There are fundamental differences in the approach of the US and the UK to postdoctoral positions. These differences, we believe, are an important part of the training and maturation process of young researchers. There are two aspects to postdoctoral training: the point of view of the trainee and that of the trainer. In the first place it seems to be increasingly necessary for prospective academics to carry out a 12-18 month postdoc to learn a specific area of knowledge, or a particular technique. Such positions are carefully selected, sometimes after obtaining the first appointment as an assistant professor. Twenty-five years ago such positions were also useful in order to develop in a newer field, but were probably taken in a pioneering department of chemical engineering. A minority of staff did a postdoc at that time: the reverse is true today.
In the UK it is often considered that the Ph.D. is preliminary training, and that ‘real’ research has to be conducted by postdoctoral researchers. It is worth considering the US system of taking a Ph.D. student to the point of real expertise, and then beyond, so that their work is genuinely contributing to the advancement of their field. The US system then deliberately uses the postdoctoral positions as extra training opportunities suited only for those wishing to become academics.
As an example of how someone develops through the US system, we provide a fictional, but typical, biographical sketch:
He went to university A, and graduated with a B.S. (Che) in 1976. He then moved to the Chemical Engineering department at university B for a Ph.D. in the biomedical applications of polymers, completing in 1981. He then moved to university C for a 2 year postdoc. He further developed his interest in biomedical engineering through courses and self-learning. In 1983 he started at university D as an academic staff member, and is now involved in the biomedical engineering programme, as well as the chemical engineering one. About 25% of his appointment is in the biomedical engineering department.
For a staff appointment at a typical department, there will be approximately 100 applicants for a single Assistant Professorship position - all the serious candidates either will have had postdoc experience, or have a postdoc arranged (to be taken during the first year of their appointment). Some instructive (and typical) examples of how people chose to use their postdoc serve to illustrate the approach to postdoctoral work in the US (these are genuine examples):
Many people are motivated to not only undertake a postdoc, but to branch out from their current situation, because they see the value placed by departments on broadening one’s experience and skills base. For example:
She moved to university A because she wanted to be in a strong chemical engineering department. During this time she gained some experience of animal surgery. She found the tissue engineering community to be very helpful and supportive.
Students Verses Postdoctoral RAs
The aspect from the point of view of the trainers is mainly that they prefer Ph.D. students to postdocs. This is partly to do with the short-term nature of their appointment, particularly because of they were often coming to learn, rather than contribute. This is of course very different in the UK where the student period is shorter and the typical post-doctoral period shorter. Some US academics felt that postdocs were less useful or challenging than graduate students, as some postdocs are brought in for specific expertise, and not really for blue skies research. Some consider a good student to be more productive than a postdoc: