I appreciate your brutal honesty, thanks. I think I will continue looking for postdocs but also start to consider a different career path. Damn you academia!

Hello all, I finished my PhD in Chemistry and Nanoscience in late September 2015 and since then have been applying for postdocs without success. I recently emailed an academic in Berlin who told me she doesn't have funding but would be happy to support an application for a fellowship, i.e Marie Curie, or DAAD/DFG (german funding bodies).

Has anyone had any success applying to these fellowships. If so, I am interested to know how long the process would take, and also, given that I only have one second author paper (about three 1st author papers in the pipeline though but these could take a while) is there any chance that I would get the funding or is not worth the application?

Thanks and apologies if this question has been asked before, I couldn't find anything through searching.

Thanks for the replies guys, especially for recommending versatile PHD website which is very useful. I think for now I have decided I would like to be involved in solar energy in some capacity. My Masters project was on organic solar cells which is very relevant, however, my PhD has diverged slightly and now I am studying something interdisciplinary but not so relevant. My thoughts are maybe a postdoc in solar energy research will be useful for my future career if i choose solar energy, but will also allow me to move somewhere just for a year then move on (i have a fear of being tied down like I am now). The postdocs in my current group all say that unless you need to publish to get further in academia your first postdoc is generally easier then PhD, but this depends on the lab. I guess I will just have to try it and see. I forget that the worst comes to the worst I can always leave a postdoc/job without the guilt that would come from leaving a PhD.

Hello all,

This might be a bit of a ramble so be patient,

I’m a final year PhD student studying chemistry and nanoscience. I have about 4 months left of funding but I expect it will take me 6+ months to finish up in the lab and submit. For the first time I actually need to think about what to do with my life after I leave uni which is a little overwhelming to say the least.

The first question is whether or not to do a postdoc or not? Currently, like many people here, I have a love hate relationship with research, mainly because my experiments are not working and while finishing up in these last few months I have had next to no social life. More than anything when I finish I want relax and not do something too strenuous, in fact maybe for a month or two I feel like I might need to work in a café, or maybe just sit in a quiet room staring vacantly out of the window until I feel a little better about life.

After this short break I am considering doing a postdoc, though I am not sure if this is a good idea. Firstly, I am almost certain that I do not want to go into academia and not even sure I want to stay in science, but I am young(ish), single, and am extremely enthusiastic about escaping the british rain and living in a sunny country for a while.

The idea of doing a postdoc for a year appeals to me as it will be a short term contract (1 year hopefully) and I can work in a lab somewhere interesting. I figure that as I know I don’t want to stay in academia this postdoc job could be quite relaxed as there will be no pressure to publish. Also, I feel like being in a collage/uni environment there might be more opportunity to socialise and not become a lonely isolated expat.

Do you think this is a good idea or am I fooling myself into thinking it will be an easy job for a year? Also, would it be feasible to take off some time before I do a postdoc job (max 6-7 months) or should you go straight into research?

The other option is to leave academia completely, but go into what, I have no idea. I would eventually like to do something intellectually stimulating in science but not soul destroying (so no academic research) , ideally 40 hours a week, and also something which I feel like is having a positive impact on the world. I know I’m being vague but if anyone has any suggestions I am all ears. I just have no idea what kind of sectors people go into with PhDs in science. (apart from finance which I have no interest in)

Thanks!

Hello all,

This might be a bit of a ramble so be patient,

I’m a final year PhD student studying chemistry and nanoscience. I have about 4 months left of funding but I expect it will take me 6+ months to finish up in the lab and submit. For the first time I actually need to think about what to do with my life after I leave uni which is a little overwhelming to say the least.

The first question is whether or not to do a postdoc or not? Currently, like many people here, I have a love hate relationship with research, mainly because my experiments are not working and while finishing up in these last few months I have had next to no social life. More than anything when I finish I want relax and not do something too strenuous, in fact maybe for a month or two I feel like I might need to work in a café, or maybe just sit in a quiet room staring vacantly out of the window until I feel a little better about life.

After this short break I am considering doing a postdoc, though I am not sure if this is a good idea. Firstly, I am almost certain that I do not want to go into academia and not even sure I want to stay in science, but I am young(ish), single, and am extremely enthusiastic about escaping the british rain and living in a sunny country for a while.

The idea of doing a postdoc for a year appeals to me as it will be a short term contract (1 year hopefully) and I can work in a lab somewhere interesting. I figure that as I know I don’t want to stay in academia this postdoc job could be quite relaxed as there will be no pressure to publish. Also, I feel like being in a collage/uni environment there might be more opportunity to socialise and not become a lonely isolated expat.

Do you think this is a good idea or am I fooling myself into thinking it will be an easy job for a year? Also, would it be feasible to take off some time before I do a postdoc job (max 6-7 months) or should you go straight into research?

The other option is to leave academia completely, but go into what, I have no idea. I would eventually like to do something intellectually stimulating in science but not soul destroying (so no academic research) , ideally 40 hours a week, and also something which I feel like is having a positive impact on the world. I know I’m being vague but if anyone has any suggestions I am all ears. I just have no idea what kind of sectors people go into with PhDs in science. (apart from finance which I have no interest in)

Thanks!