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Relocation, relocation, relocation

09 November 2009

By Nick Dickens

I have just said goodbye to my fiancee again at the airport, and this one was harder than last time - because we both know that it is going to be 2 weeks before we see each other again (this may not seem long, but we are one of those couples who spend a lot of time together and rely on each other a great deal).  It is a week since I started my new job at the University of Glasgow and although I am really enjoying it, and it is the perfect job for me, it is a pain having to move at a different time to my partner.  Starting a new job is great, full of opportunities and optomism.  I like moving, some people find the need to make a good first impression pressuring but I relish it and enjoy working from a clean slate.  But it is a real pain in the neck, you spend 3 years (ish) building local networks of colleagues, social networks (not cyberspace) and networks of support and now you have to start again.  I will of course maintain some of my old networks, and have made some brilliant friends in my previous job, but local networks (your intranet, if you will) are really important for day to day success and can take a great deal of effort to build.

 
Working on fixed-term contracts makes moves inevitable and depending on the funding and projects people with partners in research are going to have to move separately.  I know that this is common for the private sector and industry, so I don't necessarily think that we are hard done by - but to echo Elizabeth's post (There's No Place Like Home) there is an expectation that you will move about, especially in your early career that may not be present in other jobs.  Then both of you have to move, if the geographical distance is great it can also be logistically difficult and trying to find jobs close together is just plain hard.  I would be interested to hear comments from researchers who's partners are also researchers (or those who aren't).  Do you work at the same institution as your partners, or in the same city?  How does it affect your relationship at the end of a contract, and how have you survived any physical separation?

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  1. Nick Pearce09 November 2009 at 10:23 AM

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    i moved from lancaster to newcastle because my contract had finished and my partner had been offered a great job at durham, after a couple of months of ever widening job search i have just started a new post at the OU, in milton keynes. i'm hoping that i will be able to manage partially relocating, spending 2-3 days a week at my desk in MK (where i am now) and work from home/ a newcastle library for the rest. it's not a cheap option and i'm still trying to determine whether it's better to stay in hotels/ guesthouses or get a room in a shared house, but it means that i'm going back to earning and i'm a lot happier to be back at work doing something i enjoy. i know quite a few people who live and work a long way apart (crewe - london, newcastle - leeds, lancaster - sheffield). i think this is becoming an option for people who have some level of commitment to a place (or in my case only a 9 month commitment from the employer- who'd move for that?)

  2. Nick Dickens09 November 2009 at 10:54 AM

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    Thanks Nick, in this situation it is nice to know that I am not alone. But I also know that I have it a lot easier than most - for example I know that it is only until Christmas and then my fiancee is moving up. I guess that the long commute to work is more common than I thought. I agree with what you said that a 9 month contract is little compensation for the distance from family or home. I doubt that many research jobs reward this sort of commitment financially well either. Good luck to you.

  3. Matthew Salois10 November 2009 at 08:17 PM

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    You raise a compelling issue, Nick, regarding job relocation and how this fits in with a relationship or a marriage.  My wife and I moved to the UK from the US for no other reason than for my career.  She is an English teacher by training, but the prospect of being an English teacher in England as an American was a bit daunting.  She has a love for books and found a job at the university library.  This is great since not only do we work for the same employer, but we meet up for lunch once a week. Admittedly, she gave up more than just her job as an English teacher when we moved to England.  She also gave up proximity to family and friends.  As the end of my contract approaches, we are now having to cope with the anxiety of where we will end up next.  I find the constant uncertainty surrounding the post-doctoral life to be the most unsettling aspect to the fixed-term contract.

  4. Tennie Videler10 November 2009 at 09:26 PM

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    Nick, I did my very first postdoc in Glasgow. One of the reasons I only stayed for just over a year was that plans for my partner to move there too fell apart so I looked for a research post closer to where he was. Like you, we were used to lots of contact and found the separation hard. Both partners having career aspirations I think is termed 'tandem careers'. There used to be Royal Society fellowships specifically to allow you to follow a relocating partner: http://royalsociety.org/publication.asp?id=2930 'The scheme aims to help postdoctoral researchers wishing to move to follow a partner who has changed place of work and moved a significant distance. The relocating partner need not necessarily be a research scientist.' But a quick look at the Royal Society website makes me think that these are no longer available. Good luck settling in. Christmas will come sooner than you think possible now.

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