P11 - Providing knowledge for exploring young researchers’ career

Kyoko Fukushima, Chief Research Administrator, Osaka University, Japan

PhD holders in Japan do not have many career path options - most of them go to academia, either as researchers or peripheral staffs. There are not sufficient opportunities for them to obtain transferable knowledge of areas other than their own specialties, which is considered as an obstacle to their career development. To address this issue, Osaka University has been providing seminars for researchers, administrative staff and the like to gain transferable knowledge. Topics of the seminars include science and technology policy in Japan, research initiatives of funding agencies, university reform, and diverse career paths for PhD holders, etc. The seminars especially help young researchers to learn not only how to manage their own research and career design, but also how to learn transferable knowledge that are essential to exploring other career opportunities. In addition, the seminars also serve the purpose of training administrative staff to support education, research and university management. This presentation shares our findings in carrying out the seminars.