This document discusses the variety of career paths available after obtaining a PhD in science. It begins by noting that most PhD students do not become professors, and then profiles several individuals with science PhDs working in diverse fields like science writing, education, publishing, nonprofit work, and industry. The document emphasizes that career paths are not fixed and individuals can change direction or combine roles. It encourages exploring opportunities like blogs, teaching, or volunteering to expand skills and networks for diverse post-PhD careers. The overall message is that many options exist beyond the traditional academic research path.
1. You're all different:
Creating your own
career
Eva Amsen
@easternblot
Naturejobs Career Expo
19 September 2013
PhotobyJamesCridlandhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/18378655@N00/613445810/
2. After a science PhD
...but who are
these people?
FromtheRoyalSocietyreport“TheScientificCentury”
4. Post-PhD careers
Even though all professors have been PhD students, most
PhD students will not become professors.
Where do they end up?
Science writing, industry, patent law, medicine, teaching,
media and arts, startup companies, museums, humanities,
academic publishing, consulting, policy etc.
5. Eva Amsen
PhD in Biochemistry
Freelance writing (started
during PhD, via blogs)
Community Manager for the
Node, a site for developmental
biologists (Development)
Outreach Director for
F1000Research, a new journal
that does open, post-
publication peer review.
6. THE PUBLICATION PROCESS
•F1000Research articles are published online after an in-house pre-refereeing
check, on average, within 6 working days.
•Peer review and revisions are carried out publicly.
•Articles with sufficient positive referee reports are indexed in PubMed.
7. Combining degree and other things
For some jobs, the things you do on the side matter as well.
– Teaching
– Blogging
– Volunteer work
– Student societies
– Public engagement activities
8. Nicole Husain
PhD in Cell & Molecular Biology
Let's Talk Science - Coordinator
of Partnership Program (during
PhD)
Director of Operations at
Spongelab Interactive
(educational games)
9. Christine Buske
PhD in Behavioural
Neuroscience
Freelance writing and
consulting (during PhD)
“Papers Genius”
Marketing Manager for
Papers
10. Joe Hanson
PhD in Cell & Molecular Biology
It's Okay To Be Smart - Tumblr
blog (during PhD)
Internship at Wired
YouTube channel with PBS
Digital Studios.
11. Social media and careers
“I think [having a blog] gave me a unique
edge over other candidates.”
- Pete Etchells, lecturer in biological
psychology and Guardian blogger
“Among other reasons, the project
leaders chose me as editor because I
have a blog where I wrote about bad
health news.”
- Marcus Anhauser, science journalist and
editor of Medien-Doktor.de
13. So, do I need to do all that?
Only join Twitter or start a blog if you want to or think it's
useful for you.
Likewise, for many jobs you don't need to do a postdoc,
unless you think it's useful for you.
People who say that you need to do X for your career,
often did X themselves.
14. Petra de Kruijf
PhD Molecular Pharmacology
Biochemical Project Leader at
Sanquin
– Blood transfusion
medicine and
immunology research
company.
– Work: e.g. Writing
research protocols as
well as process
validation protocols and
reports; Determine
product impact.
15. Erika Cule
PhD Statistical Genetics (after
degrees in Biochemistry and
Bioinformatics)
Principal Statistician at GSK
– Advise lab-based
scientists on statistics.
– Perform analysis and
explain results to
scientists.
– Provide support for
experimental methods.
16. PhD skills
PhD is experience, not just means to an end.
It's not always about the degree.
17. Lou Woodley
PhD in Gene Expression and
Microbiology (not finished)
Co-founder and Managing
Editor of BlueSci (during PhD)
Graduate intern at Nature
Publishing Group
Communities Specialist at
Nature Publishing Group
18. Bora Zivkovic
PhD in Animal Behaviour (not
finished)
Science blogger
Online community manager at
PLOS
Blog Editor and Community
Manager at Scientific American
20. Alasdair Allan
PhD Astrophysics
Academia:
– Programmer
– Lecturer
– Senior Research Fellow
Independent/freelance:
– Consulting, writing, editing,
startup CTO
“You don't have to settle for doing one thing at a time.”
22. Ben Lillie
PhD in Physics
Postdoc
Contributing Editor TED
Co-founder and Director of Story
Collider
23. Kara Cerveny
Science teacher
PhD in Cell Biology and
Biochemistry
Postdoc
Scientific Editor at Cell
Assistant Professor of Biology at
Reed College
24. You can't control everything
PhotobyJasonVarneyforTheScientist,
2006
25. Douglas Prasher
PhD in Biochemistry
Cloned the gene for GFP
Didn't get tenure, left academia
Laid off from industry job in 2006
due to funding cuts
Found job as shuttle bus driver for
a car company
Did not receive the 2008 Nobel
Prize for the discovery of GFP
Now works as research scientist
for Roger Tsien (who did win the
Nobel Prize for GFP)
Full story:
http://bit.ly/PrasherArticle
Discover Magazine, 2011
26. Jenny Rohn
PhD in Microbiology
Postdoc → Lab disbanded
Industry → Company went
bankrupt
Wrote a novel...
Career in publishing
Now back in academia, in a
series of short contracts http://bit.ly/JennyRohnCareer
27. There is no fixed path
PhotobyJimmyGuanohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Spaghetti-Junction-Crop.jpg
28. Ethan Perlstein
PhD in Molecular and Cellular
Biology
Postdoc at Broad Institute
Fellow at Princeton
Crowdfunded a research
project
Independent scientist
29. Anne Osterrieder
PhD in Plant Cell Biology
Postdoc
Plant Cell Biology blog
Research and Science
Communication Fellow at
Oxford Brookes University
30. Your future job might not exist yet!
Our current jobs didn't exist when we started our PhDs!
31. Varsha Khodiyar
PhD in Molecular Biology
Human gene nomenclature
advisor
Cardiovascular Gene
Ontology Annotator
Lecturer in Bioinformatics and
Gene Ontology
Editorial biocurator at
F1000Research (Curation
and maintenance of data
included with articles)
34. Personal science career stories
In progress:
Online collection of personal
science career stories
35.
36. “At a conference the most important things happen in the
coffee break. (…) The most important things happen in
interstitial spaces, they happen in between, and they
happen when we least expect it.”
-Hans Ulrich Obrist (art curator)
http://edge.org/conversation/a-rule-of-the-game
37. Thanks & Contact info
Thanks to
Nicole Husain, Christine Buske, Joe Hanson, Pete Etchells, Marcus
Anhauser, Petra de Kruijf, Erika Cule, Lou Woodley, Bora Zivkovic,
Alasdair Allan, Cameron Neylon, Ben Lillie, Kara Cerveny, Jenny
Rohn, Ethan Perlstein, Anne Osterrieder and Varsha Khodiyar
for their input.
Most of them are on Twitter! Find them here:
http://bit.ly/njce13list
eva.amsen@gmail.com
Twitter: @easternblot
Notas do Editor
F1000Research is making it possible to get a paper online within days, by using post-publication peer review.