The changing career paths of PhDs and postdocs trained at EMBL

Individuals with PhDs and postdoctoral experience in the life sciences can pursue a variety of career paths. Many PhD students and postdocs aspire to a permanent research position at a university or research institute, but competition for such positions has increased. Here, we report a time-resolved...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Lu, Junyan (Author) , Velten, Britta (Author) , Klaus, Bernd (Author) , Ramm, Mauricio (Author) , Huber, Wolfgang (Author) , Coulthard-Graf, Rachel (Author)
Format: Article (Journal)
Language:English
Published: Nov 23, 2023
In: eLife
Year: 2023, Volume: 12, Pages: 1-16
ISSN:2050-084X
DOI:10.7554/eLife.78706
Online Access:Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.78706
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Author Notes:Junyan Lu, Britta Velten, Bernd Klaus, Mauricio Ramm, Wolfgang Huber, Rachel Coulthard-Graf
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Summary:Individuals with PhDs and postdoctoral experience in the life sciences can pursue a variety of career paths. Many PhD students and postdocs aspire to a permanent research position at a university or research institute, but competition for such positions has increased. Here, we report a time-resolved analysis of the career paths of 2284 researchers who completed a PhD or a postdoc at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) between 1997 and 2020. The most prevalent career outcome was Academia: Principal Investigator (636/2284=27.8% of alumni), followed by Academia: Other (16.8%), Science-related Non-research (15.3%), Industry Research (14.5%), Academia: Postdoc (10.7%) and Non-science-related (4%); we were unable to determine the career path of the remaining 10.9% of alumni. While positions in Academia (Principal Investigator, Postdoc and Other) remained the most common destination for more recent alumni, entry into Science-related Non-research, Industry Research and Non-science-related positions has increased over time, and entry into Academia: Principal Investigator positions has decreased. Our analysis also reveals information on a number of factors - including publication records - that correlate with the career paths followed by researchers.
Item Description:Gesehen am 02.04.2024
Physical Description:Online Resource
ISSN:2050-084X
DOI:10.7554/eLife.78706