• Question: How did you get your job after finishing university? Is there someone that has a laboratory and hires you to work for them?

    Asked by anon-170091 on 8 Jun 2020.
    • Photo: Emma Daniels

      Emma Daniels answered on 8 Jun 2020:

      Hi Paulina, great question! I’m doing a PhD and there are a couple of ways to get one.

      At universities there are lots of different research groups, doing research into different areas, that are lead by an academic. Often, the academic has an idea of some new research they want to do and they get funding for it (from government funding bodies, the university etc.). Once they get the funding they advertise the research and people can apply to carry out that research as their PhD. In that case, you get interviewed by the academic and sometimes other people from the university.

      My PhD is a bit different, because it’s part of a ‘Centre for Doctoral Training’, or CDT. This is where several groups (universities, companies/industrial partners) come together to form a training centre that offers PhD programmes within a certain theme. The theme of my CDT for example is circular and sustainable technologies, so all the PhD students within it are doing research into sustainability issues. These centres are funded by research councils. The process of applying for a PhD within a CDT can vary, but often you apply and are interviewed by the managers of the CDT.

      Other PhDs are funding by companies. The company might have a problem that they need solving, so they give funding for a PhD student to research the problem for them. The PhD can then be done at a collaborating university, or could be done while you’re working at the company too.

      In some cases, you can come up with the idea for the research yourself and approach an academic or group that you think will be interested! This is less common though as you have to find the funding yourself, which can be difficult.

      I hope this helps!

    • Photo: Craig Duffy

      Craig Duffy answered on 9 Jun 2020:

      Hi Paulina,

      My first job after I finished my PhD was working as a researcher on a new project led by a Professor at another university. The Professor had applied for and got funding for the project and then put out an advert for scientists that were interested in the topic (malaria) and had the right skills (genetics) and luckily I had both. After applying I went for an interview and did well enough that they offered me the job and I worked there for 5 years. Getting a job in science isn’t always easy though, I applied for 5 or 6 different positions before I got offered that one.

    • Photo: Elaine Duncan

      Elaine Duncan answered on 9 Jun 2020:

      Hi Paulina,
      Just to give you a different perspective, I did my undergraduate degree (3 years straight after leaving school) and didn’t choose to do a PhD at this point as I decided I’d rather work in industry. Lots of pharmaceutical and other biotech or drug discovery companies have training schemes for graduate scientists which you can apply for like many other jobs. Most require at minimum a CV and cover letter with some form of interview day, however some of the bigger and more competitive schemes have online testing or similar as part of the application progress. I currently work for Charles River Laboratories which is a contract research organisation specialising in early stage drug discovery. This means that we work in the labs carrying out experiments on behalf of various clients, which is great because we get the chance to work on lots of different projects and diseases!

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