Hello. This question comes up a lot among teaching lecturers, and I normally point people to this book. Often questions about place/family trump career choice, and the book usefully emphasises ways of seeing academics’ skills differently. https://amzn.eu/d/454iZPN
I’m a year into the civil service. Still retain some links & aim to publish. But as someone who is v interdisciplinary and has 5+ years (research) comms and management experience before the PhD as well as several more during/after inc int’l experience - going back as a postdoc simply not feasible.
UK academia does’t seem to recognise/value such experience (despite highly relevant to “impact”) or breadth of expertise in early career researchers. Added to witnessing some shocking examples of bullying/illegal harassment and senior management incompetence, indifference or collusion/coverup… 🤷♂️
Who knows where the future lies, but current state of UKHE (and having been firsthand witness to it since 2003 as student and 2009 as staff/PGR) doesn’t fill me with hope. Experience so far in CS is engaging work and committed colleagues; far better “management”/career development; better pay
I think I would teach private chem/Phys/math lessons for a living, while ramping up on YouTube and try to think how to make some kind of consulting company.
Uh... I make space lasers. That's kind of fun. If you're even faintly engineer-y, optics-y or photonic-y (I'm a recovering chemist), you might want to have a look as I need *hundreds* of people this year.
In a sense I did, as I retired early due to chronic fatigue.
You can become a self-contained sholar. Read all the books that interest you, and then blog only when you feel like it without having to worry about peer reviews or funding.
Luckily I have simple tastes and had built up enough pension.
I regularly hear Professors claim they could make ‘two or three times as much in industry’. Doing what? CEO of a successful company? They ain’t starting one of us there dude…
Currently, retaining as an accountant/bookkeeper while working full time as a research technician. Harder and harder to find Technician roles/worry about current instability in Universities.
A regulator, peer reviewing publications that matter as an expert at handling subject matter.
I know it isn’t that simple, and there will be some onboarding there and rebranding of skillset… but there are some crackers out there EA, ONR, Acronyms etc.
Not got the time to retrain in patent law.
I was pushed out the door & turned my research skills into research & business development. I create knowledge, lead strategy & engagement & have a voice in leadership. Academia/research skills set you up for success, whatever road you take
In Australia, there is a steady stream of chemists and biomedical researchers from the academy to the Therapeutic Goods Administration. I will probably eventually follow suit, although becoming a public servant and working 9 to 5 in an office also appeals to me.
I would love to do data science/visualisation for journalism or to inform policies (science diplomacy maybe?), but those are also quite precarious jobs 😅
Yes! I like my job but I have thought more than once that @jburnmurdoch.ft.com has (and does!) a terrific job. Something along those lines would be very nice.
(Sorry to jump in here @professor-dave.bsky.social - I'm not Academia adjacent, I guess)
The big problem with the JRC is that it's not easy to get a job there... Application procedures are tough and the competitions tend to be very oversubscribed.
They haven't fire me yet (but who knows if my uni will exists in a year's time), so for now it's just to see those jobs exist and what they require. Other organisations must have needs for similar profiles too.
Comments
Likely - lab work in industry or for the state/feds.
Practically: join the civil service
Plan B: Open a bakery - but from Jacky's experiences with Full Circle Bakes, maybe not.
Plan C: The Official Secrets Act says I can't tell you that.
Or anything sea related :D
https://www.mbryonics.com/careers
Ideally? Go back to uni.
Realistically? Management, most likely
You can become a self-contained sholar. Read all the books that interest you, and then blog only when you feel like it without having to worry about peer reviews or funding.
Luckily I have simple tastes and had built up enough pension.
Academic research freedom is getting harder and harder to achieve (i.e. get funded) but I still love research.
I know it isn’t that simple, and there will be some onboarding there and rebranding of skillset… but there are some crackers out there EA, ONR, Acronyms etc.
Not got the time to retrain in patent law.
(Sorry to jump in here @professor-dave.bsky.social - I'm not Academia adjacent, I guess)
https://commission.europa.eu/about/departments-and-executive-agencies/joint-research-centre_en
https://youtu.be/DLKvnjnmDNE
Get a puppy and a van and be a nomad across North America for a year.
Open a tiki bar on a beach somewhere remote and beautiful.
Go to Leith's cooking school in London for a year.