i guess it does depend on ur dept...our one is quite flexible - as long as u do ur publications etc - it doesnt matter ...at least thats what i think....or the impresion i am getting :-s

I want to write a book, although that will probably only ever be an idea. Then i thought i would open a pub.

Seriously, I will probably work in industry, as my sponsor is a good company and they will probably take me on afterwards (fingers crossed). The idea of academia doesn't appeal, as the research opportunities can be limited (depends whether you take the lecture route i suppose), and there doesn't seem to be the same opportunities to climb up the ranks and earn a large wage.

I think a few years in industry will be useful for gaining experience in a business environment and then when i go back to academia i can take some of that experience and use it to commercialise my ideas ... hehe!

Jewel, if you are considering commerciallising any ideas, I think you have it the wrong way around. Use the university funding to create an idea, then go into industry, running your own business

Course I can Mia. I`m going to rescue some sheep and keep them as pets, so I will have cruelty free wool which i will collect from the hedge rows when it falls out. What colour cardigan do you want? I`m going for red

hi stu, i don't actually want to take on the product development and start a business myself. i just want to learn about the market and industries relevant to me, get the contacts, so then when i go to academia i know what sort of things people want and who to talk to.

i don't think i am up to or want to run my own business. however i like to do very applications driven research which if directed properly will hopefully have some commercial value to the right people. and hopefully they will then buy those ideas off me ;)

i agree with Dan, academia isn't really that attractive at all. You can also make a better name for yourself in you are in industry, people in your field will get to know your name more if you are successful. Not to mention, if you are successful, you will get paid a fortune compared to academia.

I think the pay scale for a senior lecturer goes up to £34k. Think how long it would take to reach that level!!! bearing in mind that the senior scale starts at £27k. Awful, you would need to get a lectruring job first (probably after 2-3 years of lowly paid post-doc work) then it would be ages before you reached senior level.

I know the salary for a senior lecturer sounds really good, but when you consider that will come a good ten years AFTER your PhD has finished. You will probably earn the same amount in half the time in industry.

Obviously I'm generalising a bit, but I doubt this is different for most fields of research

Ideally I would like to go and work for Jack Bouer at CTU.

i want to be jack bauer :D