Hi,

Pretty peculiar question here. I'm halfway through a research PhD based in infection and immunology. Ideally after I complete my PhD I would like to go into research within industry (possibly pharma?). I'm not sure why, but since I've started university its seemed to me that jobs within this area are mostly localised around the south/London/stevenage etc. Is this the case? The north/north-west of england appeals to me much more than the south, is it viable for me to focus on job/career searches around there instead?

Thanks in advance!

Hi. This is very specific and not my area but I would reply by general observations.
Jobs in London, south east and home counties are much more. Salaries are higher and of course living costs are higher.
It is difficult to find jobs in the north but in the west (if you mean Bristol) there is a good chance.
This is one of the bad things in life. Jobs are more in areas which are not very nice. Nice areas do not have many jobs. Are they nice because they do not have jobs? who knows?
If I were you, I would look first for jobs in the areas I would like to live in. If there is no available opportunity, I would move the less preferred areas. All the best.

Ouch. The cold hard truth. In the UK Pharma jobs are 95% in those areas and 5% elsewhere. If I was you I'd stay in academic research. Better salary there too.

GSK has sites across Cumbria (mostly Carlisle), AstraZeneca has a large base in Macclesfield, Sanofi has sites in Cheshire, Sheffield and Newcastle while in Liverpool Allergan and Eli Lilly have significant research facilities in Liverpool. The water companies United Utilities, Yorkshire water and Northumbrian water all have large water testing facilities which include microbiology. There is also a range of small medium sized companies across the North of England. So don't think there are no jobs in the North.