Published online 14 February 2007
Postdoc journal
Taking a gamble
Chris Rowan
Chris Rowan is about to become a postdoctoral fellow in the geology department at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.
The challenge of changing research areas and continents.
I'm an ex-PhD student. It's been 15 months since I submitted my thesis, on the tectonics of New Zealand, and 10 months since I successfully defended it.
Where to go after your PhD? If you've got through without every spark of interest being crushed out of you (I did), and you still feel masochistic enough to brave further exposure to the academic world (I'm a glutton for punishment), a postdoc is the usual next step. But my step was sideways, into a rather split-personality technician/teaching post in my old lab at the University of Southampton, UK. Despite a secure job, and valuable teaching experience, the lack of opportunities for new research made me worry for the future of my CV.
So I find myself taking a bit of a gamble. This month I'm leaving England to take up a postdoc position in Johannesburg. I'll not only be living and working in a country I've never visited before, but I'll also be trying to work out the tectonic history of rocks almost two billion years older than any I've studied before. If that's not enough, I also need to determine whether I can turn some half-formed scientific ideas and interests into a coherent research programme. Do I have what it takes to stay in the game long term? Is that what I want?
Postdoc Journal Keepers 2007
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Moira SheehanMoira Sheehan is a postdoc in plant breeding and genetics at Cornell University.
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Peter JordanPeter Jordan is a visiting fellow at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases in Bethesda, Maryland.
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Maria Ocampo-HafallaMaria Thelma Ocampo-Hafalla is a research fellow at Cancer Research UK's London Research Institute.
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Chris RowanChris Rowan is a postdoctoral student in the geology department at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.
