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Confessions of an extreme science traveller
08 November 2009
By Sarah Covshoff
These days, science has no boundaries – and neither do the scientists. We swap countries to get the best training possible, travel to meetings in far flung locales as often as possible, and collaborate with colleagues all over the world. As an extreme science traveller, I’m already on country number three, having done my BSc, PhD, and Postdoc in Canada, the US and the UK respectively.
All this travel is fun, exciting and definitely beneficial to my career, but not problem free because inevitably there is the job search at the end of the research contract. And what if I want to move home? Or want to settle in another adopted country? Doing a postdoc in a foreign country may look great on the CV, but maintaining networks of job contacts in your home or potentially adoptive country is very difficult. As they say, out of sight, out of mind.
So what’s the solution? Travel!
This may sound like a strange solution, but I believe networking is crucially important to finding a job in a new (or old) country. Personally, I have a three-part plan to network back into Canada or the US. Firstly, I found collaborators in a local university where I’d want to work and I visit them when I’m home on holiday. Secondly, I keep in regular touch with my PhD supervisor in the US. Finally, when I’m ready to start my job search, I hope to go to a good conference in my field in Canada/US, preferably as a presenter. And while doing this won’t guarantee a job in my country of interest, making connections by travelling abroad will be a great step in the right direction.
Nick Dickens09 November 2009 at 02:16 PM
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I agree that building the networks is a really good idea, and using travel opportunities to find the job in your adoptive country can be difficult. There are some good examples of fellowships and grants (especially in the EU) that can help you move into a country, one example is Marie Curie who fund international fellowships for people who want to move into the EU, and for people who want to return after working in a different country. See CORDIS (http://cordis.europa.eu/mariecurie-actions/eif/home.html) or here (http://ec.europa.eu/research/fp6/mariecurie-actions/action/fellow_en.html) for more info.
Matthew Salois09 November 2009 at 06:19 PM
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Sarah, you make an excellent point regarding conference presentations. I suppose having a supportive PI is helpful in these matters. Coming from the US, I know it is imperative that I keep a visible profile should I want to return. I am very lucky that my PI supports my continued networking efforts at maintaining US contacts while I work here in the UK by letting me present at one US conference a year during my contract term.
David Proctor11 November 2009 at 05:13 PM
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A quick thought before making any further comments... Tennie, I wonder if it's possible to get any links that come up in the blog posts or in our comments to show up in a list below "Latest Activity" and "Articles by Category"? This would be a huge help, especially for longer conversations.
David Proctor11 November 2009 at 05:21 PM
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Sarah, you make a great point about maintaining contacts. It isn't always easy, to be honest, and out-of-sight is definitely out-of-mind for most people, personally as well as professionally. I've also made an effort to visit folks upon my visits home (to Pennsylvania). In addition to visiting my PhD advisor, I've also gone on informational interviews while traveling to see friends and family, and have even gone on one or two job interviews while on vacation (shh). Thanks for the link, Nick. Hopefully we'll be able to get the a single, national network organized and active again where we can store this information. So many researchers have useful information to contribute, but we aren't currently storing it anywhere obvious... George has made a fair point by reminding us that this forum includes individuals whose focus is sometimes local or regional. However, the importance of networking should be stressed to an even greater extent in this case, as it may be that your network leads to employment. Splash your name all over the web, George, in your search and keep expanding your network as you do so.
David Proctor11 November 2009 at 05:23 PM
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"to get the single" not "to get a single" Liz was right to suggest setting blog posts and comments aside before posting them because now everyone knows that I can't construct a proper sentence :( I wish there was some way that we could go back and edit our posts...
Elizabeth Dodson11 November 2009 at 06:08 PM
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:-) Good to know you were listening at the workshop. I'll make sure that editing comments goes on the list of requests to the IT team who provide our blog space...