Grant Jacobs • Feb 12, 2016 •
What kind of scientist you are at heart, or want to be? Compare yourself to the chart below based on a study by the Science Council who found there were are 10 main types of science and technology jobs. Share in the comments below – perhaps also tell us how it compares with your current job. Read More
Grant Jacobs • Jun 30, 2015 •
A busy twitter discussion on research funding has followed from The Conversation piece, Science funding should go to people not projects. I’ve opened this short post for those that might want to try discussing in a medium more suited to longer remarks. This is a huge topic, one of … Read More
Grant Jacobs • Apr 14, 2014 •
You have your PhD. Now what? Hopefully most doctoral students try think about that well before they complete their PhD. Either way, this infographic drawn from data from post-doctoral fellows in the USA makes for interesting reading - [caption id="attachment_12490" align="aligncenter" width="640"] (Source: the acsb post, 'Where Will a Biology PhD Take You?' by Jessica … Read More
Grant Jacobs • Feb 27, 2014 •
… are the theme of the newly-lauched website, MySciCareer. The website, developed by Eva Amsen and Lou Woodley, former biochemists who now work in science publishing, aims to expose a wide range of career options for those with scientific training through first-person stories available at a single source. The articles … Read More
Grant Jacobs • Apr 17, 2013 •
Karen Kelsky, writing at the Chronicle of Higher Education, suggests that those moving out of academia create their next job and offers a ranty version of Crick’s gossip test. We’ve talked a lot about non-academic careers – some earlier posts on this topic are listed at the end of this one. Of the many … Read More
Grant Jacobs • Sep 05, 2012 •
Every year New Zealand universities and research institutions host summer studentships. Most are for NZ students, but a few are international - such as the Genetics Otago’s International Summer Scholarship (PDF file for application form).[1] These won’t make your fortune; typically they’re worth $NZ 5000 for ten weeks work. They will get you working with research … Read More
Grant Jacobs • Feb 07, 2011 •
There’s been a flurry articles about career paths for Ph.D. graduates over past week or so, prompting me to gather together (some of) them and pick up on a few points raised. This post is inspired, as it were, by a personal account by Kathy Weston in the Career Magazine section of … Read More
Guest Author • Nov 23, 2010 •
Lesley Middleton, Chief Executive of the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology At the recent and very successful Running Hot conference at Te Papa, I gave a presentation at a symposium for new and emerging scientists, in which I talked about career paths. One diagram in particular sparked a lot of discussion. Read More
Grant Jacobs • May 18, 2010 •
Over at Nature Network Stephen Curry wrote a comment on his blog, Reciprocal Space, wondering ’What if this sort of approach were to be applied to supporting scientists…?’ referring to the video I’ve shown below. It’s an interesting presentation that makes you think about what it is that you value in your job and what drives you to … Read More
Grant Jacobs • May 11, 2010 •
On the bottom of page 43 of the newly-released Igniting Potential document (PDF file) outlining the National government R&D initiative is this interesting graphic: (Source: Igniting Potential, p43; MoRST.) What I find interesting are the ’sidetracks’ from ‘permanent research staff’, what this might imply, and the lack of paths from the non-research and non-academic sectors back … Read More