Is it possible to switch to a different area when doing a post-doc? Does anyone have any experience of this?

Hi Jenteal! It depends a bit on the circumstances. Usually during the PhD, as well as learning about your specific subject, you're learning a lot of transferable skills that would enable you to work in a different area using those same research skills. I work in a dementia research team, and there are a couple of researchers who recently joined the team from jobs working with children- but who had appropriate research skills to be able to run the project efficiently. Also at a recent interview I went to, there were applicants who hadn't worked with people with dementia but had excellent skills and experience in the particular type of methodology being used. I have had other friends in clinical psychology move from working with people with depression to people with schizophrenia etc, so as long as you have the transferable skills in place it might be possible to switch areas. I think the only thing to bear in mind is that you might well be up against someone who has all the transferable skills and experience of working in that area...you never know who you'll be competing with for that post-doc! Good luck! KB

Hi Keenbean, I'm doing a Psychology PhD at the moment but my masters was in neuroimaging. As my masters was more psych oriented, I haven't had much practical experience with imaging techniques, but I'm curious about whether that is a huge barrier to entry if I wanted to do a post doc in a cog neuro lab. I realize that there are so many factors involved, so perhaps it's a silly question! I suppose the main thing would be whether I could fill a niche that for them. Would training in neuroimaging techniques for that be provided or do you think that would be quite rare? I'm not completely sure about whether a postdoc candidate is expected to hit the ground running!

Yes. My husband did this. His PhD was in very theoretical computer science. His post-doc (and subsequent Research Fellowship) is in space technology research, so very practical.

Hi Jenteal! Quite coincidentally, you're in a very similar position to myself! I am doing a PhD in clinical psychology (dementia) and last week I went for an interview for a dementia fellowship that would have included using fMRI imaging. Although I have loads of experience with people with dementia and met all of the essential criteria for the job (and one of two desirable criteria!) I doubted I'd even get an interview because my research work hasn't to date involved fMRI (although obviously after two degrees in psychology I'm very familiar with its uses etc). I did get an interview, and although the job went to someone who has post-doctoral experience in the end, I was told that because of my other achievements (strong CV due to publications/conference presentations) I had been v close to getting the position despite no practical experience in fMRI imaging, i.e. they would have been willing to train me up. So I think it's possible, but these jobs are always going to have applicants who have done a PhD in neuroimaging....so you would have to be able to out-do them in relation to other aspects of the job! I was assured that it wasn't down to the neuroimaging issue that I didn't get the job- they just wanted the person with more experience as the job would potentially involve building up a leading a new team. So I don't think it's impossible, but it might be tricky- it all depends on who you're up against! Best, KB

Keenbean, thank you so much for you advice! Really, it's put my mind at rest as I was worried about the door to neuroimaging being slammed shut in my face. Good luck with your post doc search!

Just like to add that I meant to say that although my masters was in neuroimaging, my masters' thesis was more psych oriented - I realised that I said something contradictory in my second post!

I work with neuroimaging and I have to say a lot of post docs I've seen advertised want someone who already has some experience in analysing this type of data. It takes a long, long time to learn how to do that if you're using something like fMRI or MEG (especially MEG) because you learn on the job, analysing your data set one step at a time. It would help if you were at least familiar with MATLAB. The easiest way to do it is to find a place that has a very strong reputation for that technique - your supervisor should be an expert, rather than someone branching out into the technique and make sure there are lots of other post docs and senior PhD students to support your training. Good luck!

Yeah- I think most pure neuroimaging posts would want neuroimaging experience. The one I applied for asked for a lot of experience in different techniques and seemed prepared for the fact that no applicant would have experience in all of those, thus they were prepared for the fact that candidates would need extra training in one/several techniques. Some of my friends did their MSc project in neuroimaging and got to grips with it during that timespan, but a few found it a challenge. I think if your uni has the facilities, it might be good to try to get some experience during your PhD if you really want to pursue neuroimaging long-term...I think there will be a limited number of posts that will be happy to train you up, but your masters experience will be on your side. Best, KB