Early independence: Continuing Professional Development for Post-Docs in Academy and Industry

Developing a European blueprint
 

Download the  Proposal 

9167 applications were received by the European Research Council in 2007 for the Starting Independent Researcher Grant (SIRG). 559 of these applicants were invited to submit full proposals by September 2007 and about 300 applicants may expect to receive a multi-year grant from 2008 onwards. This new flagship award by the European Research Council indicates broad consensus that with the shift to a knowledge-based economy, increasing global competition and retiring incumbents, post-doctoral researchers need to be enabled to become principal investigators sooner and more effectively. Post-docs need:

  • Access to greater resources (such as research funds and mobility grants);
  • Free and secure trans-national mobility (that enhances career opportunities while not sacrificing social rights);
  • Interchange between public and private research organisations (including entrepreneurial ventures).

There exist a variety of commendable efforts to enhance post-doctoral programmes, but to date few have focussed on what is most needed at the intersection of the internationalisation of higher education, the rise of networked research and the knowledge-based economy: a systematic effort to help along junior researchers in their quest to become independent. The Research Network 1989 is committed to developing a blueprint for the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) of researchers in the transition from PhD to post-doc and principal investigator.

We suggest to focus on what - at the intersection of the internationalisation of higher education, the rise of Mode 2 research and the global knowledge-based economy - is most needed in fostering innovation and most desirable in promoting the ‘Europe of Knowledge’: a systematic effort to help along junior researchers in their quest to become independent – in the academy but also in knowledge-intensive industries and services.

Partners in the academy and industry are needed to develop the blueprint, scale it and roll it out. The blueprint is designed to function at the European level, covering the European Research Area and the Bologna signatory states. We are looking for European networks in the academy and industry as partners. A CPD programme for postdocs meaningfully extends the educational mission of academic institutions and has clear benefits for participating institutions and individuals in terms of enhancing professional capacities. However, this programme has also been designed to deliver a competitive advantage.

At the European and national level hundreds of principal investigator awards for frontier research are available each year. Individuals and institutions able to systematically pursue this new type of award will benefit in terms of research excellence and impact. Moreover, the holders of junior PI awards have enhanced chances of obtaining senior PI awards later. Because of the shift in focus from ‘basic’ to ‘frontier’ research these initiatives are also relevant to industry and enhance the capacity for collaboration at the scientific level. Over the coming couple of years there is an opportunity to build a groundbreaking CPD programme to enable institutions and individuals to transition purposefully into this new area of enhanced opportunities for principal investigators and reap the benefits and rewards.

Please download the proposal ‘Early Independence” for further information on the blueprint and the programme for a pilot cohort that gathered for a first training event at Gut Siggen, Ostholstein, Germany, from 23 to 27 May 2008.

We thank the Alfred Toepfer Foundation F.V.S. for supporting the pilot.

The Research Network 1989 expects to launch a second call for applications in November 2008 with a deadline of 31 January 2009. The second cohort would enter the CPD programme in 2009.

For a report on the rise of the post-doc and early independence please see:

Armbruster, Chris (2006) "The Rise of the Post-Docs as Principal Investigator? How PhDs and Post-Docs May Advance Their Career and Knowledge Claims in the New Europe of Knowledge"
Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=891041


last modified: 2008-06-03