any interest in them particularly, and I thought I am going to go to Pittsburgh and I’m going to find out all about those tapes.

“I found myself really feeling that I really needed to do academic publishing, I needed to write about my subject or other subjects, and of course, the PhD process certainly and the MA process erm gives you, gives you those tools or hones those skills. I got asked to do programmes on Warhol for Channel 4, things like that. So, and the Warhol, the whole Warhol phenomena grew enormously so people knew I was a specialist in a certain area. So that was, that was very helpful because it established myself as a professional in that particular area. I got museums and galleries who would phone me and ask me to come and talk or to contextualise part of a collection, those kind of things happened. There’s lots of lessons I learnt from how I did it.

“I think that I did spend too long on it, because I was doing other things, and I think that maybe if I’d done it as a short sharp shock or a three year full time that would have been much more advantageous for me.

“I think when people hear, ‘oh, you’ve got a PhD’, they think oh you must be really bright – but I think you also have to bring an awful lot of other things to it, other skills to it. The skills that I think have really enabled me through doing the doctorate were definitely organisational skills which has been really helpful in, I think in my teaching, certainly of tutoring other PhD students.

“My job involves heading up a cultural studies department, where I enable students to put their photographic work, which is of course their Hon, their BA, their Hon into context in a variety of different ways.

“I am currently continuing with all my artist interviews, the archive now has been acquired by the Tate, from audio arts and also doing a lot of worth with The Art Newspaper TV, doing again interviews with artists. But I think I really love sound so I think I want to continue with, with the taping of the voice, the characterisation of the voice and the way that, when people talk in an interview they are, they give away so much of themselves, I find that fascinating.

“But I do love the teaching, I do love the lecturing and I, I think just being in touch with, with just people who are creating and making things and the fabulous ways that ideas get reinvented and rethought I think is marvelous, so I love being in touch with that energy and being involved with students in that way.”

Project Lead Chemist, AstraZeneca.

“I may have been serendipitous in finding this career but, in terms of progressing it, it has been hard work and reputation – getting other people to believe that you can do it…”
“After GCSEs I wanted to be a doctor. I chose science A levels so I could do a medical degree. At that point I questioned my maturity to be a doctor. I had always wanted to do this and had planned my study around it. But I seriously thought about what the job would entail, people’s lives being at stake and the responsibility. Did I want the responsibility and commitment? I worried a lot and stopped watching Casualty! You have to be brilliant and hard working to be successful in medicine, also I was lazy and could excel at all my studies – at the time I was a minimalist. I liked chemistry and this was flexible as a degree course – I could do any career with chemistry. Margaret Thatcher had a chemistry degree and she went into politics – it could be versatile and flexible as an option. I wanted to keep my options open and to get through as quick as possible.

“At end of the first year I was offered a placement year with a pharmaceutical company in Switzerland as I had done the best in my course. This made me realise what I wanted to do. I became very proactive and decided I wanted a career in medicinal chemistry. I was motivated to find out what would be required to be successful. I found out about working on particular types of research, who were the best professors, and built up the relevant experience. Choice of PhD research was driven with a specific career in mind, I purposefully planned for this. Often chemists don’t know what they want to do after PhD. You have to work hard, you can’t cruise – you need to be dedicated, otherwise you drift. If I hadn’t got a job straight away I would have had to go to the USA to do more research and build up my experience there. Going to Switzerland crystallised everything for me, and confirmed that I didn’t want to be a medical doctor.

“I don’t see myself as a planning kind of a guy. A lot of it was really informal, instinctive really. I knew my supervisor in Switzerland had a PhD, and I talked to him as he was on the career path I would like to be on. He advised me about who the key people were. I then read their research and journals to see if this was what I was interested in. When I returned to Warwick, I talked to my lecturers about what I needed to do to apply for a PhD. I selected who I wanted to work with, and used the supervisor in Switzerland and the professor from Warwick to promote me and what I could offer. I find it easy to network, and this helps a lot. Being successful at networking is about you as a personality. Having got the ‘big guns’ on my side, it gave me the opportunity to talk to professors at other institutions. Their expectations were raised. A lot of it is about trust and trusting people’s judgement, because this personal recommendation holds a lot of weight. A CV sent out speculatively would not have worked.

“I wanted to work for a big company – the big players. A number of these are not in the UK. I wanted something that paid well and offered security. I had a first round interview before I finished my PhD, and chose a big company as they offered better opportunities and professional development. My choice was based upon the location and the people I met. Would I work well with them? Would I enjoy my job? I was very proactive and visited all the companies I wanted to work for. I have really enjoyed this company, it was a good choice. After four years in the position I was worried I would be doing the same job forever. Opportunity for promotion into a niche team came up a number of times, but I was worried about being pigeon-holed – and that it would close off career opportunities. That experience is really sought after now, and lots of jobs require this. If I was thinking bigger picture, globally, I would have planned ahead and seen this as an opportunity rather than looking at what was available locally. I stuck on a rigid career path and couldn’t see beyond it.

“With a broader picture I would have created a wider network – I haven’t always used the opportunities that I could have. You look at opportunities differently when you are developing a focused career plan, as apposed to thinking more widely. When looking for opportunities you need to use all networking opportunities to self-promote. In the future I will make sure I talk to more people, find out about their companies and the work available, and build my network more globally rather than focusing on what is available in front of me. In the end I went looking for other opportunities – the role I wanted didn’t exist, so I had to go elsewhere to create it. I looked at secondments within the company, I tried to create the opportunities that I couldn’t access. Through setting up the secondments to develop new skills, I proactively created opportunities which resulted in getting the job I wanted. Being seen to have leverage worked well, just going for the opportunities got people to look at me and see what I could do. I feel I am at a crossroads now, I could take a risk but I am not really a risk taker.

“Safety is important, but I am also thinking now that life is too short – and maybe I need to consider other options. I am about to be made redundant and I am now thinking about going back to do a medical degree. But I really want to carry on doing what I am doing now. I am not committed enough to be a medical doctor. You can get any job you want but you need to be globally mobile – if you are flexible enough you can follow the work. Some people are stuck because they can’t move for jobs. If it was just me I would go and work anywhere. I may have been serendipitous in finding this career but, in terms of progressing it, it has been hard work and reputation – getting other people to believe in what you can do. Career progression is very slow as there are so many good people in this industry. It is not just about technical skills, personality is important as well.”

Athena SWAN advisor and facilitator.

Former postdoctoral research scientist at the University of Oxford, UK.

This story comes from our What do research staff do next? project, investigating the careers of research staff who moved from research posts to other occupations and employment sectors. You can use these stories to better understand how these researchers transition, what careers they have and their reflections on the transition process and current career paths.

Research staff experience

I had research staff positions at the University of Oxford for eight years, researching radiation and DNA damage. During this time I was invited to present at three international conferences and was an author on seven peer-reviewed papers (including two as first author). Other highlights were being selected to participate in a NASA Space Radiation Summer School held at Brookhaven National Laboratories, Long Island, New York, (one of only 15 students) and being awarded the 2007 Jack Fowler award from the Radiation Research Society (selected from 247 abstracts).

I left higher education research as my fixed-term contract came to an end. I was never interested in becoming an independent researcher or establishing my own research group, which limits the opportunities to continue in research. Also, although I worked in the same lab for eight years, I was employed on a series of four short contracts and I wanted greater stability. It was this combination of factors that led me to consider other career options – I was not specifically attracted towards other careers.

Transition to new career

Being employed on a series of fixed-term contracts, I had to consider my next job each time my contract was coming to an end, and I took advantage of a range of opportunities provided by my university, such as courses on CV and interview skills. The ‘alternative careers’ seminars I attended were the most helpful. Several seminars were given by former higher education researchers who had successfully made the transition. Their research backgrounds were similar to mine and it was easy to identify with their reasons for leaving higher education research, as well as the skills that they had developed during their careers. During these seminars they discussed how they were able to ‘sell’ their research skills to fit non-research jobs. For example, publishing papers successfully is evidence that you can meet deadlines and complete a project. As a researcher I had found it difficult to identify what other jobs I was qualified to do, so being exposed to this range of careers made me consider a much wider range of possibilities. It also helped me to identify my ‘transferable’ skills and showed me ways that I could highlight these effectively when applying for jobs.

Attending these courses and seminars also provided an opportunity to meet other postdoctoral researchers in a similar position to me. Talking with these people and comparing experiences provided some reassurance that I was not the only person to feel unsure of my future career.

I considered any and all career options and applied for other postdoctoral positions, industry jobs and administrative roles in higher education. I didn’t want to feel like I was wasting my time spent as a researcher, so considered research/science related jobs such as radiation protection, grant administration and patent work. I was invited for interview for a range of jobs, and although unsuccessful with some I was offered other jobs, which assured me that I was capable of making the transition.

Current job

I am an Athena SWAN advisor and facilitator employed by the University and my role is to support departments who are making applications for Athena SWAN awards, which recognise a commitment to advancing women’s careers in STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Medicine and Mathematics). What I actually do is extremely varied, but the main part of the job is to guide departments – including heads of department, senior academics and administrative staff – on the Athena SWAN process and areas of good practice. This can involve attending departmental meetings or running workshops on key topics. I also extract, analyse and present demographic data required for Athena SWAN applications using university and national databases; set up and analyse staff surveys; prepare reports for university and divisional level committees and working groups; and source, edit and produce copy to ensure that Athena SWAN initiatives are well communicated across the Division for which I am responsible, Medical Sciences.

I’ve only been in the role for six months so the main lows come from a perpetual feeling of not knowing what I’m doing! As a result though, the highs come from working through tasks that I wasn’t sure how to undertake and then receiving positive feedback once they’ve been completed.

Competencies old and new

Other than the specific research techniques I would say that I use all of the competencies that I gained as a researcher. For example, I worked very independently as a researcher and this is a key aspect of my current job. Working with a range of people has helped me greatly when liaising with individual departments and the central university. My research background has also been extremely valuable as I’m able to understand the difficulties that researchers face.

However the most useful skills that I gained as a researcher are communication skills. Communicating my research in writing (journal articles or conference abstracts) or verbally (teaching students, lab meetings, departmental seminars, international conferences) has definitely helped me in my new role. For example, meeting new people at scientific conferences and discussing our research is very similar to meeting new people at university or departmental level committees and discussing gender equality. Part of my role is to analyse and present demographic data or survey results, which again is very similar to analysing and presenting experimental data.

I don’t feel that I’ve had to develop entirely new competencies; however I do feel that I’ve significantly developed my existing ones.

Reflecting on my career path

Including my undergraduate and postgraduate degrees I spent over 15 years working towards a career in research and have mixed feelings about whether this was wasted as I now move away from research. If there were permanent research jobs available I would not have left higher education research and I definitely feel frustrated that so many highly qualified, highly trained researchers are being forced to leave from a lack of career options.

Having said that I don’t think that I would have done anything differently, as I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the lab and do feel that I will continue to use the skills that I developed in future jobs.

Having been employed on fixed-term contracts I have never made future career plans, as I feel it’s more important to be open to opportunities. My current job is maternity cover and is for just 12 months, but has been invaluable experience in transitioning away from bench work and shows that I do have the skills and adaptability to take on different roles. I have always had an interest in gender equality so being able to combine this with my research background is definitely rewarding. It is something that I would like to continue doing, but this will very much depend on the availability of jobs.

Suggestions and advice

Two tips:

1) Get involved in activities outside of the lab, such as outreach or committee membership. You need to make yourself stand out from other researchers as well as demonstrate your range of skills to a prospective employer.

2) Find a mentor. They don’t have to be within your department, your research area or be that senior to you but meeting regularly with someone outside of your research group helps you to find that space where you can focus on your career development rather than just your research.

uk.linkedin.com/pub/jennifer-anderson/5a/705/140/

Jennifer worked at the British Library, and then at UCL before her doctorate. Then she developed an interest in medieval manuscripts, which encouraged her to pursue a doctorate in the Italian department at Royal Holloway.

“After my degree I got a job working at the British Library, and went on to study librarianship – first at the Vatican, and then at UCL. This gave me an interest in medieval manuscripts, which I then pursued through a doctorate in the Italian department at Royal Holloway.

“In the first week of my doctorate, my supervisor sat me down and said, ‘This degree won’t guarantee you an academic job’. I was happy about this as I did not want to be an academic, and to be honest it had not even crossed my mind – I wanted either to do research or go back to library work. My experience of teaching made me sure that I did not want to teach at university. Students were not motivated, and most wouldn’t apply themselves – especially not to literature.

“In the last year of my doctorate, while I was writing up, I moved to Leicester as my partner was working here. I was interested in electronic editions of manuscripts, and I found someone at the University of De Montfort to put in a grant application with. The grant was not successful, but I got a job working on an electronic edition of Dante’s Commedia as part of an international project. Funding ebbed and flowed around this project, so I initially combined this work with working as an assistant librarian, and with stints on other similar projects.

“With medieval manuscripts there is often no definitive version. Our electronic versions enable scholars to access all of the different versions so that they can compare and analyse them. My experience of working with manuscripts through my librarian and doctoral training has been essential to doing this kind of work. In 2005 the project moved to the University of Birmingham, but the job was not full-time – so I used Fridays to do my own research. Since having kids, I have given up my own research – there just is not time. I have also gone down to three days a week, which fits in with my children well.”

Jennifer took short contracts in research labs, and an industrial placement, during her first degree before her doctorate. Through the doctoral education, she realised her desire for a career in science – though not in research. Now she works as a Programme Manager for the Science and Technology Facilities Council.

“Starting from scratch as a mature student, after 12 years in the RAF, I took short contracts in research labs and an industrial placement during my undergraduate degree before undertaking my doctorate.

“My doctoral supervisor emigrated – which made me more independent, as I had to seek out other researchers to discuss my work. I realised that I wanted a career in science, though not in research. I initially worked for the EPSRC before moving to my current post – overseeing the UK’s interests in key light source and neutron facilities in Europe. We ensure that UK researchers get access to facilities and that these are developed appropriately.

“A doctorate was a requirement for my job – but skills such as project management, ability to interact at all levels, putting forward solutions in the face of opposition, and an understanding of universities and what research requires have been much more useful than in-depth knowledge of my research area.”

Jenny is a science education consultant. She feels it is useful to know that there are other women doing similar things to her – particularly in the area of science. Just having other people there, and knowing that they are going through the same thing, has been a tremendous source of strength.

“I did my undergraduate degree in chemistry and pharmacology in Australia. I then won a scholarship to Cambridge, and I focused on molecular neurobiology and pharmacology. Following my doctorate, I worked as a researcher for 12 years, initially on short term contracts, and then as a five-year senior research associate running my own lab – but I got to the point where I had done everything I wanted to do. I had published in international journals, received an international award, and supervised doctoral students.

“When I had children, I changed to part-time arrangements – but when I reached the end of my contract, I quickly realised that, as soon as you want to find a new part-time position at a senior level, there is nothing there. To a certain extent I didn’t have a choice – if I was going to stay in pharmacology I was going to have to create my own work.

“I originally gave myself two years to see if I could make my science education consultancy work – and I am still going five years later, having built up my consultancy by word of mouth. When I set up in 2004 I knew what I wanted to do – I was interested in science communication and education, and I’ve done a lot of work teaching maths to biologists, putting calculations into words rather than in equations, as well as explaining pharmacology to non-specialist audiences. I am an education consultant at the moment – my business is called Science Education, Training and Communication, and for five years I have been delivering teaching sessions to chiropractors, osteopaths and pharmacists who have already qualified. I’ve developed materials on maths skills, but also general pharmacology such as how drugs work and medicines.

“For my first year I was very lucky, being in the right place at the right time, and won a bid developing online maths materials. My second year was really hard – because I’d been so busy in the first year, I hadn’t been looking for any other work. It picked up in the third year, and since then I’ve been really busy. It is tough to find that balance between marketing yourself to find new work and doing the work that is there. I did find it hard to promote myself and sell myself at first. I did a couple of very good training courses around developing consultancy skills, which were funded by the East of England Development Agency, but unfortunately those courses no longer exist. From being an academic I just had to get into a whole new way of thinking. If recommending to anyone else today, I’d say go to your nearest Business Link or to places like Enterprising Women – because, as an academic, how you conduct yourself is very different, and such courses can get you into a more commercial mind set.

“Cambridge AWiSE (Cambridge Association for Women in Science and Engineering) has also really helped. It is useful to know that there are other women doing similar things to me, particularly in the area of science. Just having other people there, and knowing that they are going through the same thing, was a tremendous source of strength. I helped to re-found Cambridge AWiSE and was Chair for three years – this is a great example of voluntary work which also allows you to get out of the academic mindset.

“Flexibility in my career has been one of the most important things for me, as has my ability to maintain my lifestyle. By using Schein’s ‘career anchors’ tool, I was able to narrow down what was most important to me – so I would also thoroughly recommend such a step to others.”

Jessica completed her theoretical physics doctorate in the Mathematical Sciences and Physics Departments of Durham University. She then held a postdoctoral research position before being awarded a career development fellowship at the Medical Research Council’s Biostatics Unit.

“I completed my theoretical physics doctorate in the Mathematical Sciences and Physics Departments of Durham University. My subject area was string theory, which is a candidate for a quantum theory of gravity.

“I currently work as a career development fellow at the Medical Research Council’s Biostatistics Unit. The position is academic in nature – I carry out original research, and publish papers in academic journals. My work involves performing statistical analyses of medical data – I have recently been researching the progression of disease for patients with psoriatic arthritis, and also modelling cognitive function in the elderly.

“Towards the end of my doctoral research I decided I wanted to work as an academic. I took a postdoctoral research position in the theoretical physics group at the University of Iceland in Reykjavik. After three years there, I felt somewhat dissatisfied with my research area and the prospects it afforded for career progression – so I decided I needed a change. After considering my options I settled on medical statistics, which appealed to me as I liked the idea of being able to make a positive and valuable contribution to society through my research. I applied for and was awarded a career development fellowship, suitable for people seeking to change research area, by the UK Medical Research Council.

“I learnt a lot as a doctoral researcher that, at the time, I did not imagine would become so useful in the future. The most important aspect for me was the experience I gained carrying out academic research. Following an academic career path would not have been possible without a doctorate. Because I have changed research areas, the subject knowledge and expertise I developed during my doctorate is no longer as important as it once was, but the skills I developed are still very useful for me in many ways. Examples include understanding how to absorb new subject material, the ability to ask critical questions, researching background literature, giving presentations, and time management.

“Specific skills have also proved useful – for example, learning how to write computer programs using the C programming language made it easier for me to learn how to use the statistical software necessary for my current job. I also understand better how to cope with the research process – when to work hard at completing a task, or when it is best just to take a break or get a good night’s sleep!

“I would advise doctoral researchers to consider all options when choosing a career path. I found the careers service at Durham University very helpful for that. The careers adviser I spoke to made lots of good suggestions about possible directions for me, including medical statistics! Also, do take advantage of training opportunities. If you are considering an academic career, it is worthwhile doing postdoctoral research so as to understand your subject area in greater depth, and to get a better feeling of what life is like as an academic – there are still plenty of other opportunities available afterwards if you change your mind.”

A doctorate enabled Joan to develop more confidence in her academic abilities. Currently she works as a Postgraduate Training Co-ordinator for the University of Leicester.

“After my undergraduate degree, I went on to do a PGCE and spent around twenty years in secondary education. Towards the end of this period I took an MBA in education management. This enabled me to develop more confidence in my academic abilities and got me back into learning. Following the closure of the school in which I had worked for 12 years, I applied for and was appointed to a post as a senior lecturer in secondary education at Canterbury Christ Church University. I enjoyed the job but I realised that, if I wanted to make further progress, undertaking a doctorate would be a sensible step. I was happy with this as I had always wanted to do more research, so I started a doctorate.

“Doing the doctorate gave me a lot more self-confidence. It made me realise that I was able to read and assimilate large amounts of information and complex ideas, and bring them together in writing. Doing the doctorate as a mature professional, I really appreciated the opportunities that it offered me. During a doctorate you can spend lots of time on professional development, taking advantages of courses and updating your ICT skills for instance, and if you want to go to a conference, you can just go – you don’t have to worry about how it fits into work, etc.

“I probably started my doctorate with an idea of going back to lecturing and research, but I wasn’t set on it as such. I became aware as I progressed through my doctorate that if I tried to go the conventional postdoctoral researcher/junior lecturer route that I would be competing with a lot of people who were much younger than me. I did not feel that the typical opportunities were very well geared towards mature students. Postdoctoral salaries were not very attractive either!

“The year that I finished my doctorate was also a year when my family was experiencing illness and turmoil. I found myself commuting up and down the country to look after my parents, and I decided that I needed to look for part-time work. I managed to combine my care commitments with a mix of research, university teaching, and educational consultancy.

“One of the schools that I had done some consultancy work for offered me the headship of a school. I did it on a part-time, consultancy basis for three months, and then full-time for three months – but there were a number of reasons why this was not going to be a long-term commitment for me, and I kept my eyes open for other opportunities. It was at this point that I saw the postgraduate training co-ordinator job at the University of Leicester. I thought that this looked ideal, as it was a teaching role that called for a strong awareness of the needs of doctoral researchers, which I had from my own experience.

“In my current role, I work with postgraduate researchers to support the development of their academic and transferable skills. I think that the job is about supporting researchers to find their own way forward. I think that it would be much more difficult to do this job if you had not done a doctorate yourself. I also manage a team of five people to deliver training and events to doctoral students. The role suits me because it allows me to use a range of skills – plus it offers a reasonable salary, a convenient location for my family commitments, and a permanent contract.

“Having a doctorate opens all sorts of doors that you are not necessarily aware of when you start. It is fine to plan a career, but you also need to keep yourself open to possibilities you had not considered. It is good to consider that there are opportunities out there beyond research assistant, research fellow, junior lecturer, etc.”

Joane works as the Web Resources Development Officer for the University of Leicester.

“The concept of career means very little to me! I guess I would term it just to collectively describe the jobs that I have held and the education I’ve received…”
“I did my first degree in biology and worked for a year, then did the PhD. I took a part-time admin job while writing up, and moved into the management of a trade association where I did things like running conferences. My husband’s job took us to the USA for two years, where I did wedding organisation and was a tour guide at some botanical gardens. When I returned to the UK I went back to my original job briefly before moving to work for the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), promoting health and life science Internet resources in higher education. I had some time off for the birth of our twins and then returned back to work part-time. I now work school hours and term time only in my current post, promoting the use of learning technologies in the School of Biological Science at the University of Leicester.

“During my PhD I realised that bench science was not for me. My husband wanted a career as a researcher and lecturer, and it would have been very difficult for us both to pursue this option. I didn’t feel that I wanted an academic career enough to put up with the difficulties that it would have caused. The concept of career means very little to me! I guess I would use the term just to collectively describe the jobs that I have held and the education I’ve received. Bosses in former (and current) roles have influenced my outlook and encouraged me to develop. They have given me the freedom to pursue my interests. I’ve been lucky to find interesting jobs at times when I’ve needed them. I’ve also been fortunate to work with some very bright people.

“I have never had a career plan so I am not sure where my career will go next. I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how I can develop and extend myself. I’ve mostly spent my time talking to people to help me think my ideas through. The biggest impact on my career to date has probably been forces beyond my control – children and husband’s job!

“I’ve always had to be flexible in all of my roles. For example, in my current role I’ve had to learn how to conduct research in a completely different way from how I learned as a PhD student (social science versus bench science research). I’ve tried to manage transitions like this through asking as many questions as I can when I enter a new role. Working part-time took a little getting used to, but I’ve always worked in a flexible way – so it was switching off when I wasn’t at work that was the problem sometimes!”

Joanne runs Favio, a company that manufactures an innovative backless bra. At doctoral study level she liked “that you are in control of your own destiny and your own learning. You can choose your path, and you get out what you put in…”

“I studied my first degree at Birmingham, and then I moved to Nottingham to study a Masters degree in oncology. I really enjoyed the research component of the MSc and decided to carry it forward into a PhD. The area of my doctorate was biomedical sciences – specifically immunology and oncology. I was looking at antigens that could be important in developing cancer treatment vaccines. Much of your first degree was learning to pass tests, but at doctoral study level I liked that you are in control of your own destiny and your own learning. You can choose your path ,and you get out what you put in. I found it even more interesting because my research supervisor had a spin-out company – she was taking her research towards finding a cure for cancer.

“I had become a bit disillusioned with academia on noticing that career progression was more limited for women – female heads of department within science disciplines were rare, although postgraduates made up more than 50% of the intake. I decided I didn’t want to fight that battle, instead deciding to combine my science and business knowledge. Having had a variety of jobs involving sales and marketing during my academic career, I realised that I had other skill sets besides those I had learnt in academia, and I was interested in turning research that was interesting into research that made a difference to society.

“Following my PhD, I completed the prestigious Medici Fellowship full-time, and I worked with Health Care and Life Science Inventions developed from University of Nottingham research. It included training around bringing a new product to market with intellectual property (IP), such as patents, at the core. I learned a lot about inventing new products and bringing them to market. Following this I worked at NHS Innovations (the same type of job for the NHS), and then Fusion IP – a venture capitalist investor who invested in IP from the University of Sheffield in order to license technology and start spin-out companies. Again, turning interesting research into research that matters.

“Whilst my career involved working with inventors to bring new products to market, I had myself invented a new product in my spare time – a gravity defying bra! It took me about three years to raise investment, recruit staff and start selling the finished product (D+ Perk Ups). You have to get the product to a certain stage, and spend quite a bit on IP costs before it is ready to sell. We then invented another product that we sold a licence for, and we hope that will be sold as ‘the new Wonderbra ®’ in 2011/2012.

“I found that my doctoral study really taught me to think logically and carry out effective research and development – some very transferable skills. There were quite a few challenges along the way, but my experience in technology transfer for universities and the NHS was the perfect background I needed as it taught the basics of doing business in this way.

“Inventing and launching a new product requires a broad range of skills – financial, business, technical, IP, funding, research, development, people management, customer service, and many more. All my little jobs during college, my degrees and full-time work prepared me for the experience of running a company. My advice is to say that learning is never a waste of time – you never know when it might come in handy!”

John gained his doctorate at the University of Manchester before becoming a lecturer at the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work in the University of Manchester.

“My clinical background is mental health nursing – I am a qualified mental health nurse with a nursing degree, an MSc and an MPhil. I had been employed by the University of Manchester as a lecturer for a year before being awarded a prestigious fellowship to undertake my doctorate. Before that I was employed as a clinical nurse specialist – I had been seconded to the university in this role to work on research projects and teach student nurses for a number of years.

“After my doctorate I returned to being a lecturer. My role involves teaching, university administration and research.

“The doctorate has been pivotal in developing my academic career, as a result of my expertise in this area and collaborations I have started. My advice would be to identify a topic which is interesting and stimulating, something which you might consider researching beyond your doctorate. Choose your supervisors carefully, they are key to the process. It is more than just their knowledge – you need to be able to work closely with them, argue with them, and be motivated by them. At times, they can also help you with networking.

“You also need to develop skills in disseminating your findings, understanding the policy context of your research, learning how to write and review grants, and a variety of leadership styles.”

John runs Crossgen, which makes tools for gene expression. He says that, “Explaining a new idea to someone in the commercial sector can be difficult. Often they say ‘no’ because they don’t understand it. This can be helped with effective communication…”

“I have always been interested in cloning and genetics. The topic of my doctorate was molecular genetics, and I studied at Nottingham University following on from my Masters. I focused on tomato genes, and the creation of ‘genetic maps’. Map-based cloning was used to isolate the genes of interest. Skills I developed during my doctorate included mapping using hybridisation techniques relating genes to their chromosomes, and the relationship of genes to other genes. Ultimately this enables the segregation of genes in a particular population to their chromosomes.

“From then I went on to do a postdoctorate, working in a different area called ‘gene expression’. This was looking at how genes are switched on or off, when and how this takes place, and by what chemicals. This was done using arrays of genes on a glass slide challenged with samples of chemicals, and observing their subsequent behaviours. I developed ideas for a business during my postdoctoral study, using these gene expression techniques for applications with remote or ‘uncharacterised’ species. Having tried this with plants, we were successful – therefore we decided to apply it biomedically to humans and animals. This idea gave birth to CrossGen, which started trading in 2008. Essentially we create tools for gene expression studies in uncharacterised species. We mostly work with medical and veterinary companies interested in using this technology in their drug treatment programmes. We have five employees including scientists, management and accountants, many working for us on a fee basis.

“As a postdoctoral researcher, you have a number of options. One was to stay in academia, but this route didn’t look favourable at the time. Because there was confidence in the business application of the work we had done, it seemed like the most viable career option. If I was a fully established academic at the time, I think I would have found it difficult to leave. In my experience it is virtually impossible to leave your academic career and go into industry. There is a lot of stability which is difficult to leave behind, and it can seem too risky for most to go for an entrepreneurial career.

“There have been a lot of challenges in that it is a very lonely pursuit. Explaining a new idea to someone in the commercial sector is very challenging. Often they say ‘no’ because they don’t understand it. This can be helped with effective communication. Enjoyable aspects include being your own boss, and the kudos of taking something that started in academia and seeing the results of it for clients.

“In terms of technology development, I have drawn on my experience at doctoral level quite significantly. However, you have to develop a network of other professionals which promotes business skills and commercial awareness which doctoral students sometimes don’t develop. Meeting people with this experience is very important for new doctorates.”

John Rooney is a lecturer at the School of Art and Design at the University of Salford. Before this he ran a graphic design consultancy for the creative art sector, including a long-term consultancy role with the Tate Gallery in Liverpool. He recently completed a Masters at MMU and is currently studying for a PhD at Salford. The content of his PhD will create site specific digital artworks in the city.

In this podcast, designer and typographer John Rooney describes his latest work, in which he collaborates with acoustics researchers on exploring typography and creative gesture through sound. Rooney is currently undertaking a PhD – the content of the project will posit a question of how to visualise the creative gesture of a place. In 2010 John set up a new national typographic research initiative in conjunction with Birmingham City University, and coordinated the Salford University presentation of a typographic exhibition presented early 2012 in Media City.

Please see John’s website for more on his work – www.johnrooney.co.uk

Questions & Answers

What were you doing before your doctorate?

“Before moving into teaching, I ran a successful graphic design consultancy based in Manchester, working with national and international clients in the creative arts sector, including a 14-year creative commission with Tate Gallery in Liverpool. In 1995 I was part of the Tate Liverpool consultancy team liaising with Brand specialists Wolff Olins on a new Tate Gallery identity. Vital, an exhibition catalogue I produced for the Tate in 1994, was also commended in the Frankfurt Book Fair of that year. Other industry recognition includes branding for Bury Art Gallery, which was featured in the European Logo Design Annual (EULDA): best of European Logo Design 2006.”

What are you doing now?

“Teaching on BA Advertising Design at the University of Salford. This includes coordination of a Level 5 cohort, plus module delivery, summative and formative feedback across Level 4, 5, and 6. Level 5 is the point in the learning cycle where the cohort engages with industry practice. The briefs offered on each 20 credit module on Level 5 have live industry content. It is important to note here that the live experience contains content which is aligned with level grade descriptors and learning outcomes for the level from University documentation. In three years we have set live projects and created student placement opportunities with the following agencies/companies – MC Brand Studios/Los Angeles USA, Sonic ID/London, Umbro /UK, Greater Manchester Police, J Walter Thompson/Manchester, TBWA\Manchester, Red C Manchester/London, AKQA/London, and YoLo Manchester. In 2009, students exhibited work in Monaco as part of an international luxury packaging conference (LUXEpak08). In the same cohort, one student was shortlisted as one of the 10 best young creative students in the world at the Cannes Future Lions competition. The Cannes success led to the winning student gaining employment with AKQA, one of the worlds leading Advertising Agencies, before graduation.

“I have recently created a link with leading football/culture brand Umbro. The cohort have just completed their second successive live project which has received extensive publicity on the School and University website, and the influential Umbro blog. This semester I engaged with new modes of delivery to the cohort, via extensive use of Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), in the form of a subject specific web blog. Using supportive group learning, VLE environments have created an area where students and staff team offer support and feedback to the cohort. It is known as The Advertising Project – an online environment where the cohort and staff post images, scamps, films and digital media of relevance to their work and the creative process in general. The impact of this VLE has been significant on learning outcomes. The site went online on 15 March 2011, with the full cohort signed up as contributors. To date, the site has had 165 posts with 4000 visits. This learning strategy has had an immediate impact on grades. Data taken from the grading of the ‘Creative Team’ (the previous 20 credit module) showed the cohort achieved a combined A+B grade of 84.0%. With the benefit of additional VLE feedback, grading from the recently completed ‘Copywriting and Art Direction’ shows a combined A+B grade of 96.4%, an improvement of 12.4%. The validation of this improvement is supported via feedback form the cohort that makes specific reference to the use of the VLE as a critical tool in a complete creative learning pedagogy. MEQ feedback clearly evidences the blog as a key point of feedback and an invaluable tool of student progression.”

What impact has your doctorate had on what you are doing now?

“My PhD study is a valuable framework for my ongoing research strategy. The developing methodology of study has created a research project which has informed my teaching strategies, created new research links, and included practice-based content which works with colleagues across the University.”

What was the route between your doctorate and what you are doing now?

“In addition to my graphic design consultancy, I expanded my research profile with conference presentations, written papers and collaborative art installations. This additional output underpinned my personal teaching philosophy of the importance of enhancing student employability via staff continuing to develop industry engagement. I completed an MA in Design and Art Direction at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2009. This experience was vital in developing a non-commercial set of personal design responses informed by personal statements, which in turn has lead to a connective methodology for my PhD studies.”

Research leadership, National Health Observatories, Knowledge Translation Group, Epidemiology Unit/ Ministry of Health and Social Protection and MSc professor, Colombia.

Former research staff in epidemiology and health economics, University of Turin, Italy.

This story comes from our What do research staff do next? project, investigating the careers of research staff who moved from research posts to other occupations and employment sectors. You can use these stories to better understand how these researchers transition, what careers they have and their reflections on the transition process and current career paths.

Research staff experience

My main interests are health economics, health policy analysis and health system research. I’ve worked in higher education as a junior researcher exploring the role of socio-economic conditions in health outcomes. I’m now employed by my government in a job that is primarily a research role.

My first research staff experience was at the Faculty of Public Health, University of Turin, Italy, and lasted one amazing year. It was a research internship on the Turin Longitudinal Study, one of the largest longitudinal studies in Europe.

My main activities and responsibilities included developing and implementing analytical tools for monitoring and forecasting of socio-economic data from the Study and designing and implementing health economic studies on determinants of health issues. I also produced an article on socio-economic inequalities in health and area characteristics related to violent mortality in Italy.

The origins of my career as a researcher, however, go further back – to when I had the chance to be a young researcher at my university in Colombia during my undergraduate programme.

This was an important opportunity for me – it helped me to stand out at an early stage. Standing out to improve your career prospects is not necessarily about getting high marks or even working particularly hard. Rather, it’s about knowing how to choose and prioritise your interests. It is important to select your theme or emphasis carefully, maybe as a part-time project to start with. Ideally, choose something not very commonly studied, but which is important and relevant to your context. For my part, I decided to be a researcher in a project to prevent violence in my city. In Medellin, violence was one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity in the population, so I felt it would be a good idea to contribute and start there. I had the opportunity to attend study groups and intervention programs to learn more about it.

I believe it was largely thanks to this experience that I was successful when, several years later, I applied for a place on a European Union programme for Latin American graduates. This program gave options for master’s studies in different areas of public health – such as epidemiology, health economics, public health and biostatistics – at one of five top European universities. It took me, in 2010, to an MSc in Health Economics and Policy at the University of Turin and the research internship on the Turin Longitudinal Study. While in Europe I further broadened my international research experience by attending research summer schools given by John Hopkins University and Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Spain) and Université de Lausanne (Switzerland). At the latter I was also employed on a short research project.

After completing my master’s in 2012 I moved back to Colombia, to find a permanent job with good career prospects. I was successful in securing my current post.

Career transitions

To identify my current job I undertook an active search for jobs and also made use of my professional networks. By this stage, with the benefit of my international experience in Europe, I was well positioned to make my next move – much more so than at the start of my career journey.

When starting to think about future careers, it is important to consider many options – but that can be very confusing. It is tempting to follow familiar paths. In my case I always wanted to be a physician or to do clinical research, simply because that was what my friends were already studying, yet now as a health economist and systems health researcher, I feel I couldn’t have chosen a better option for me.

I think that a major problem, if you are aiming for a career in a competitive area, is not being well-enough prepared for the ‘race’. Many people lack access to first-hand experience, to people who can share their lessons learned and tips. Resources such as these career stories provide good tools for helping think about alternatives and focusing on possibilities for your future.

Current job

My job title is National Coordinator of Health Observatories at the Ministry of Health and Social Protection in Colombia. This is a strategic position in Colombia’s health care system. Much of my time is spent in research activities. For example, I initiate and implement complex research projects (either independently or in a team), assist in collecting, modelling and analysing data, contribute to the formulation of peer reviewed research grant proposals, write, contribute and present reports and papers for publication in a variety of modes including peer reviewed journals, and present research papers at conferences and international meetings.

Other duties include: initiating and sustaining links with external bodies to foster collaboration and influence decision-making; developing and working on associated areas of the Minister’s work that are of his or her own interest and that fit within the Minister’s mission; and managing the activities of research assistants, junior staff and master’s students on a day-to-day basis.

I am proud to be leading several health systems research and knowledge translation initiatives in Colombia across different national observatories. Another recent achievement is to have received grants from the Erasmus Medical Center (ERACOL), National Fund for Research (Colciencias) and the British Council to carry out a research project at the London School of Economics Health and Social Care research centre, UK.

I also enjoy doing some teaching on master’s courses, as Assistant Professor (Epidemiology and Health System Research) at University of Valle (Cali), and University of Norte (Barranquilla), and Assistant Professor (Health Economic Assessment) in Pontifixial Javerian University (Bogotá).

Competencies old and new

My research staff experience developed my critical thinking abilities and understanding of research methods, both of which continue to be central to my work. My time in Europe, working in an international, team-oriented and collaborative environment, helped me develop strong interpersonal and communication skills. Also, the exposure to strategic networking and strategic thinking was invaluable.

Since 2012 I have gained much experience to enable me to deliver high quality research, to develop excellent organisational skills, initiative, and problem-solving abilities. I have also learned negotiation skills and diplomatic sensitivity.

Reflecting on my career path

I am very pleased with my health research career path so far. I get particular satisfaction from sharing experiences, lessons and interests with master’s students and sharing my knowledge when abroad. I stress to my students and colleagues that whenever they are networking and meeting more people, it is only the beginning. You need to continue working on innovative ideas, to strengthen knowledge translation in health and social issues not only in your country but also globally.

Colombia’s national health observatories are a significant achievement in our Low Middle Income Country (LMIC). I think that through them we have built a ‘bridge’ between research and evidence and policy-makers in my country for reducing health inequalities and poverty, and for improving health care among vulnerable populations (the elderly, victims of violence, indigenous peoples), as well as for control and prevention of chronic diseases, sexual violence, infant and maternal mortality.

Now, at the point where I’m seeing the fruits of my labours in the first three years in this role, I am entirely committed to my career and aim to achieve as much as possible. It is an especially exciting time, for health and social care systems is a growing field in the international arena.

Suggestions and advice

I offer four simple rules for a successful research career:

Do not forget to learn other languages: they open doors! My willingness to learn Italian made possible my all-important research position in Turin.
Be yourself, especially if you are out of the ordinary. Somebody original always stands out from the rest.
It is key to be up to date in your market; it’s what makes the difference. Thus, a few recent papers really help.
Finally, dissemination and knowledge translation are needed. Remember, if it isn’t published, it simply does not exist.
www.linkedin.com/pub/juan-rivillas/63/576/472?trk=feed-commenter-image

A self-employed research and evaluation consultant, Julia now works from home part-time, specialising in the use of technology for learning.

“Following an arts degree and several roles in computer based learning for higher education, I undertook doctoral research in evaluation of learning technologies.

“Whilst writing up my doctorate, I took several opportunities to work on evaluation projects, which led to my decision to set up my own consultancy. I now work from home part-time, specialising in the use of technology for learning. I travel when necessary but most meetings and collaborations are conducted online. This flexibility works well for me as I have a young family and live in a rural location.

“My doctorate gave me the necessary skills to become self-employed – self-motivation, determination and research skills, plus a network of contacts in the university sector.

“My advice to anyone considering self-employment in their research area would be to build up a wide base of contacts including university colleagues who can lead funding bids.”

Research and Education Coordinator, NHS Education for Scotland.

Former research staff at Queen Margaret University and the University of York, UK.

This story comes from our What do research staff do next? project, investigating the careers of research staff who moved from research posts to other occupations and employment sectors. You can use these stories to better understand how these researchers transition, what careers they have and their reflections on the transition process and current career paths.

Research staff experience

My background is in health psychology and I have five years’ research staff experience.

I moved from my native Scotland to take up a post as a psychology research assistant at the Centre for Cardiac Care and Education at the University of York. My main research area was self-management of cardiac conditions, and my main achievement a self-management manual I developed for patients with heart failure and their carers. I also analysed various research questionnaires, carried out literature searches and reviews. It was only a year’s post (2005-06) but was my first research position in higher education.

Next I moved back to Scotland, and took up post as a research assistant at Queen Margaret University, Centre for the Older Persons Agenda (COPA). It was a research centre within the university that focussed on older people’s issues. I was mainly involved in the evaluation of various services, including a digital inclusion project. I worked there for four years, from 2006 to 2009.

The decision to leave higher education research was not my own. The centre I worked for (COPA) was not able to secure any more funding, and I was made redundant.

At the time I was also part way through completing my doctorate.

Transition to new career

On being made redundant from my research assistant post, I did look for other jobs within higher education, however I did not manage to secure a research position within a university. The post I’m in now came up and I applied for it. I felt that, although the job was not based within a university, it was still an academic research post and I would be able to utilise the skills I had gained by working as a research assistant and through my doctorate.

When I was offered the position I asked my doctoral supervisor for her view; she also felt that I would be able to make use of my research skills and that the post would be sufficiently challenging.

Another main reason for accepting the job was that, unlike the majority of posts within the university sector, the position was permanent, which offered me job security. As it was a brand new post it also gave me the opportunity to develop it – within reason – in the way I wanted.

I did find the move from higher education to the health sector quite challenging, as in academia I was in a more ‘relaxed’, less structured environment. In my previous roles I worked more or less autonomously and was able to organise my work time in the way that was best for me (while still working a 37.5 hour week). Although I was accountable to my line managers, I basically managed my own work load. In the health sector, while I have some autonomy, the hours are more structured, giving less flexibility than before.

Current job and how it compares

My current job is research and education coordinator for NHS Education for Scotland (NES). As the first and sole research and education coordinator for NES I have enjoyed developing the job I began in 2009.

My role is an incredibly varied one. I carry out both qualitative and quantitative research and evaluation, both leading and assisting with research projects in the areas of patient safety, training GPs (community doctors), GP continuing professional development (CPD), practice nurse CPD and staff appraisal. I plan, implement and analyse interviews and focus groups, develop, distribute and analyse questionnaires and write up the findings in reports and journal articles for publication. I also carry out literature reviews, including systematic literature reviews. I plan and deliver research workshops. I also evaluate – and sometimes deliver – education courses.

My main achievement in this post is being the first author on a number of journal articles, and having one of my articles mentioned in the journal’s editorial. I have also presented the findings of a number of studies at various conferences.

While I work for the NHS, I feel that there are many similarities with research in higher education. However, unlike my previous work based in a research centre, I now work in an open plan office, where the majority of people are not researchers. Also, when I was in higher education I worked in project teams with a number of colleagues whose main role was carrying out research. In my current job the majority of the professionals do not have research as their main role. I work with doctors and other health professionals, many of whom either still work as GPs and/or are involved in delivering training.

Competencies old and new

I’m lucky in that I’m able to use a lot of the skills I gained as a research assistant, including qualitative and quantitative research methods, presentation skills and various interprofessional skills.

I don’t think I have had to gain any completely new skills to work outside higher education. I have, however, had to learn to adapt to a somewhat different environment.

While I’m pleased to be using a number of skills from my doctorate and my previous research posts, I regret that I’m not utilising many of my health psychology skills. I completed my doctorate 18 months ago and am now a qualified health psychologist, and in a way I feel that this training is being wasted.

Reflecting on my career path

My career has had variety, and the path it has taken is not the one I envisaged when I started out. I enjoy the work I do but I would love to actually work as a Health Psychologist, either practising within the NHS, or in higher education carrying out research in a health psychology-related field.

I’m not sure what ­- if anything – I would have done differently. Perhaps not take so long to finish my doctorate. I let it slide for a few years and it was really difficult to pick it back up again and finish it. I would also have asked for help/advice sooner about the direction my thesis was taking and the methodology I was employing.

Suggestions and advice

Attend and present at conferences – even if it is just a poster. Use the time at the conference to network. As an introvert I find networking really difficult, but it is a way of meeting other researchers in the field you are working in and learning about what work is currently being done in your research area.

Speak to other researchers about your research. If you are developing a research proposal, or having trouble with some aspect of your research, ask other researchers for advice. In research, peer support is invaluable: make use of existing networks within the university or build your own network. Don’t try to struggle along alone. I made the mistake of trying to struggle along myself during my doctorate and probably delayed finishing by a year because of this.

Karen is a Music & Academic Services Librarian for the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

Karen has been Music & Academic Services Librarian at RSAMD since 1988, gaining her doctorate from the University of Glasgow in 2009, on ‘Our Ancient National Airs: Scottish Song Collecting c.1760-1888.’ She remains research-active, continuing to explore the interface between antiquarian fact-finding and artistic creativity, the parallels between literary and musical fakery in the early Romantic era, the use of metaphor in the paratexts of early 19th century song collections, and 19th-century music-making on the Isle of Mull. Karen was elected Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Spring 2010, and has a particular interest in promoting information literacy as a key attainment for graduates by teaching information research skills to students at all levels. She finds her research experience invaluable in assisting library users, particularly those engaged upon their own research.

“After completing my MA by research into Mediaeval English plainsong uses at Exeter University, I commenced a PhD on 15th Century English polyphony. However, this change of subject gave me insufficient time to complete my doctoral research before embarking upon postgraduate librarianship training. Establishing my professional career left me little time to finish that research, and I reluctantly abandoned it in 1985.

“It was not until my discovery of the 19th-Century Dundonian James Simpson flute manuscripts at RSAMD Library in 2002 that I became involved in research again, doing small-scale research into their background. This resulted in the publication of my findings in the RMA Research Chronicle. The Simpson research was the stimulus which led me to recommence doctoral studies on a part-time basis in June 2004, and I graduated on 2nd December 2009.

“My research interests are in Scottish song-collecting, and in the cultural influences that can be traced to private individual collections in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

“I believe I demonstrated determination and commitment during the course of my studies, and have taken advantage of every opportunity to involve myself in the research community.

“Professionally, I find that having a PhD undoubtedly gives credibility in dealing with staff and researchers, who can be assured of my understanding and support in anything research-related.”

Karina gained a qualification and professional knowledge from her doctorate, which were both important for her career. Now she works as a therapist for a charity, and a professor of mental health.

“Having previously worked as a clinical nurse specialising in cognitive behavioural therapy, I did my doctoral research in post-traumatic stress disorder. I wanted to be in a position of influence to change patient care for the better, so I also gained a teaching qualification before working part-time as a clinician and part-time as an academic – moving from lecturer to senior lecturer to professor. My current role involves research as well as teaching.

“My doctorate gave me the basic skills to be a successful researcher, a thorough grounding in critical appraisal, and an introduction to the academic world. The confidence I gained working in a multi-disciplinary environment, and the insight into the expertise of other professionals, has been highly influential in my career.

“Working in both a clinical and a research setting is a challenge but I would advise others to persevere, think through different career pathways, and speak to other researchers and clinicians.”

Kate runs Interface 3, a consultancy specialising in the development of multi-touch interfaces. She went on a week-long course for doctoral students entitled the ‘Enterprisers Programme’, which covered aspects such as marketing, sales skills, etc. She recommends that future entrepreneurs look around their universities to identify commercial opportunities and funding.

“Having completed my BSc in computer science, I decided I wanted to continue to pursue the academic route with a Masters in technology and innovation management at Manchester University. After completing the Masters, I wanted to pursue topics and interests from the degree further, and began thinking about a doctorate at Edinburgh. I contacted several potential supervisors and secured a scholarship for my studies.

“My doctorate was entitled ‘Understanding requirements at work in e-science projects’. It enabled me to focus on the relationship between users and designers in software design methodologies, feeding into building better computer programs. The thesis was concerned with looking at computer science techniques to other disciplines – for example, ‘data mining’ used in the field of computer science could be equally applicable to the work of biologists.

“Because my research was based on interviews, and qualitative ethnographic research, I did nearly a year of ethnographic work. My observational skills improved vastly as a result. Writing was a really important and useful skill to develop, where every word counts and concise detail is important. This has fed through to writing bids and business proposals.

“I am still in the early days, and the business is just made up of me at the moment, but it is called Interface 3. Things really kicked off with a competition that was run at Edinburgh University in partnership with two industry partners. It was a great platform and opportunity to create my first software application and gain awareness and visibility.

“The University competition was a good example of an activity designed to encourage students to commercialise their research, but other activities have included a ‘silicon valley speaker series’ – bringing inspirational, high level US entrepreneurs to speak about their experiences.

“Several things happened which were really valuable to me in developing my business in the early days. I went on a week-long course for doctoral students entitled the ‘Enterprisers Programme’. This covered aspects such as marketing, sales skills, etc. I would recommend that future entrepreneurs look around their universities to identify commercial opportunities and funding – and there are lots of national projects too. I would definitely recommend networking as well.”

Kathryn practiced her ability to deal with people and situations during her doctorate. She now works as a Research Associate at the Manchester Metropolitan University.

“I completed my doctorate at Manchester Metropolitan University. My subject was multidisciplinary, involving microbiology, surface engineering and chemistry. My route into academia was somewhat unusual. At college I was forced to take humanities subjects, which I didn’t want to do, so I struggled. I did a foundation degree at college, then a HND, then a degree at the University of Central Lancashire, and then a doctorate. Until I started my doctorate, I worked part-time throughout. My jobs included laboratory technician, bar work, packing lettuces, and even working in a motorcycle shop. I always wanted to be self-sufficient, and enjoyed being challenged.

“My current research involves understanding why and how surfaces become fouled with micro-organisms. I design experiments, interpret the results, write journal articles and book chapters, and speak at conferences. I also co-supervise three doctoral researchers and do some lecturing. My doctorate and the expertise I gained were important for me, since I knew I wanted to continue in research and also lecture. I had two brilliant supervisors, and I think that makes a major contribution to a student’s enjoyment – and successful completion. My doctorate taught me not only about science but also about dealing with people and situations. Multidisciplinary work can be particularly challenging. Academically, talking to a physicist, for example, can be very different to talking to a microbiologist – so I need to wear different ‘hats’ depending on whom I speaking to. You can never be sure what people’s backgrounds, influences, or views will be – but it can also be a fascinating way to learn about their experiences.”

Medical writer.

Former research staff in biomedical sciences, A Coruña Biomedical Research Institute, Spain, and University of Glasgow, UK.

This story comes from our What do research staff do next? project, investigating the careers of research staff who moved from research posts to other occupations and employment sectors. You can use these stories to better understand how these researchers transition, what careers they have and their reflections on the transition process and current career paths.

Research staff experience

I had three postdoctoral contracts, with a career break between the first two.

Following my PhD in cardiovascular gene therapy at the University of Glasgow, I had a short-term, six-month postdoctoral contract in the same lab to finish off some of the project I had been working on. During this time I decided to take a break from research and took the opportunity to make a round-the-world trip. Whilst away I was able to get a very flexible online job, editing and proofreading manuscripts that had been translated into English so that they could be submitted to journals for publication. Not only did this help fund my travels, it also enabled me to maintain my interest in medical research.

After about 18 months I decided I did want to continue with a career in research and managed to find a postdoctoral position working in a respiratory medicine lab in northern Spain. Although it was a completely different therapeutic area and a much more clinically based research position than I had previously, I found it relatively easy to get back into the routine of lab research and everything that I had learnt during my doctorate was invaluable. However, after nearly a year I decided that although I was enjoying being back in an academic lab, the position itself wasn’t really for me. Luckily I had stayed in touch with people in my previous lab and heard about a new postdoctoral position that had become available.

So, after nearly three years away I returned to a new stem cell research project based in the lab where I did my PhD. In the time I had been away the lab had substantially changed, the research group was now much larger and the research was a lot more diverse. I enjoyed the new challenges that I was given and soon settled back in to the lab, gradually taking on more responsibilities and a more senior role. While working as a postdoctoral researcher I also got involved in setting up and running a public engagement project. This gave me a new perspective on my research and through this I gained a lot of skills and experience that complemented my everyday job.

Although I was enjoying academic research, after a few years back in the job I began to get more and more concerned about the lack of opportunities to further my career, and the lack of long-term contracts with job stability was a worry. With many of my very successful colleagues struggling to get funding for fellowships and the lack of availability of more senior postdoctoral positions I couldn’t really see any long-term options for me staying in academic research and began to look at other career ideas.

Transition to new career

I thought about many possible career options, ranging from moving to an industrial lab to retraining in something completely different, but in the end I decided that I really did want to stay working in medical science in some way, and that’s when I came up with the idea of medical writing. To be honest, initially it wasn’t really a job that I knew much about. But the more I found out about medical writing, the more the job appealed to me. So I decided not to wait until my postdoctoral contract expired and I began seriously looking for and applying for jobs.

I think the most useful resources I found were the MedComms Networking website and the European Medical Writers Association website. Both of these provided guides and information about careers in medical communications. The MedComms Networking website section on getting started in medical communications was particularly helpful. The website was also a good place to search for the latest job vacancies.

I also took advantage of the university careers service. After I’d re-written my CV to make it more appropriate for a career outside of academia, they provided some useful feedback and tips to improve it. I also had a mock interview, which helped me to prepare for the real thing.

Part of the process of applying for medical writing jobs involves completing writing and/or editing tests prior to being invited to interview. I successfully completed three tests and went on to attend interviews. The interviews consisted of another test and a standard panel interview. I didn’t find the tests too difficult, as they were generally based on skills that I had to use routinely in my work; reading and interpreting journal articles. My third interview was a success and I was offered a position as a medical writer.

Current job – and how it compares

I’ve been a medical writer at a medical communications agency for about a year. One of the main things that attracted me to the job was the variety in the everyday work. Instead of research in a very specific area I now get the opportunity to work on a wide range of therapeutic areas – everything from cancer to baby massage.

The job title is a bit misleading, as there is a lot more to my role than just writing. In addition to writing manuscripts for journal publication, other projects I’ve worked on include: preparing posters and oral presentations for congresses; preparing resources for medical education such as apps, websites and videos; and preparing and attending symposiums and advisory board meetings. Although most of the day-to-day work is office based there are also plenty of opportunities to travel all over the world to attend congresses and meetings.

Competencies old and new

When I started as a medical writer I didn’t really get any formal training for the job. It was a bit daunting at first as straight away I was given projects to work on and just learned through doing the job. My experience as a researcher definitely helped. The scientific knowledge and ability to understand and interpret medical research is critical to my new job. Although in comparison the field of my research was quite narrow, I’ve found it relatively easy to start working on other disease areas that I knew very little about. Having written publications and attended conferences previously has also really helped in my new role.

Other more general skills such as IT, communication and time management have also been useful. As a medical writer I often find I can be working on several very different projects at the same time, some with tight deadlines to meet, so organising and prioritising tasks is essential.

Some parts of the job have been completely new to me, for example, understanding the regulations which pharmaceutical companies (and therefore medical writers) are required to adhere to. Although budgeting and financial constraints were things I had to be aware of in academia, working for a company where profits are obviously a major concern has taken a bit of getting used to. All the accounting aspects of the job and having to balance client expectations with company requirements have been completely new to me.

In research, almost all my colleagues had a background in medical science. As a medical writer I now regularly work closely with a design/creative team, IT and an events management team. It has been interesting to learn more about how they work and what’s required to present the medical information in all the different formats that we work with.

One of the difficult things in changing career was moving from a relatively senior position to a much more junior position in a job where I had no direct experience. However, the experiences I had from academia have helped me to make quick progress and become established in my new role.

Reflecting on my career path

I never really had long-term career plans. When I decided to do a PhD, I assumed I would have a long-term career in academic research. I didn’t really consider the impact of having short-term contracts and needing to regularly move labs to have the best chance of progress in a career. When I started out in research I wasn’t really aware of how few opportunities there would be to develop a good, stable career in academic research.

I still don’t really plan for the long term. I have a lot to learn in medical writing and I’m enjoying the variety of the day-to-day work I’m doing. With this and the longer-term job prospects and stability that I currently have, I don’t think I’ll be changing careers again anytime soon.

Suggestions and advice

Take any opportunities to get involved in different aspects of science other than research, such as teaching, public engagement, etc. Although they might not directly lead to your next job, they will help you gain experience and skills that might help in other jobs. They will give you a different perspective on your research that might help inspire a new direction for your career. And when it comes to applying for jobs, any additional experience you have will help make your CV stand out from the others.

Don’t be afraid to take a career break. If you decided to go back to research afterwards, opportunities will still be there. Gaining wider experience in other things may help you in the longer term. I learnt Spanish while travelling, and by chance that helped me get back into a job in academic research.

Kenneth runs his own business conducting elections on behalf of labour unions. He manages between 18 and 24 elections a year, and would put his success down to a combination of having the time to figure out what to do next, luck, and being able to identify a gap in the market…

“My PhD is in ethnic studies from the University of California, Berkeley, in the general area of racialisation in twentieth century America. Following my doctorate I moved on to teaching African American literature in Knoxville Tennessee.

“Among several reasons for choosing to leave academia, paramount was that my wife was not living in Knoxville at the time. Like many junior faculty members, I was in a long distance relationship with little chance to get jobs in one place as long as we both remained academics. Additionally, I was burned out as a teacher. Early in my teaching career I dedicated long, hard hours to my students. This hit a dead end when I realised how unhappy I was, and it made it easier for me to realise I was in the wrong profession. In fact I knew more examples of people who were unhappy than otherwise.

“I did not find it easy to leave academia – the transition period during which I made my decision was two years. However, once the decision was made, it became economically possible because I had family support to move through the transition. I was able to live on very little of my own income, instead relying on my partner for five years, taking a very insecure job at a non-profit organisation – but in this time I developed some skills that I knew I would need to learn. I did a lot of ‘consulting’ over those five years. I had a strong political profile, making it easy for me to walk into a mayoral campaign and volunteer to do whatever was needed. In doing this, I generated a lot of contacts.

“Over six years I started three different businesses. The first one was poorly conceived and unrealistic, but each time I started I had a new and better set of skills and perspectives which permitted me to see what of my skills was saleable, and to whom. The third one has worked for me. Having developed an interest in the electoral process after the US 2000 elections, and as a Marxist being naturally oriented towards workplace issues, I now conduct elections on behalf of labour unions. I manage between 18 and 24 elections a year and, since not many people administer non-state elections in the US, it is not a crowded marketplace. Lots of people need elections conducted, so there was enough work around to find my niche.”

I’d put my success down to a combination of having the time to figure out what to do next, luck, and being able to identify a gap in the market. Though on the surface it doesn’t look like I use my doctoral training in my current work situation, many aspects of doctoral study prepare you for starting a business. For example, as a doctoral student and in teaching you have to be aware of your positioning and branding. This is in finding a gap to research and focus on, and in communicating the value of this to peers. Successful academics are successful because they can sell their work to other academics. Starting the business also involved a lot of research, being able to think on my feet, and a lot of strategic analysis. It also took some combination of becoming comfortable in sales and being able to do the analytical work at the same time.

People have a terrible sense in academia that they don’t know how to do anything else, and often perceive that it can be extremely difficult to get a job as good as the one they have. I can’t overstate the value of coming out of academia and having no immediate financial need to take just anything that comes along. If you can generate enough income to survive a couple of years of uncertainty there are a lot of things you can do – most who have PhDs and have uncertain jobs and are in the midst of uncertainty anyway, can use this experience to their advantage.

Most academics want to be their own boss. One thing academia is very unusual for is that, if you can get in, you have a job that offers you a monthly cheque and also no one looking over your shoulder every day. This is a very unusual combination and not to be given up lightly if this is something you value. A person who really needs the monthly cheque may have to take the job that will make them less happy. Someone who can manage the couple of years of transition and is willing to live a little more on the edge probably doesn’t have to do that. I was deeply unhappy in the late 90’s. I’m not now. The main advice is that leaving academia is not the panacea to all an individuals problems, but if you’re an unhappy person you should consider the possibility that academia is a contributing factor in your unhappiness.

Kieran studied for a PhD in Soil Mechanics with the Department of Civil Engineering at Imperial College, London. After setting up a spin-out company, he sold his shares and became a product manager at Thomas Telford Training – the knowledge arm of the Institution of Civil Engineers.

“I studied for a PhD in Soil Mechanics in the Department of Civil Engineering at Imperial College, London. I investigated the shrinking and swelling behaviour of clays, which has direct relevance to industry.

“Currently I am the product manager for Thomas Telford Training, the knowledge arm of the Institution of Civil Engineers. TTT deliver short professional training across the construction industry, and I carry the responsibility for the design and development of all technical training we deliver. I also have input across TTT’s knowledge streams, which include book and journal publications.

“I had a meandering career path – I left school at 16 for a start. I wanted to do something practical, so undertook a mechanical engineering apprenticeship. I moved into civil engineering and then into a large consulting practice, where a latent academic ability began to emerge. I studied on a day release basis for a HNC followed by a degree in civil engineering – not an easy route. I graduated top of my class as the recession began to bite. Worried about being made redundant, I started an MSc at Imperial College. I remained at Imperial for about 12 years, during which time I completed an MSc and a doctorate, undertook postdoctoral research, held a part-time lectureship, and set up a spin-out company.

“It would have been quite easy to remain in academia, as I had postdoctoral research funding and opportunities for academic appointments. However, I became involved in a research project with real value to industry – to develop instrumentation to investigate the stability of the earth embankments that the London Underground trains run on above ground. In addition to research, the technology produced an income stream into the university. The natural progression was to set up a spin-out company. This was a challenging project in its own right. At first we rented space at Imperial, so the move away as well as the decision-making process was gradual.

“Whilst I genuinely liked my research field, it was not sufficient to sustain my ambitions in the long term. The cycle repeated five years later when I sold my share in the company to my business partner and moved to Thomas Telford Training.

“I realised that I am a project person so, when both projects (my doctorate and the spin-out company) reached a conclusion, I knew I needed to look for a new challenge.

“The benefit of holding a doctorate depends on the circles in which I operate. The demonstrable academic ability is a door opener in business. Those who have not reached your academic level respect you for what you have done, and those who have see you as an equal – of which there are only few operating in your industry. During a doctorate you become a proven subject expert within a few years. That is some demonstration of ability. You will have a toolbox of transferable skills to use throughout your career. The professional and personal friendships I made by being part of a bright, driven and enthusiastic group of international researchers have proved to be very valuable.

“Ultimately you develop and hone a thorough, enquiring and penetrating mind, and match it with a desire for delivering the best you can – and industry needs and welcomes that.”

Krista comes from a social justice field where making real change for real people is important. She started a charity, the Healthy Food Bank foundation, for which she is the Research Director. She also runs her own women’s fitness website.

“I grew up in an academic family, so my doctorate was the end of a fairly linear progression which I always expected. I knew I was good at it and enjoyed it. I started out in fine arts, then moved into women’s studies for my Master’s and doctorate. I focused on women’s work and experiences in technology through a social science lens. For me things have always evolved. Questions lead to other questions. I never thought I would end up doing stats or researching technology following an undergraduate study in fine arts!

“I finished my doctorate in 2002. My knowledge and skills took me to being the project manager of a research database. Over five years we developed a website and a database, and during this time I was also teaching on contract at the university with the hope that it would lead to a permanent faculty position. I developed new courses, such as a course on women and technology, and a course on transgender issues and feminism.

“However, eventually I got fed up with the insecure nature of the university teaching work I was doing, and I realised that the increasing commercial nature of the institution – with the concomitant focus on being a bureaucratic ‘research factory’ – didn’t fit with my values. I came from a social justice field, where making real change for real people was important.

“So I went to work at a private research institute for around nine months, then I abruptly quit. Although the catalyst was a restrictive immediate supervisor, the organisation was very ‘old school’. There were lots of areas I wanted to explore, and could not! This institute suffered from the same problems I found in academia. One day, I simply walked out.

“A friend and I then started a charity, the Healthy Food Bank foundation, for which I am the Research Director. I started up a magazine to support the charity, and served as the Editor-in-Chief. I also saw some personal training clients during this time, and began to work as a nutritional coach. Now I supervise a cohort of over 100 women, providing individualized nutritional instruction and coaching. I also run group fitness workshops occasionally. I have been working on a couple of books related to this area of health and nutrition, and I make income from my website as well.

“My website, www.stumptuous.com, was created over 10 years ago when I realised that there was no real information out there for women who wanted to get into shape – as I did – and lift weights to do it. A lot of the information that existed was poor quality. I read a lot of literature on the subject, added articles to the site, and got a lot of feedback from other women all over the world. The site has grown immensely. I get a lot of emails about how other things in women’s lives can change when they become strong, so it’s become more like a ‘transforming lives’ project.

“I love the fact that I’m the boss. I work so well independently. It’s not that I can’t take feedback, it’s just that I can’t take rules for the sake of rules. There is an intellectual independence that I love. Time and physical flexibility are so important for me, and my background in employment really gave me the ability to critique the way others work. In academia, and at the institute, you had to be physically present in the office the whole time. As a person working in a knowledge industry, I never understood this. I always found the insecurity (especially at the beginning) difficult. Establishing a steady stream of income and a whole new network took a lot of time. Even if things are going well, there is always the fear of ‘what if this dries up?’ Also the working hours can be quite extreme. If you are doing something you love and it doesn’t feel like work, you can find yourself doing more work than when you were at the job you hated! This is especially true in the beginning, but the mental preoccupation can be stressful too.

“All the insights from my doctoral studies are so relevant. In understanding why women eat poorly, you have to understand their lives – dead-end female occupations, lower incomes, the power imbalance which exists in society, childcare, taking care of ageing relatives, etc. All these things shape fitness and health, and access to good food. As well as content, skills such as setting up a study, running, interpreting data – and then explaining it in plain language – have been very useful.

“A cautionary tale would be to take note of what you see that you don’t like, and steer away from it. A lot of what I saw told me that, ‘I don’t want to do this.’ These clues can be just as useful as moving towards what you do like. I modelled a lot of what I did on the kind of academic escapees I work with now, rather than the kind of old school academia I wanted to get away from.”

Linda completed her doctorate in geology. After this she worked on a project at the Free University in Amsterdam. She then obtained funding to be a research fellow at the University of Edinburgh, followed by funding from the Royal Society of Edinburgh. She is now working as a research fellow funded by the Natural Environmental Research Council.

The following text is a transcription of a career story collected by interview.

“My name is Linda Kirstein, I am a natural environment research fellow at the University of Edinburgh. Basically I do research in geological sciences, and focusing on research in Taiwan, looking at how mountains are built and looking at what the sediments that are preserved in the geological records can tell us about that process.

“I graduated from school having done seven subjects because I did it under the Irish system, and in that seven subjects I had done biology, and physics as well as maths. And when I began choosing university courses, I kind of decided that science would probably be the better option for me to start with. So I did a four year degree in Ireland, and I did maths, physics, geology and computers in the first year. And then as the years went on you basically had to choose what you were going to specialise in and, possibly by process of elimination in terms of subject choice, geology just stuck out as the thing that I would do.

“In my final year I had a really great lecturer, and she erm was convinced that I should do postgraduate research. And it was purely by her instigation that I applied and I applied both to erm Trinity College of Dublin and the Open University in Milton Keynes. I wanted to do something that would allow me to travel and basically those two universities at the time had some really good projects that I was interested in doing.

“As a researcher you have to do time management, you have to do people management, you have to take responsibility erm for all the money that gets invested in your research questions. Four years of research was a really good training ground actually, so I spent from ’93–’97 in Milton Keynes working on a project that was based both in Uruguay and Namibia. If you are a UK student you can get a project funded by the Natural Environmental Research Council. And these days, they pay quite well.

“So, as I was writing up, I went to a conference and I met a woman from Leeds, and she had just got funding from the European Union for a big project that involved 10 different universities across Europe, and there was a project available at the Free University in Amsterdam. So for my PhD I went to Amsterdam to work on this project. It was an amazingly well-equipped university. They had loads of different dynamic people who wanted you to do sort of different techniques so you could explore as many directions as you wanted to.

“From Amsterdam I got funding to be a research fellow at Edinburgh from the Marie-Curie Science Foundation which is part again founded by the European Union. And since then I’ve had funding from the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and now from the Natural Environmental Research Council.

“I probably will apply for another fellowship, partly because there is huge amounts of independence and flexibility when you are driving your own research. And you don’t have to do very much teaching and you don’t have a lot of administration to do.

“Research is one of those things, it’s got its really high moments where you’re succeeding and you’re feeling like you’re answering fundamental questions and everything’s coming together. And then it’s got its really low points where everything you thought you understood, or in terms of a project anyway, has to be thrown out the window based on your latest batch results.

“I think in the gap between having gone to university and taking up a sort of PhD I would definitely recommend doing a Masters or a six-month placement with somebody that basically allows you to get a feel for the research but not have the huge responsibility that you take on your shoulders when you take on a PhD.

“I like being outside, I like doing my field research. I like a job where I am not just sitting at a computer, I can actually use the computer, but I can also go into the lab and collect some isotopic data or some geochemical data. And I can also go out into the field and I can actually choose which rocks I’m gonna look at. And so putting all of that together, I don’t think there are that many jobs out there that you can do that allow you to do so many different things.”

Careers Adviser, Newcastle University UK.

Former Research Staff at Newcastle University UK.

This story comes from our What do research staff do next? project, investigating the careers of research staff who moved from research posts to other occupations and employment sectors. You can use these stories to better understand how these researchers transition, what careers they have and their reflections on the transition process and current career paths.

Research staff experience

I worked as a Research Associate at Newcastle University for nearly six years, in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape.

My research focused on the discourses government employs in social and urban policy; and on the theory and practice of regeneration policies. The main focus of my work was New Labour’s participatory approach to urban regeneration, embodied in its New Deal for Communities programme, but I got involved in a number of projects over the years, from exploring diversity in town planning, to writing a forward strategy for a regeneration partnership, to a huge FP6 (EU) project exploring a range of issues related to European rural development.

I also got really involved in teaching in the department, starting out as an undergraduate dissertation supervisor, progressing through to module leader, and PhD progress panel reviewer. In my final year in post, I shared the role of Degree Programme Director for our returning Diploma students, and enjoyed the pastoral support I was able to provide.

I achieved the usual things that you’d expect in terms of publications (single and multi-authored), conference presentations, and reviewing grants and publications, and was REF submittable before I left, which I was very pleased with. But I think my favourite achievements stemmed from involving myself in the life of the department, from teaching, to staff meetings, to general administration. I was very proud, for example, that two of my students were nominated for the dissertation prize in my last year in post. I was also proud of my efforts to support other research colleagues by reviewing our induction processes, getting involved in the department’s researcher panel, and reviewing colleagues’ papers before submission.

A combination of factors led me to leave academic research. At heart, I felt that I had come to the end of what I was interested in: I was able to think of plenty of things I could research but I couldn’t think of things I wanted to research. I found this quite demotivating, which really reduced my job satisfaction. I also much preferred working with students, and I wanted to have more of that in my job.

Transition to new career

After applying for a few different jobs I met a university Careers Adviser (CA) who finally challenged me to stop complaining about my job and to think about what I enjoyed. I realised that I really enjoyed teaching and dissertation supervision, so I stopped thinking in job titles, and tried to find a job that would let me do those things. Then a ‘Curriculum Officer’ post came up – a 12-month post in careers teaching on the Careers Service’s employability modules. This seemed like nice, safe sideways step, as I was a bit nervous about leaving academia.

It was hard to have the confidence to leave, and it was difficult at first to understand what non-academic employers were looking for. I also didn’t really understand what I had to offer, other than my subject-specific knowledge. The CA was a really helpful sounding board, as I found that my academic colleagues were not so impartial! I also found friends and family useful for helping me to think about the strengths and skills I was struggling to identify after so many years of focusing on my knowledge.

As my contract for the Curriculum Officer post came to an end, I was asked to apply for a lectureship in my old department, but realised that I preferred the more collegiate working environment in student services. I chatted to one of the CAs about whether or not to go back, and she mentioned that a CA job was coming up. Because the CA role is so specialist, I don’t think I would have got it if my colleagues hadn’t already known a bit about me and what I was capable of, and so were happy to put me through the training.

Current job – and how it compares

The principal focus of my work is career guidance (using a counselling-based approach), and training. I undertake 1-1 sessions with clients (undergraduates, PhD students and staff), and deliver specialised lectures and training within my caseload. I’m also active within AGCAS, my professional body, where there are lots of opportunities to train other careers professionals, and feel part of a career community.

The highs are getting involved in teaching and training, and the times when you can see that you have really helped someone move forward. The lows are open-plan working, and a bit of a lack of thinking time. The job is insanely busy – I’m busier than when I was research staff – so the focus tends towards doing, rather than thinking.

There’s definitely less scope for feeling in charge of yourself (as an academic, I was basically self-employed), but the trade-off is feeling part of a community working towards a shared goal of improving things for our clients, which I like.

Competencies old and new

Aside from the obvious teaching and supervision work that I did as a researcher, I think that being a CA involves being highly analytical, exploring meaning, and trying to find patterns in data (it’s just that the data are spoken words, rather than a spreadsheet).

I use the interpersonal skills I developed as a qualitative researcher, and the methodological framework for my research (discourse analysis) helps me find meanings in a client’s story by exploring the language that they use to describe it.

The new competencies I’ve developed are around guidance and coaching; theoretically informed teaching; team teaching; training; giving constructive feedback; thinking on my feet; and persuasion and negotiation. I also feel that the collegiate working environment in Careers has encouraged me to be a better team player, and I have a greater understanding of how the university works.

Reflecting on my career path

I wish I’d known that you don’t have to slog on in a job you know isn’t a good fit; that leaving academia is not a failure; and that I had loads of things to offer an employer other than my knowledge.

I’m sure that this won’t be the only career that I have, but I can see lots of potential for moving things in different directions, and I feel that I have plenty of development opportunities in my role.

Suggestions and advice

Look at your academic career as a career, not as an extension of yourself. A career needs planning and managing, and if you can take a step back and look at it, you’ll be able to consider it more strategically. It’s really easy to just drift in your research career, and focus on the research at the expense of your career management (which even the nicest PI will encourage you to do, because this works to their advantage). And you can roll along fine with that until you start hitting the top of your pay grade and become expensive, at which point someone will ask you what your plans are.

The most important thing I learnt though is this: nobody cares about your career as much as you do. Nobody. Don’t put your career in someone else’s hands, and remember that it is okay to put your own interests first.

uk.linkedin.com/in/lornadargan

Louise worked in the food industry for ten years before her doctorate. After finishing doctorate, she began working in a statistics department.

“Before my doctorate I worked in the food industry for ten years after completing my degree in food science. I had wanted to change careers and move into social research for some time, and studied part-time for a Masters degree in social research. I thoroughly enjoyed the course and applied for ESRC funding for a doctorate. If I had not received funding, I would have used my Masters to get a job in social or market research directly.

“I studied for my doctorate in the Department of Sociology at Surrey University. My thesis drew on the meritocracy debate and identified a new way of measuring and describing social mobility, using second generation structural equation modelling. I thoroughly enjoyed my time as a student, and the freedom the doctorate gave me to explore in detail a subject I was fascinated in. There is nothing I would change about my time as a doctoral student, I attended loads of really interesting training courses and had a brilliant three years. I would recommend making the most of all the training opportunities you get. Once you start work, you will not have the time, and your employer will only want to fund courses that are directly relevant to their business.

“After finishing my doctorate, I took a job in market research, working in a statistics department. Within academia I found the obligation to publish in academic journals very off-putting and was keen to follow my interest in social research. However, my first job after graduating from my doctorate was purely number crunching, and none of the high-end statistical skills I learnt were put into practice.

“I then moved to Ipsos MORI where I have been for the last 18 months. My job covers all aspects of the research process, from proposal writing to job costing, project management, report writing and presenting. There is more client involvement than in my previous role, and the breadth of projects and public sector clients makes it much more interesting. I have been able to draw on the writing skills and literature review skills developed during my doctorate. I have done some analysis, but my job essentially involves project management and client liaison.”

Lucy worked as an MP’s researcher, but then decided to move into public affairs at the British Library.

“I studied for my doctorate in Palaeolithic Archaeology at the University of Durham. I was hugely motivated by this topic, and by a career as an academic archaeologist. But, like a lot of people I guess, I loved and hated the experience of writing my doctorate in equal measure. I struggled at points, but I kept going and eventually made good progress.

“Once I had completed my doctorate, I was in two minds about what to do with my career. Although I still wanted an academic career, I felt that after my doctorate some of my passion for the subject had gone. I applied for academic jobs, and got some interviews, but I found the whole experience quite disheartening. I was eventually offered a temporary lecturership, but the proposed workload was huge and it would have required me to move to a new city leaving my partner and family. I agonised over this, but eventually turned the job down. This was very risky, but I had come to realise that I was not committed enough for an academic career.

“I took some time out, and thought about my life and what I wanted to do. I decided that I was good at writing, at analysis, at statistics and managing data, all of the research skills that I had learnt from my doctorate. I also realised that I did not have any experience outside of academia and that I would need to build some up.

“A friend of my father suggested that I might enjoy working as an MP’s researcher. This appealed to me as I was interested in politics and wanted to do something where I could make more of a difference than in the academic world. So I contacted the Liberal Democrats and started work as an unpaid intern. I then went on to another unpaid internship for an MP. I then secured a paid job with an MP who was the Liberal Democrat spokesman for the Arts, Heritage and Culture. My background in archaeology was part of what got me this job, and was really useful.

“I enjoyed working as an MP’s researcher, but it got a bit repetitive after a year. Although there is a lot of research, it is mainly summarising information from others, rather than solving problems yourself, and other parts of the job are more basic administration. Also, working with MPs can be challenging, as you are essentially a team of two and need to work very closely together in high pressure situations.

“After about a year, I decided to move into public affairs, which is a common step for MPs’ researchers. Public affairs deals with the relationship between organisations and national politics. Public affairs officers spend their time organising meetings, lobbying MPs and writing letters. Sometimes you make a real difference, but at other points you do not feel like you are getting anywhere.

“I got a job working for a trade association which represented companies working in environmental areas. I worked there for 14 months, and although it was interesting, I could not see much opportunity for development. I then moved to a public affairs job at the British Library. However, I’m on a short term contract and so it is unclear whether I will be at the British Library for very much longer.

“I would like to move into something more research-based, possibly a think tank – or even getting back into academic research. I am not going to rush the decision, so I might find myself taking a career break after the end of my contract to reassess my options.”

Madhuri loves the independence that having her own business has brought her, and the fact that she can determine how to grow and resource the business. In terms of applying the skills picked up during her doctorate, she uses her scientific skills all the time – especially those associated with experimental design and scientific strategy.

“Since my school days, I have been interested in the science behind medicine rather than vocational practice, and my interest in pathology research grew during an undergraduate pre-clinical sciences course in cellular pathology at Cambridge. I undertook my doctorate in molecular biology at the Institute of Cancer Research in London, funded through a clinical training fellowship with the Cancer Research Campaign (now CRUK). The aim of my PhD was to investigate BRCA2 one of the inherited breast cancer genes, and I learnt a wide variety of molecular biology research techniques, focusing on gene targeting and cloning techniques in plasma and bacteria, and techniques to investigate the function of this gene in cell lines.

“I also developed rigour in scientific analyses during this time – the formulation of hypotheses, intellectual analyses of experiments, and publishing data in peer-reviewed scientific journals. I undertook postdoctoral work at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, where I focused on comparative pathology (or the comparison of animal models with human diseases). I was eventually asked to set up a pathology research lab at the institute, which grew exponentially. Following on from this success we became involved with scientists in America and Europe.

“When I was made redundant, due to academic restructuring in Cambridge, I then chose a move into industry – I wanted to utilise both the scientific and molecular skills I had learnt. A lot of this involved contract work with organisations working on clinical trials. Due to the high attrition rate in drug discovery, and the fact that a lot of drugs were coming ‘off-patent’, there was a lot of interest in developing smarter ways to develop new compounds and clinical diagnostic tests. This required people with clinical as well as scientific experience, and I started thinking of ‘taking the plunge’ into setting up my own business. I had gained experience in setting up a lab from scratch and running a team at the WTSI, and so I founded Pathology Diagnostics Ltd in 2008. We now have six staff in Cambridge, and are in our third year.

“Challenges have included learning how to be an entrepreneur. I think you have to be born with the right traits to run a business – self-belief, ability to take risks and, above all, determination. I love the independence it has brought me, and the fact that I can choose how to grow and resource the company. In terms of applying the skills picked up during my doctorate, I use the scientific skills all the time, especially those associated with experimental design and scientific strategy. Other skills have been important too, such as business planning and networking, but Cambridge also importantly has a lot of agencies available to help new businesses, including at the St John Innovation Centre where we are based. ERBI (the Eastern Region Biotechnology Initiative) and the East of England Development Agency were extremely important in helping us get established.

“If I had to advise others, I would say that you need to talk to as many people about your vision and business plan as possible. Also, in the current climate, you have to be careful not to overextend yourself. I would say, if you are thinking of developing a product, you’ll find the next two years very difficult. Be careful to establish a good team, and think of an exit strategy.”

Maggie’s first role was with the Ministry of Defence, combining knowledge from her first degree in physics with her doctorate in mechanical engineering. She returned to academia to work on building an instrument to bolt on to the Gemini telescope. She is currently working in both industry and academia as a space scientist and science communicator.

The following text is a transcription of a career story collected by interview.

“My name is Doctor Maggie Aderin-Pocock and I am a space scientist and a science communicator. As a space scientist I actually build satellites that go up in space, and as a science communicator I like to try and translate some of the complexities of science into a simple format for everybody to understand.

“Someone, somewhere, will think we need a satellite to understand the universe to probe the Earth’s atmosphere or do something. At Astrium Limited what I do is, we take that requirement and we try and build instrumentation and a complete satellite system that will meet those requirements

“So my PhD was in mechanical engineering. But before that I did my degree which was in physics. And so that was quite an interesting hybrid for me ‘cause doing the physics and the mechanical engineering turned out to be a perfect marriage for making satellites in the future. I didn’t know it at the time but it worked out very well. So I sort of had an inkling that I’d quite like to go into industry ‘cause I liked to solve problems and actually take the physics and mechanical engineering that I’d learnt and put them onto a variety of different problems. But when I actually left university I wasn’t actually sure where I was going to go, and also jobs were very scarce at the time, but I actually found a job with a branch of the Ministry of Defence, The Defence Evaluation Research Council, and was doing and making instrumentation for them. The first sort of instrumentation I was working on was something called a missile warning system. This was a quite a complex piece of equipment, but what it was designed to do was warn pilots when a missile was coming and then automatically let off flares to protect the pilot and the aircraft.

“So I did that for a number of years, travelled around the world, went out to Australia and to Rumora and did tests out there, as well as Appendine Sands in Wales. Then I actively got a promotion and I changed to working in landmine detection. That was my first management role and I was managing a handheld landmine detection group. From there I actually actively decided that I’d come back to academia. Because my dream had always been to sort of work in space and astronomy, and as a child my very first instrument that I made was my own telescope.

“So an opportunity came up to work on the Gemini telescope in South America, and this is an eight metre telescope, and I did that role at UCL, the University College London, and we were building an instrument that bolted onto the telescope. So we spent sort of two and half years building an instrument in UCL in the basement. And then it was a fantastic day when we packed it all up and shipped it out to Chile. And I spent about six months working in South America. And then I got to my dream of actually working in space science and that’s why I transferred from actually making ground-based space telescopes to space-based telescopes and space based instrumentation.

“Because I think, for me, it took me a while to realise the call for my PhD wasn’t just the technical knowledge that I picked up but it was also the transferable skills which you don’t really see at the time. But it’s things like problem-solving, taking on a challenge, getting it down to sort of the nitty gritty and working out a step-by-step method of solving a problem. To me, space was the ultimate goal, and I think it was sort of a subconscious for a long time but I could see I had that sort of goal in mind, so when I took on jobs, it was also, well you know can they lead me to space or will it go a different way? And you know it didn’t matter that I did lots of different things along the way, ‘cause I think often that helps. But that was I think, my goal.

“Because I’ve had a sort of quite hybrid career there are benefits in working in academia and pitfalls and the same in industry. But I think I’ve gone, I’ve done it sort of in a strange way where I am doing both now.

“And sort of trying to get the benefits of both aspects and trying to minimise the detriments, and it’s not something that people often consider but there are some good benefits in doing both. Sometimes that means you don’t know what hat you are wearing on what day, but there are synergies between the two. Someone once told me that you don’t actually, that for the time, extra time you spend in university doing a PhD you don’t actually get the money back until you are 40, but I think you can actually get it back sooner than that.”

Prior to her doctorate in chemistry, Maggie worked in industry for companies such as Pfizer. After completing her doctorate she worked as a university researcher, and then as a research fellow at the University of Cambridge. After undertaking an MBA at the Judge Business School in Cambridge, she moved on to become a research translation specialist at the University of Michigan.

The following text is a transcription of a career story collected by interview.

“My name is Maggie McCammon and I am a research translation specialist at the University of Michigan, and that involves translating academic discoveries from the laboratory into the market place. So we are trying to commercialise the discoveries that our academic scientists make.

“Well I was an academic researcher myself for a while, I was a postdoc and then a research fellow at the University of Cambridge. And what I found was that there was a lot of absolutely cutting edge fantastic research coming out, but the scientists kind of fell down when it came to taking the next step, as in getting it out of the test tube and into a tablet or injection that you could put into someone or actually make a difference to someone that’s ill or whatever. So I became interested in what the next step would be, how we could encourage our scientists to do that. And then I did the MBA at Cambridge University at the Judge Business School and I focused on commercialising academic discoveries. And so we looked at lots of different ways, lots of different pathways and new ideas, working with large pharma companies and things like that. And at the end of the MBA I decided that that’s the area I wanted to go into rather than going back to the research bench. And that sort of job doesn’t really seem to exist in the UK at the moment and it’s definitely a growing area, the research councils are all, have put huge resources into this. And they have a technology transfer department of their own. And I’ve contacted the people that are involved in these and they are very open and very keen to look at new ways of doing it. It’s quite a new area, er, but it’s enormously interesting and there is a lot of, a lot of funding going into it.

“I thought I wanted to be an academic researcher all the way through, it didn’t occur to me that I’d leave the bench. And the sort of turning point I think was I was working on a project in a big collaboration, and we found that erm, we’d got some really good results and I was thinking in terms of clinical trials ‘cos I had an industry background before that. And then I found out that other people in the collaboration were still thinking in terms of academic research and that’s I think, that’s the main part when I realised that there’s a disjoin, that there’s a gap between the academic scientist and actually translating that into a product or a real thing on the market.

“While I was doing my degree I worked, unpaid, in different industry settings, and one of them, Pfizer, is the place I decided where I really needed to do a PhD.

“There was a, an older chap there and he hadn’t done a PhD but he was fantastically brilliant – he absolutely knew everything and he took me aside quite early on and said his biggest regret was that he didn’t do a PhD and there’s a definite glass ceiling, certainly within industry and also within academia I realise now, if you don’t have a PhD. And he’d missed his chance, and when he realised that he’d already had a family, and mortgage and didn’t have the option to go back.

“So while I was at Pfizer, that’s when I first started thinking about I wanted to go on and do a PhD. It’s not really been a journey, what I’ve always done is what I want to do. I don’t want to do a job that I don’t like or I don’t want to get stuck in something that I’m not enjoying.

“I liked the idea of blue sky research, although I realise that there needs to be a commercial aspect because it is so expensive. My job is going to be interacting with academic scientists erm trying to convince them that they want to buy in to the idea of commercialising their research, which is really difficult. By definition, world class scientists tend to be very focused almost to the point of being obsessed. And what we don’t want them to do is lose focus to try and start commercialising their work, we need them to stay, you know, world class. Because I’ve been a research academic I know the pressure’s they’re under and I understand how they think, erm, I understand the vernacular, I think, I can interact with them, erm on a more one to one basis or a more sort of trusting basis I suppose. And the job I am doing now is my absolute dream job, it’s perfect. In fact I virtually wrote the job description and then sort of touted it around trying to get someone to give me a job doing it, which Michigan did.”

Product Specialist in a biotech company.

Former research staff in botany at University of Salamanca, Spain.

This story comes from our What do research staff do next? project, investigating the careers of research staff who moved from research posts to other occupations and employment sectors. You can use these stories to better understand how these researchers transition, what careers they have and their reflections on the transition process and current career paths

Research staff experience

Before the economic downturn, I was enjoying a developing research career at the University of Salamanca, in the field of botany. I started by working for a project on a research fellowship. A year afterwards, I got my pre-doctoral fellowship – FPI Predoctoral Research and Teaching Fellowship (National Programme); one of the most prestigious pre-doctoral fellowship programmes in Spain. My fellowship was linked to Flora iberica project (1980-ongoing), which aims to update and synthesize current knowledge about vascular plants which spontaneously grow in the Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Islands. When I finished my pre-doctoral fellowship, I worked in the herbarium of the University of Salamanca, the fifth important herbarium in Spain, for a year and a half; I worked for a GBIF project (The Global Biodiversity Facility) in digitalising and databasing plant specimens. That was the last time I had a stable position in botany.

From 2009, Spain reduced science funding drastically and I found it almost impossible to work on projects in botany. After that, I just found a little funding for teaching at the University (three months per year); even then it was not a proper contract. There was no funding for staff development at the University of Salamanca and I did not recognise that I had skills I could use outside higher education research. As a result I felt discouraged about researching new opportunities in other sectors.

To start with I tried to find a contract in a different university here in Spain, but the situation in the rest of the country was similar. Therefore, I changed my mind and started to explore different alternatives. I was still working on my PhD, so I tried to find a stable job near my university in order to finish my PhD as quickly as possible.

Cytognos SL (www.cytognos.com) gave me a great opportunity. Cytognos is a biotechnology company based in Salamanca that provides innovative solutions in the flow cytometry field. I work here as a Product Specialist.

I had a busy and productive time in higher education research. When I left, I had enjoyed several fellowships, and research stays in the UK. I had field experience in several countries (on three continents). I had published four papers in peer-reviewed journals, eight other journal papers, a complete book (as first author) and three book chapters.

However, moving out of higher education was not the end of my research activity. Today, I have six papers in peer-reviewed journals (three additional papers in preparation), ten other journal papers published, and three additional book chapters in editing at the publishers.

Transition to new career

I was unemployed for nearly two years before joining Cytognos. I attempted to find an opportunity in research; I did not want to give up because I would feel that I had failed. After a time, I realised that I needed to change my mind and find another job that satisfied me, since research was going through such hard times in Spain.

At that time I did not consider working abroad because it would be an obstacle to finishing my PhD.

The main options I considered were companies with a biological/biotechnological approach and educational activity in high school. I looked into environmental jobs too, but in Spain it is even more difficult to get this kind of job than find a research position!

The search for a job was really hard. I did not limit my search to my city, but still no clear opportunities were to be found. It was not easy to find a job with a biological background, and it is even worse if you are a botanist. After two years, I had the interview for this job at Cytognos. They were looking for a person with a degree in Biotechnology; however, I got the job.

I started my new job in January 2011. The first two years were really tough. Everything was new for me and I had to work hard to reach the level required. On top of that, I had to complete my PhD and to write some papers. Finally, I presented my PhD dissertation in July 2013 and I could enjoy free time for the first time since I started to work here.

Current job

Cytognos is focused on the design and development of new reagents, software and techniques in the flow cytometry field. As Product Specialist, my job is to support our customers in the implementation of these developments worldwide. We know all about the products and the software. Our clients are hospitals and research centres. I often visit our customers and give them personalised support, but I also organise training, and attend events such as conferences and exhibitions. At the office, I have several tasks: from helping other departments with technical documentation (IT department, R&D team…) to managing our corporate Twitter account.

Working a company is completely different from higher education research. In a company, you have more frequent deadlines to meet. You need to have a strong sense of purpose in your work. Management skills are essential: you need to manage your time and your efforts. Team working is a daily routine, hence you must feel comfortable with networking and delegating tasks, but also with taking action by yourself. Companies often require proactive people and I realise this is a fundamental skill; you need to detect opportunities, take on challenges and take decisions.

Besides, in a private company you need commercial awareness; all your work has an economic impact on your company!

Competencies old and new

Most of the competencies I acquired during my university career help me a lot in my daily work. Since I am a taxonomist, I have highly developed attention to detail. This is one of my strong points, which I apply in every situation. In research careers you usually learn to manage your time in order to meet deadlines, which is an indispensable skill. I’ve found that the ability to organise information efficiently is highly appreciated, as well as problem-solving, thinking logically, and speaking and writing fluently, among other skills.

During my years at Cytognos I have used all these skills, but I have also gained some additional competencies. As a botanist in higher education, research was an individual activity. Here I have learned to work in a team, which means taking responsibility and also delegating. I have also improved my presentation skills; at my company, we make presentations almost every day, to customers, collaborators, or internal presentations…. I have acquired strong skills in representing the company in different contexts and I have lost my stage fright.

Reflecting on my career path

Nowadays, I feel really comfortable in my job. Of course, it was a hard decision and I felt disappointed about giving up research. In fact, I did not give up completely; I still collaborate with my former research group, when I can devote time to it. However, I know that I took the right decision at the time. Sometimes I miss some aspects of my previous life (mainly field trips) but my job has given me a different point of view. Now I realise that there is not just one way to fulfil your career expectations

Suggestions and advice

Research in higher education is fascinating, but do not be afraid to start a new career if your opportunities are closing. Unluckily, there is not a place for all of us in higher education, but your skills will be highly appreciated in NGOs, private companies and other organisations.

es.linkedin.com/pub/maría-santos-vicente/30/586/544/

Mark completed his doctorate in cell biology. He then undertook four to five years of postdoctoral work before moving into industry to work for Smith & Nephew in York. There he was taken on as a cell biologist, and is now a team leader.

The following text is a transcription of a career story collected by interview.

“My name is Mark Howard and I am a team leader at Smith & Nephew, based in York. So my work is the early stage of product development with the medical devices that we use every day. My role is the creation of and the generation of those ideas through to prototypes really for clinical trials. I did a degree in biochemistry which really opened up an awful lot of information to me, and then I did a PhD in cell biology that allowed me to kind of progress that thinking around cell biology and find out more, stuff that no one had ever seen before, and I found that great. I then did four or five years postdoctoral work and then moved to Smith & Nephew.

“When I was in academia I had a great time, I really liked working in academia and the flexible hours and I worked really hard. A PhD is the line at which you all of a sudden have all these choices that only you can make and it’s you that finds these things out, there’s nowhere to go, there’s no text book that tells you, and that’s very exciting. I was hired as a cell biologist, so the techniques that I learnt during my PHD and my postdoc were all lab-based, and they translated to a number of, a number of areas within cell biology and the work that I went for with stem cells, however, I would say that there are a lot of translatable skills, soft skills that I learnt during my PhD that were really useful. In my interviews I had to give a presentation and prior to my PhD I would have really struggled with that. I learnt a lot of soft skills during my PhD that translated beautifully into industrial life, and I think it was those two facets that got me the job.

“My postdoctoral supervisor, Professor John Quinn, again at Liverpool University, the one thing he taught me was that, he’ll not thank me for saying this, but you don’t have to be the best scientist to do the best science, there’s a lot of weight on being able to collaborate and network and interact with the right people at the right time, and he was an absolute expert at calling on people, he was a really sociable, affable guy and people would come to him and ask for help and he would say, ‘Oh you need to talk to such and such or you need to talk to such and such,’ and they would all work with him and he was really well respected, he’s really made some incredible progress by being able to pick the right person to work with to help him get to where he needs to be, and that was a really important learning point for me, especially in industry where it is about collaboration and networking. There are a variety of talents that can contribute that you wouldn’t necessarily have thought, I mean with some of their cell-based therapies that I have worked on and developed we were getting input from engineers and physicists, from clinicians, from regulatory experts, from patent attorneys – and all these people, some science-based and a lot not, contributed to the success of this scientific concept through to a product.

“I’ve been with Smith & Nephew four or five years and loved every minute, minute of it. But I’m at a point now I think where there’s a choice. If I stay in industry it is gong to be very difficult for me to move back in academia ‘cause I will just have been away too long. So I think this next year or two I’m weighing up my options. I still have lots of choices, I’m still relatively young I like to think, so I could go back to academia, and I would really consider it if the right opportunity came along, but I’m very happy doing the work that I do. I would say if I did go back to academia the lessons I have learnt in industry in applying really relevant questions to answering solutions, not just kind of going around in circles, but having a real long hard look at the question and if it takes two things to do it as opposed to six, I’ll do the two things. And if I do go back to academia, I am going to take that, that, that leaning with me and I think it will make me a better academic.”

Mark runs MCH Consulting, a consultancy for the not-for-profit sector. He enjoys the challenge of being responsible for all aspects of the company, and constantly having to watch his own back. He believes the experience earned through his doctorate helps in this regard…

“I studied chemistry at undergraduate level, and then organic chemistry as my doctorate. I started with a view to continuing in chemistry but, halfway through my doctorate, I started to rethink this plan. Although I enjoyed working in academia, I did not think my enthusiasm for teaching would last the length of my career. Furthermore, the likelihood of discovering drugs that would one day find their way onto a pharmacist’s shelf was very slim. My doctorate included a few months working at a pharmaceutical company and, although this introduced me to an environment where significant drugs were being delivered to market on a regular basis, it lacked the autonomy you can enjoy within academia. In short, being a small cog in a big machine didn’t really appeal.

“I found my doctorate useful in terms of buying me time to think about what I wanted to do long-term, and upon completion of my PhD I had narrowed my career down to working in the not-for-profit sector or for government (particularly the diplomatic service). To help decide between the two, I was lucky enough to gain a scholarship to study for a Masters degree in diplomacy and trade in Australia. This degree gave me an insight into the workings of government, although unfortunately the insights were not particularly favourable. In particular, I was struck by government’s inability to react quickly, the levels of bureaucracy, and the political rather than factual basis upon which decisions can be made. On the other hand, I felt that not-for-profit organisations – although they lacked the scale – were more nimble, and had the potential to address key issues more effectively.

“Having decided upon a career within the not-for-profit world, I felt I needed to gain some business/management experience to be of value within it. I felt a way of gaining good experience quickly would be through management consulting, and this led to a short spell at the international management consultancy firm McKinsey & Company. After a couple of years at McKinsey, I felt I had the experience to be of use in the not-for-profit sector, and was fortunate to be offered a chief executive position for Rumbalara, an aboriginal sporting and community organisation. I worked there for a couple of years but ended up leaving because my British girlfriend (now wife!) was homesick and wanted to return to the UK.

“Upon returning to the UK in 2005, I looked initially for senior management positions within not-for-profit organisations. While none of the full-time and permanent positions really interested me, a number of short-term consulting projects did. In order to conduct the consultancy work, I had to form a legal entity – and thus MCH Consulting was founded. MCH still works exclusively with not-for-profit organisations, and helps in areas such as staff training, business planning, project evaluations and funding proposals.

“While MCH does have associate arrangements with other consultants and trainers, I am its only full-time consultant. While I have considered recruiting additional staff, I think the likelihood of finding someone with the skill-set required – who is willing to work for the salary I can afford – is so small that it would be a waste of time. Consequently, a key challenge is that I am responsible for all aspects of the company and am constantly having to watch my own back. Again, though, the experience of my doctorate helps in this regard.”

Mark completed his doctorate at Canterbury Christ Church University College, and is now Senior Lecturer and Postgraduate Research Director at the University of Lincoln having had several teaching roles within higher education.

“During my undergraduate study, I worked on a very ambitious independent research project, which was published as a journal article. I was elated when I was awarded a PhD studentship. The chance to continue and answer more questions that had emerged through my previous research was enlightening. I completed my doctorate at Canterbury Christ Church University College. My research focused on the physiological evaluation of cycling performance.

“I completed my thesis during a one-year lecturing post at Lincoln College. I also gained a PGCE in post-compulsory education, became an accredited practitioner of the Higher Education Academy, and was granted accreditation as a practising exercise physiologist. In 2006, I made the move to the University of Lincoln and started my new role as senior lecturer.

“My work at Lincoln involves teaching, research and consultancy. I spend my time planning research projects, composing book chapters, meeting research students, and managing my undergraduate programme. Occasionally I am allowed out to give a lecture or two, or granted permission to collect some data in the laboratories, but only after I have finished all of my paper work!

“My advice to doctoral researchers is to try to gain as much teaching experience as you can during your doctorate. Also, get as much of the work published as soon after completion as possible. By setting realistic targets to publish aspects of the thesis, you will keep involved in the research. Look at the doctorate as a starting point to your academic career rather than an end point. The experience of overcoming the challenges faced throughout my doctorate, and the newly acquired self-belief that any fresh challenges can also be conquered, is very empowering.”

After completing a science doctorate on the population ecology of cereal aphids, Martin developed his career path towards becoming a professional storyteller. He was experienced in working with different organisations and schools.

“After completing my doctorate on the population ecology of cereal aphids at the University of East Anglia, I worked for a short period at a field studies centre in Norfolk, teaching practical biology and environmental sciences to residential school groups. I really enjoyed teaching my subject to children, in particular helping A-level students set up their own field-based research projects. I then moved to Bristol to undertake a postdoctoral position at Long Ashton Research Station, investigating the ecology of farmland hedgerows. During this time I was granted a BBSRC media fellowship to work on the BBC TV programme ‘Countryfile’ for a period of three months. This was a great opportunity to work within the media, where I was able to identify, investigate and communicate ecological topics that had public interest, ranging from salmon farming to the BSE crisis. I also continued to play a role in presenting the work of the research station to the wider public, including schools, countryside managers and the farming community.

“At the end of my four-year postdoctoral appointment, I followed my interest in the public understanding of science by becoming the first environmental education officer at a new science visitor centre called At-Bristol. The role included designing exhibits, running school workshops and delivering informal activities to family groups. As part of the latter task I began to use storytelling as a way of communicating ideas about the natural world. Storytelling quickly became a passion and, backed up by a part-time job as lecturer for the Open University, I left my job with At-Bristol to embark upon a new, uncertain career as a freelance storyteller.

“After several years I have developed my storytelling role, having worked in lots of schools and with many different organisations including the Soil Association, Bristol Zoo, the Eden Project, and the National Trust. I have continued to emphasise stories about landscape and natural environments, which I myself became fascinated by through my undergraduate studies and postgraduate research. I relish the power that storytelling has, in common with science, to instil a sense of wonder about the world in young and old alike. I have recently performed a number of outdoor story walks called ‘Wild Tales’, where I am able to interweave folktales and folklore with ecological knowledge about plants and wildlife encountered on the walk.

“The career path from science doctorate to becoming a professional storyteller is probably not usual, nor was it predictable, but it undoubtedly draws on many aspects of my earlier work – and is immensely enjoyable and fulfilling.”

Mary runs her own social enterprise and says that, when setting up your own business, having the idea is not enough: “It is not what you want to sell that is important, it is what people want to buy. I’ve learnt this over life – it’s not about you, it’s about the customer…”

“I have always loved history, and did an undergraduate degree in the subject at University College London. I had an interest in British political history and, although I was a bit disillusioned with always having to assimilate other people’s opinions from books, I told myself that, if I got a first in my degree, I would be good enough to go on and do a doctorate! I came from a family of teachers anyway, so this seemed quite the natural step.

“On finishing my doctorate, I made the decision that I didn’t want to stay in academia. A lot of it felt as if it was quite divorced from ‘real life’, and a lot of academics I met didn’t inspire me. So I joined the banking sector, and I was a successful banker for a number of years – becoming Executive Director of a small firm of bankers focusing on marketing products to high net-worth individuals. I loved the lifestyle, regularly jet-setting around the world, and enjoyed the mental challenge.

“I’ve always been something of a maverick, getting involved in all sorts of things outside of work, and I got to the point, after we were taken over, where I realised I wanted to do something to wake me up and inspire me. I liked the idea of setting up and running a business, and was invited to join a career transfer agency I had signed up to.

“The social enterprise is called Prime Timers, providing business and recruitment solutions to third sector organisations. We do this through a talent pool – those from the private sector who want to put something back while applying their skills and knowledge. We also help third sector organisations with governance issues and reviews.

“We started out with the help of Community Action Network, who incubated us. They paid my salary for a long time, and we were very grateful. It is a very lonely business setting things up, and they made us feel we weren’t alone. The biggest challenge was realising that it takes a long time. There is no overnight success. Other challenges include never knowing which of your efforts is going to pay off in terms of marketing, and restraining yourself from doing things which are clearly not going to lead you anywhere!

“Some of the projects I have been involved in – such as receipt of grant funding for a feasibility study for a university of civil society – have enabled me to marry perfectly my previous interests at doctoral level, such as doing things in depth, while also marketing the organisation. My doctorate taught analytical skills – I can read a legal document quite easily now! You’ve got to manage large amounts of information, and be able to write it up.

“My key message to other doctoral graduates would be that having the idea is not enough. It is not what you want to sell that is important, it is what people want to buy. I’ve learnt this over life – it’s not about you it’s about the customer!”

Matt completed his doctorate in climate modelling at the University of Cambridge, sponsored by the Met Office. He is now a principal consultant in climate change at the Met Office, communicating climate science to a variety of different customers.

The following text is a transcription of a career story collected by interview.

“My name is Matt Huddleston and I am Principal Consultant in Climate Change at the Met Office.

“Well, it involves a lot of climate science and communicating that climate science to a huge diversity of different customers. So in the business world, in the public world, in, er to NGOs to schools, to many different audiences. We provide weather not just for the UK, weather forecasts and insight into climate but for the whole globe.

“I got a PhD at Cambridge studying climate modelling. It was a case award, which means the Met Office sponsored, they gave me a bit of extra money to do the PhD ‘cause they were interested in the modelling work that I was doing, to include in their future climate models. So, it’s good to have PhDs where they’re linked to industry in some way, or linked to a purpose, because then you perhaps get more relevance to the work. It can, you don’t get second year blues so much ‘cause you can really see why you are doing what you are doing.

“Well erm there wasn’t money in polar research and there was little understanding of the impacts of climate change in the polar regions during the ’90s and so there were very small amounts of research going on in that field, so I had to change direction a bit, so I moved into forecasting El Niño’s and forecasting big changes in the climate over the coming seasons.

“The ability to take very disparate and a wide range of information and link it together and when you write your PhD thesis you, you have to link hundreds and hundreds of papers together to write those conclusions. And then that drives a certain intellectual process or rigour that you don’t forget.

“The papers you forget, and all that stuff, but the process is, is invaluable and that means today hopefully I am able to take on a broader diversity of information and, and, and link it together in that way. Nowadays in the information age, that is the main challenge. Many physicists end up in the city earning you know enormous salaries in the big financial institutions or they end up helping er NGOs, charities and the such-like, developing communication strategies and things like that. So there’s a huge broad er.. capability from understanding some of the fundamental subjects.

“I didn’t really see my future as a pure academic and if you start doing a postdoc you start to move in that direction. And for me, I thought my role was more in applied science. Not necessarily in purely commercial areas and the Met Office suits me down to the ground ‘cause we’re a nice mix – some wonderful academic research and with hundreds of PhD scientists working together – but then applying that science is, is a great joy and interest. That sort of experience in research can give you a great thirst for knowledge and really relate what you are doing back to the outer world.

“So you can come back into business or in, into education, to schools, into any sort of aspect of life and communicate with much more, erm, vitality than people who’re just stuck in an office. So if you have the chance to get out there and do stuff when you are younger in a research programme or something like that it’s something that will benefit you for years and years after, even if the connections are not immediately obvious. In the future I can see more and more companies needing advice and er as a role then that’s gonna be something that’s gonna be important, in enabling not just operational people on a day to day business to manage their jobs but to enable erm the shareholders, the directors in a business, the executive in a business to make the decisions about what the impact of weather and climate will be in the future.”