In the Dark

Over the past week or so I’ve noticed quite a lot of discussion on social media about postdoctoral fellowship positions. These positions are scarce compared to the number of eligible applicants so competition is quite intense. Applications are usually required around November for a start the following year: those lucky enough to have been offered such a position to start in September or October usually have to accept or decline around this time of year; those lucky enough to receive more than one offer have to pick which one they want to accept so that those on a waiting list can be contacted. It’s a nervous time for early career researchers, particularly in the USA where there are few opportunities outside this cycle.

Seeing all these exchanges on Twitter reminded of this time of year in 1988. I was in the last the last year of my PhD DPhil at Sussex – there was only three years’ funding in those days – and had applied before Christmas 1987 for postdoc positions to start in September or October1988. I was fortunate to receive several offers, including one to stay at Sussex.

There was a big complication in my case. I have never written about this on the blog but during the last year of my PhD I was helping to care for a friend who was terminally ill. The medical people couldn’t say how long he would live but said it would be months rather than years. When it came to February 1988 and I had to make a choice, I felt I had no alternative but to make a decision that would allow me to continue to help as long as was necessary if my friend lived past September, rather than abandon him. Accordingly I accepted the position at Sussex and decline the others.

As it happened my friend passed away (peacefully) about six weeks later, but by then I’d made the decision and there was no going back.

I do generally advise younger researchers that moving away from the institute in which they did their graduate studies is generally a good idea in order to broaden your experience. Given that, people have sometimes asked me in person why I decided to stay at Sussex and I usually tell them what I’ve written above.

I have absolutely no regrets about the decision. Sussex was a very good place to be a postdoctoral researcher anyway and things worked out very well for me in the end, career-wise. I also felt I’d done the right thing based on how the situation stood at the time I made the decision.

The point of this post is that you shouldn’t be afraid of including personal considerations in your career choices. We’re all people, not robots. And if you’re that others might think your decision is strange then remind yourself that it’s your life, not theirs. In the end the only person you need to justify yourself to is yourself.

This entry was posted on February 19, 2022 at 11:47 am and is filed under Biographical, Brighton. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.