Questions tagged [early-career]
On issues affecting academics or researchers specifically in the early stages of their careers.
233
questions
1
vote
1answer
100 views
Would it be ok/wise to end my PhD contract after submitting my PhD thesis in order to be able to start a new job at that time?
I would like to start looking for a job in the period preceding the submission of my thesis, so that if I’m lucky and I find a job, I could end my PhD contract (around PhD submission time) and take on ...
3
votes
4answers
258 views
Very highly regarded (but also very abrasive) secondary PhD supervisor - how much should I involve him in my project?
I'm doing a PhD and I have two people listed down as my supervisors for the project, who I will call supervisors A and B. I get on really well with supervisor A, he makes constructive suggestions in a ...
1
vote
1answer
234 views
How do you interpret the feedbacks of my boss [closed]
I have a PhD in biological sciences but working (for two years by now) as a data analyst (I can say something like a bioinformatician) in a university analysing cancer omics
My boss says that I am an ...
1
vote
5answers
69 views
What are the subjects that one must learn while an undergraduate to pursue an academic career in Biophysics? [closed]
I am an undergraduate student pursuing a B.Sc(Hons.) degree in Physics. I want to pursue an academic career in Biophysics. So, I wanted to know which subjects are required for higher studies in ...
0
votes
0answers
34 views
Post-Doc foundation fellowship vs. private contractor (ORISE vs. McNeal)
I'm a post-doc research fellow working in a government lab and my supervisor has "offfered" to renew my position through a private contracting company (McNeal), instead of the my current funding ...
19
votes
7answers
7k views
Choosing between a Post-Doc and a faculty position at “2nd-tier” institution
I am Ph.D. student in India working in computer science. I will be graduating soon. I have two options: 1) post-doc 2) join a "tier 2 institute" (i.e., an institution ranked between #11 and #20 in ...
34
votes
4answers
4k views
How to become a better researcher in a shorter amount of time?
This question could also be read as :
As a professional researcher, you wish you would have done some things differently than you did when starting your research career. Things that would have ...
0
votes
1answer
116 views
How to reach out for research collaboration?
I am an early career researcher (pre-PhD) and planning to work on research articles before applying to PhD studies. May I ask is there any clear cut method to approach well-established scholars to ask ...
4
votes
1answer
192 views
Becoming an Engineer with a Math degree
I'm not sure if this is entirely the correct stack exchange for my question, but the career stack exchange seemed to have a different focus from what I'm looking for. My question is: Can I work in ...
2
votes
1answer
313 views
How can I better equip myself early on for pure mathematics research? [closed]
From discussions about the nature of pure mathematics research I reached to a conclusion that it requires both- theory building; that is to create rigourous concepts relevant to the problem one ...
-2
votes
1answer
158 views
How to deal with a relationship and the need to move abroad? [closed]
I am in a long term relationship (almost 9 years) and in the last half of my PhD. Inevitably I will have to move abroad for a postdoc, after that I will probably move abroad again, and I don't know ...
1
vote
4answers
384 views
Prizes on Academic CVs
I rarely see academic prizes mentioned on academic CVs. I suppose many students who are completeting a PhD also have a few of such prizes. I am thinking, amongst others, about
best MSc dissertation,
...
2
votes
1answer
200 views
I am extremely passionate about entropy/physics, but I don't think I can get into grad school. What can I do to pursue these topics sustainably? [closed]
I am a recent graduate in Chemical Engineering from the University of Maryland with a 2.94 GPA and a 3.01 major GPA and I am completely obsessed with entropy and the foundations of quantum physics. I'...
73
votes
9answers
26k views
I wasted six years of my life getting a PhD degree. What should I do, and how will I survive?
I struggled with low self confidence throughout my bachelors, masters and PhD in chemical engineering. After spending two years in Masters and six years in getting a PhD degree, I am lost at what I ...
0
votes
2answers
202 views
What should I do to make the most of a stopgap postdoc position offered by my PhD supervisor?
I am a PhD in computational materials science, and I have been offered a stop gap postdoc position (at the moment for 6 months) by my PhD supervisor which I will be starting a month after my defense. ...
1
vote
1answer
1k views
How much actual funding does a Marie Curie fellowship entail?
The EU has a research fellowship program named after Physicist Marie Skłodowska-Curie. The website lacks a bunch of information, but I'm specifically interested in understanding what kind of funding ...
4
votes
5answers
691 views
Are there any examples of people who successfully did a startup AND worked in academia? Or is it better to just choose one?
I'm a newly minted PhD researcher from Sweden who just finished my defense this summer (after a really stressfull and draining final year). Ever since then I have been thinking about my future in ...
-2
votes
1answer
82 views
Best way to position yourself to contribute greatly to a very new field? [closed]
I'm in my undergrad and am interested in brain-computer interfacing, but the field is still very new and undetermined.
My hope is to be at the forefront of the field of BCI and be in a position ...
14
votes
2answers
2k views
How do you advise an early career researcher who has an unrealistic opinion of their prospects?
One often reads stories along the lines of "I was told I wasn't suited to a career in academia; now I'm a professor at < Big Name University >". At the same time, given the structure of the ...
26
votes
5answers
4k views
Giving a talk on a different topic than what we discussed
I'm a postdoc in mathematics. I had a conversation with a professor after he gave a talk at my university, and he seemed interested in my ideas. I sent him an email the next day to elaborate on our ...
4
votes
0answers
255 views
What could be a next thing after my theoretical physics career has not worked out? [closed]
Perhaps this question is about leaving the academia, but hopefully it's still in the right place. Given that many people have been there before, I'll spare you most of the personal details. Late in my ...
2
votes
2answers
284 views
Should I get a CS PhD if I'm only interested in industry research? [closed]
I'm currently working on a masters in CS and working at a university as research faculty (my title is 'research engineer'). I'm in the branch that does mostly contract work with the government or ...
25
votes
3answers
6k views
Is it worth delving deep outside my field to revise a paper?
I have a paper that got lost in the editorial pipeline for about a year due to the second reviewer dropping out and not telling anyone. During that year, I didn't revisit the paper much; it was a ...
2
votes
3answers
449 views
Supervisor lack of knowledge
I am a doctoral student in the engineering area in Europe, Belgium. I applied for the project in which I am in April and was accepted. I also had other offers from England.
I liked the subject and ...
12
votes
6answers
3k views
What should I do if my parents are forcing me to study a career I don't want? [closed]
I want to study biotechnology and become an engineer. I'm a straight A's student and as the eldest daughter I'm quite disciplined. However, my parents don't want me to study that career and are ...
1
vote
1answer
74 views
My R01 application was re-assigned to a study section that doesn't seem like a good fit (NIH)
I submitted my first ever R01 application a few weeks ago and indicated that it be assigned to a specific study section (let's call it study section A). Yesterday, I received an email from the chief ...
18
votes
3answers
3k views
Would preaching in a church be advantageous for becoming a lecturer?
In general, the job of a lecturer (under Australian terminology- I think the terminology is different in America) can be divided up into two main areas of focus: research and teaching, with the latter ...
4
votes
2answers
268 views
How important is teaching experience?
I am a PhD student in economics in the UK. Recently, I have been hearing how important teaching experience is to find a job in academia as a lecturer. One needs to submit teaching statements and may ...
3
votes
1answer
199 views
Personal qualities required for a career in academia? [closed]
I am looking to apply for research programmes after I complete my undergraduate degree. While I thoroughly enjoy research, I'm worried about whether this is the best field for me to pursue.
What ...
3
votes
2answers
935 views
PhD research results in postdoc talk presentation
I am a PhD candidate and have been invited to visit two labs where I had applied for postdoc positions after initial online interviews. My question is regarding the content of my talk, which I think ...
1
vote
1answer
269 views
What should one consider when pondering a career as a scientific editor? [closed]
I'm in my 2nd year postdoc, considering getting a science-related job. I looked for jobs at PhD level, and found that one of my options is becoming an editor for a scientific journal.
How many years'...
4
votes
1answer
119 views
Uploading paper drafts before first-time publication
I am half-way through a Masters degree in Logic and Philosophy of Science following a BSc in Astrophysics. Although I've dreamed for years about getting a paper published, I still haven't submitted ...
6
votes
1answer
167 views
Getting a Postdoc, Dropping out of PhD for Greener Pastures (I hope), or else Staying Competitive in Current Position
I've seen similar questions on here before so I'm sorry if it's a duplicate or anything.
Frequently, I find myself in despair at my postdoc prospects as a result of the reputation of the university ...
4
votes
1answer
196 views
Is it appropriate to ask for a $220k piece of equipment on an ESI R01 application to the NIH?
I'm an early stage investigator (ESI) working on an NIH-R01 application where I am proposing a good amount of experiments that necessitate this piece of equipment that costs $220,000. This piece of ...
1
vote
1answer
61 views
What affiliation(s) to list in an oral presentation at a conference?
I'm a doctoral candidate at a big university and am teaching as an adjunct at a smaller university. I'll be graduating with my PhD in a few months and I'm hoping to get a tenure-track job at the ...
2
votes
1answer
161 views
Postdoc speculative application [closed]
I am just about to finish my PhD and a prof I know well and I were discussing future postdoc labs. They suggested I email a friend of theirs in the US. I got a very positive reply saying my research ...
2
votes
0answers
79 views
How to differentiate which conference to publish to? [closed]
There are many conferences, let's take example cryptography.
I assume it makes a difference if you publish at a good conference
as compared to a bad conference. The question is then: how do I find
...
16
votes
3answers
887 views
Husband and wife publishing together - Problem for tenure-track jobs?
My husband and I work in the same research area (of theoretical computer science). We were in the same PhD program and even had the same advisor. We are a great collaboration team, and really enjoy ...
2
votes
1answer
251 views
How many postdocs should one usually do before it is realistically possible to get a faculty position? [closed]
I am interested in the amount of postdocs one usually has to do before one gets a "good" faculty position while considering the apparent differences in various academic disciplines.
6
votes
3answers
327 views
Research Assistant Professor vs Post-doc
Recently, I have completed my PhD in Biomedical Engineering from a 25 - 30th ranked USA university and got a Post-doc offer from a 9-12th ranked USA University. To keep me, my PhD advisor offered me ...
1
vote
1answer
201 views
How to find collaborators?
Answers to my previous question made me believe that doing research almost exclusively in collaboration is (also) fine.
But how do I find collaborators. It is easy to find researchers active in a ...
0
votes
1answer
130 views
Can leader position in a team make up for post-doc experience?
Well, the situation is following - I'm doing my Ph.D. currently abroad, while still having a position in my home country. It's not a high-ranked university there, but the research institute itself is ...
7
votes
3answers
3k views
Questions about authorship rank and academic politics
Disclaimer! I am a first year CS/Applied math master student so I do understand very little in how academia works. I am trying to fix it before I go into PhD.
I have discovered a scientist who works ...
17
votes
10answers
7k views
First-year PhD giving a talk among well-established researchers in the field
I am currently a first-year Ph.D. student, before that (as I have posted about before) I was forced to leave my Ph.D. program after one year because of a bullying supervisor. Previously, I made a good ...
1
vote
1answer
95 views
As an independent/non-affiliated researcher, what would I replace a logo with on a business card?
I'm currently not affiliated with any academic institution; but - I still get around, interact and need some business cards.
The thing is, without any institutional information, a card tends to look ...
11
votes
2answers
3k views
Struggling to present results from long papers in short time slots
Most of my work thus far comprises two rather long and detailed papers that rely on a common underlying framework. (I know this is not great for a young academic, but it is what it is right now.) ...
1
vote
1answer
308 views
Presenting a survey/review paper at a conference
I have noticed that senior members of the community often present survey-like work at conferences, especially if they are giving a plenary lecture or have an extended time slot in a mini-symposium.
I ...
1
vote
1answer
138 views
What is the difference between early career research positions [closed]
I am looking for the differences between the following positions:
Researcher
Postdoctoral fellow
Postdoctoral researcher
6
votes
1answer
299 views
Is it possible to find an unpaid and “half-time” postdoc?
I've defended my thesis, and I would like to do my postdoc abroad. But the problem is that I am married, and I have two little children. So, I can't just leave my family for a couple of years, and ...
30
votes
3answers
4k views
Pros and cons of writing a book review?
I am a postdoc in a biology department. I am friends with a professor in the philosophy department who is the editor of a Nature journal which publishes book reviews. A 150-page popular science book ...
