I am currently in the second year of my post-doctoral fellowship. My PI will be moving to a new university in ~9 months.
As the story of the potential move developed, I was honest with my PI during discussions and told him that it was likely that I would go with him if he left, but it was never discussed in detail.
Now that more specifics are known, it is time to talk details. I would like to negotiate for an upward move to a research associate position. I believe this would be fair considering I'm sure I will "lose" some amount of research time while the new lab is getting set-up. However, I'm worried about negotiations because a) this is not a "new" job, just a continuation of my fellowship at a new location with the same boss, b) I've already indicated that I would like to move to the new location, and c) my resume has not yet reached a point that I am able to strike out on my own for any other upward job move (though, I can probably make a lateral move to another post-doc, that is not ideal).
My questions are:
Is it reasonable to ask for a title promotion in this situation? Or do I have no room for negotiation?
What else should I add to the negotiations in order to help my career progress to the best of its ability during a transition to a new university in another state?