For at least 20 years, postdocs have been identified by the US National Academies, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and others as part of the research precariat — those who work in positions with little job security, poor compensation and an unclear path to a permanent post. Despite that uncertainty, postdocs continue to show up and put in their work.
Six out of ten say that they are satisfied with their positions. They also tend to hold on to their aspirations. Comments have been lightly edited for length and clarity, and, when necessary, translated into English. Postdocs are definitely not rewarded properly and in some cases are treated worse than graduate students. Postdocs play a critical role in scientific research and are drivers of research in their department.
Biomedical researcher, South Africa. Cell biologist, United States. Biomedical researcher, China. Geneticist, Canada. Academia needs to get its act together and stop taking advantage of their early-career PhDs. Physicist, United States. Biomedical researcher, Canada. I have also had more opportunities for leadership, which builds confidence and extends my network of collaborations.
Astrophysicist, Germany. Policies that usually help both of these other groups usually do not apply to postdocs. You are expected to work for less than half the pay of an assistant professor, and usually for only a few thousand dollars more than the graduate students.
Chemist, United States. They are somewhere between PhDs and permanent staff, not belonging anywhere and not having a voice on their own. Archaeologist, Denmark. A centralized platform for all the postdocs in the world to share and help each other can be a good start. But we need a lot more than that in the long run. Chemist, India.
I have been given no training or development. C ell biologist, United Kingdom. Cell biologist, Germany. The past year has been especially tough on postdocs. Half of survey respondents report that their job satisfaction declined in the past 12 months, a period that saw the emergence and spread of COVID worldwide for survey results on the wide-ranging impacts of the pandemic on postdocs, see Nature , —; This week, Nature gives an overview of the survey results.
The full survey data sets are available at go. The second article in the series offers an overview of their circumstances worldwide.
You will likely have more flexibility in terms of the funding you apply for and the direction of your research.
The skills and experience you gain as a postdoc can be key to future applications to tenure-track faculty positions. Department of Energy and other federal agencies.
The diversity of these programs enables individuals—whether undergraduate, graduate, postdoct, or faculty—to conduct collaborative research with national laboratories or at one of more than a dozen federal agency partners. Learn about how their research experiences have advanced their academic and professional careers. What should you expect from a postdoc fellowship? Further develop your skills to define a scientific question and test your hypothesis, with more independence than as a graduate student.
If you work practically anywhere other than a University, you may not have ever encountered a postdoc in the wild. Perhaps the term means nothing to you whatsoever. Even for those in the know, are you aware of terminology differences between different disciplines?
In many ways, it can be easier to define a postdoc by what they are not. At a simple level a postdoc is someone who has a PhD, and is now working as a researcher, most typically in a university setting. So far, so good. However, this is where some difficulties can start, as specific postdoc job titles can vary. This last title can be a source of particular confusion, as a fellow or a fellowship holder usually refers to an independently-funded researcher, on their way to becoming a fully-fledged academic.
Researchers can have multiple sequential postdoctoral positions, sometimes even in the same research group, team or institution, but also often relocate for work. Prosper is keen to gain the insight of the Principal Investigator PI community in terms of understanding how best to support postdocs.
As such, not enough consideration is given to allotting time and funding to those all-important career development opportunities.
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