======= Date Modified 19 27 2009 12:27:16 =======
I recently finished my PhD, and I've been hired as a Research Assistant at Uni. Is that a post doc? I meet a guy who says that a post doc is only when you apply for a grant to do further research. So, what is a post doc?

and.... is it worth doing it?

Thanks a lot for your asnwers!

For me, a postdoc is anyone who has completed their PhD studies, and is in a temporary research position at a university/institute, and not yet at the level of a full-time, tenured (or tenured-track), faculty position.

I wouldn't narrow the definition to only positions that involve applying for a grant, but rather to any sort of research-based fellowship, assistantship etc.

Post-doc is generally not a word used in many social science/humanities subjects where it is expected that a PhD holder will go straight into a lecturer/ass. prof position; however, in the sciences it is very common (probably because there are more science PhDs around so universities exploit them more).

In Australia a post-doc only refers to funded positions gained through a competitive grant process. They are advertised like a job, and available to people who've gained their PhDs in the last 3 years. They're hard to get, and a decent publication record seems to be a fairly essential criteria. Research assistant positions aren't referred to as post-docs but are just called RAs. RAs tend to be lowly PhD students (like myself!); post-docs are the hallowed ones who've made it and then secured funding ;-).

I'd agree. For e.g. I am an RA on a pan European research project now. (Am a first yr student). A person with a PhD would join a project in my discipline only as Research Fellow, also called Post doctoral fellow and in fact one IS joining this same project as post doc fellow next year. Needless to say, our functions are entirely different.

Post-doc positions (targetted towards publishing, or new research, and/or some teaching) are usually fellowships offered for instance as: ESRC Post Doc grants or British Academy post doctoral fellowships and so on. Sometimes unis do it too. In case of the former, the salary of the fellow is split, usually most coming from the funding council and the rest supplied by the host department. Look up ESRC post docs, or Marie Curie Post Docs, British academy post docs or Leverhulme post docs or even Mellon post docs. Research associate/fellow positions on projects are others ways in which to get a post doc position, but these are not RAs..

RA is what I am right now...