Email
The traditional academic career path for newly qualified postdocs is changing. The wide gulf emerging between the number of postdocs and academic positions available is forcing people to make tough decisions on where they see their career heading. Academics no longer live in ivory towers; short-term contracts, limited number of academic posts and funding opportunities, publish or perish attitude… and the list goes on, make it tough to progress.
According to Vitae's latest Careers in Research Online Survey (CROS) in 2011, 26% of respondents said they aspired to a research career outside of higher education, and 16% a non-research career, compared to 44% of respondents who aspired to a career in research in higher education. With a total of 75% saying they wanted to remain in higher education, it's no surprise competition for academic jobs is tough – but is leaving academia the only solution?
Like many, the University of Manchester's website offers advice for postdocs questioning their career ambitions, laying down the crux of the problem: "Some academics assume that if you are undertaking doctoral research, you must be aiming for an academic career; anything else would be second best (or even 'failure')."
Is it still the case that opting for an alternative career to academia is deemed as failure? What then are the alternative opportunities available to someone who has dedicated years of their life to research? And are universities doing enough to support postdocs in their decision whether to stay or go?
In this week's live web chat we're interested to talk about the support and career opportunities available to postdocs in and outside academia, how to go about making the right choice, and the skills required to compete successfully.
Join us on Friday 21 June from 12-2pm BST to discuss whether academia is the right option for you.
You can also follow the debate live on Twitter using the hashtag #HElivechat.
Here's what we're looking to discuss:
• Postdoc support
• Alternative career options
• Making the right choice
• Role of the university
• Challenges of staying in/leaving academia
Panel
Ellen Pearce is director of Vitae and CEO of CRAC (the Career Development Organisation). @ellen22
Claire Conway is careers adviser for researchers at the University of Oxford and has a background in academic research in psychology.
Catherine de Lange is a science journalist and web editor of
Naturejobs which provides tailored careers advice and job listings for scientists at all stages of their careers. Catherine has written extensively about science careers and can be found blogging on the Naturejobs blog. @naturejobs
Sarah Blackford is a qualified careers consultant and head of education and public affairs at the Society for Experimental Biology. With a background in scientific research and publishing, Sarah provides a wide range of career support to postdoctoral researchers. She has been delivering specialised career workshops and one-to-one coaching for over 10 years and has authored a book entitled 'career planning for research
bioscientists'. @Bioscicareer
Steve Gaskin is the employability and professional development manager at the University of Exeter.
Katie Wheat is a postdoctoral researcher in cognitive neuroscience at Maastricht University. She is also a co-founder of the #ECRchat and blog, which aims to be a career development and peer support network for early career researchers.
Jennifer Leigh is lecturer in higher education and academic practice at the centre for the study of higher education, University of Kent. She has worked as a postdoc for three years on AHRC and NIHR funded projects, and has now been made full-time and permanent. @DrSchniff
Nicola Wardrop is an MRC funded research fellow
working in geography and the environment at the University of
Southampton. Since completing her PhD in 2010, Nicola has held several short term and part time research posts at the universities of Edinburgh
and Southampton. @DiseaseMapper
Nicola Rolfe is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Surrey. She enjoys spending time in the lab, but a bit disillusioned with the system for
academic research. Nicola is considering alternative career choices that
suit different talents.
This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. To get more articles like this direct to your inbox, become a member of the Higher Education Network.
;