Hi everyone,

I'm currently in the first year of my science PhD I'm trying to write my transfer report at the moment as well as run my first set of experiments that I have organised. I feel like I'm running in circles and nothing is ever good enough. But anyway, what I wanted to know was what are people aiming to do after their science PhD or what are people doing after a science PhD. When I started I was so excited about doing this and was interested in either aiming for spending a good few years in academia if I could get a post-doc position after or maybe aiming for industry either big pharma or possibly communications / science or medical communications type stuff.

After about 10 months I have been put off even the thought of academia for life. I have kind of decided to put my head down and get these 3 years done and then try and get a job in the areas I mentioned previously. Has anyone had any experience of these areas? Will a PhD really help? I get the impression that I will be better placed with one and I don't want to stop the PhD and then not be able to progress any further in the future. I know this question seems waffley but really I was just interested in peoples thoughts on employment outside of academia after a lab based science (neuroscience) PhD? Thanks.

Hi Walrus,
I am doing a PhD in Computer Science, I am nearly finished. Up until recently I never imagined myself in academia, but now I am starting to think about it. I think it is better not to think about your future job. Focus on your research and finishing the PhD, after that you will know what you really want. Also, think about PhD as a safety net that will always give you more choices in life.

Walrus, there is nothing wrong with thinking about "afterwards". Before I started my PhD, I said to my supervisor that I didn't want to stay in academia but wanted to go back into industry. My supervisor helped by getting an industrial company to give me extra funding and I've spent quite a bit of time there. In my opinion, depending on your exact area, phd helps to go further up in the career ladder in the pharmaceutical industry.

Make sure you take the time to attend and even present at industry sponsored conferences meetings. It really helps to network.

Don't stress about it too much now. When you know you have about 1year to 6 months left, keep your eyes peeled and your options open. Apply to anything you are interested in, even if they want someone sooner than you can start. You never know, if they like you enough, they will wait for you (happened to me).