Academic mobility

17 January 2010

By Tennie Videler

Several posts in this blog have looked at mobility of researchers: in  no particular order (or reason of selection) Sarah’s Pots, pans and papers, Liz’s There’s no place like home, Nick ’s Relocation, relocation, Sarah’s Confessions of a science traveller and several others. But I want to explore another aspect of academic mobility, which is that of supervisors or group leaders. I realise that this may be more pertinent to scientists working in research groups than those in arts and humanities and social sciences. Mobility doesn’t always stop once people obtain a tenured position, as moving between institutions can be a great way to further your career. What happens to the researchers working in a moving academic’s group? Do they stay or do they go? This will depend on your career stage and on your funding, I guess.  Doctoral researchers will be constrained by the rules governing the enrolment in their degree, their funding and whether there is an alternative supervisor available. As a member of research staff your funding may be tied to the current institution, to the academic who is moving or just to you. How keen you are to move will depend on your personal circumstances (partner, family, whether you own a house etc). I have seen peers react very differently to this situation. For some, it is just a complete inconvenience, for others it is an exciting opportunity to move institutions (with the CV advantage this gives) without having to move out of the comfort zone of working with a trusted PI. For others, staying put provides an opportunity for more independence (with maybe even a chance filling the departed academic’s shoes..).  Anyone with experience and/ or opinions on this aspect of academic mobility?