Early independence: Continuing Professional Development for Post-Docs in Academy and Industry
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the Proposal The Research Network 1989 has launched a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme for Post-Docs, admitting the first cohort in 2008. Participants are invited to an annual five-day training programme and have access to coaching and advice throughout. A second call for applications will follow in late 2008 and a new cohort will be admitted for 2009.
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.
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.
We thank the Alfred Toepfer Foundation F.V.S. for support.
For a published 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
Interview with Science Careers on Independent Postdocs:
http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2009_07_31/caredit.a0900094
Resource page of Science Careers:
http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2009_07_31/caredit.a0900095
last modified: 2010-03-10
