Research interest statement
As I mentioned in a previous post I have been sending emails to potential supervisors to find a postdoc position. After sending many of them I got a reply from one PI who seems pretty interested in hiring me. He asked me to write my scientific interests and what I want to work on in my postdoc. So here I need your help. In the scientific interests should I mention my scientific interests up to now mentioning my previous work? Or should I write what I want to do in the future during my postdoc? Or something more general connecting my previous work with what I want to do in the future? Also how should I answer the question what I want to do during my postdoc? I mean I know what the lab is doing in general and it surely fits my interests but how much in detail should I go with this question? Does he ask for a detailed research plan? I am afraid writing something the supervisor isn´t interested in investigating if I go into too much detail. Any ideas? Any experiences on this?
That's great Joanna. So cold mails can actually work.
I don't have enough experiences in these things but I think you should mention what you are interested to work in future. It is usually related in some way or another to what you have worked during your PhD. In this case you can explain about what you have done so far (to show the PI that you are a good fit). Try to orient your research interest and expertise toward his interest or explain how your research can contribute to their lab/group. Don't go too much in details. They can ask you later if they need to learn more.
Good luck!
You can write a statement of research interest. You'll find tons of good templates via google. I think you should include everything. First I would describe the broad research goal (and why you are interested in exactly that field of research),then previous projects you conducted in this field, ongoing projects you conducted in that field and at the a bit about perspective, where you describe your future plans and how these plans and your experiences fit perfectly to the group/position. That's what I did, but it was for PhD, not Post Doc positions. For a post doc, they perhabs even expect you to have a plan with research objectives. However, it is hard to do so if the group has many projects and you don't know what a potential supervisor would like you to work on
Thanks a lot for your nice advice Mathcomp and Dunham. I will try to bridge past/present interest with future research. I guess it is the best. I still worry a little bit about how to go writing about future plans but I think the idea is not going into too much detail as you mention Mathcomp but still write something interesting and of course in the interest of the lab. But this can be tricky especially if I don´t know what exactly they are working on at the moment. Last publication of them was a collaborative paper and in the webpage there is only a paragraph of information about their research so yeah not so much I could use. And it would be horrible to write something that is not in the supervisors interest and then he starts thinking `hm i am not so interested to go in this direction.´ if i were more into the things i could much easier suggest things and bring new ideas but now i feel a bit like shooting in the dark. But I guess it is worth a try ;-)!
Thanks a lot for your nice advice Mathcomp and Dunham. I will try to bridge past/present interest with future research. I guess it is the best. I still worry a little bit about how to go writing about future plans but I think the idea is not going into too much detail as you mention Mathcomp but still write something interesting and of course in the interest of the lab. But this can be tricky especially if I don´t know what exactly they are working on at the moment. Last publication of them was a collaborative paper and in the webpage there is only a paragraph of information about their research so yeah not so much I could use. And it would be horrible to write something that is not in the supervisors interest and then he starts thinking `hm i am not so interested to go in this direction.´ if i were more into the things i could much easier suggest things and bring new ideas but now i feel a bit like shooting in the dark. But I guess it is worth a try ;-)!
I guess if you write unsolicited applications, they generally expect that you know what you want to do. They always seek for highly motivated people who want to investigate exactly this one thing. If you apply for an advertised position you can always say that it perfectly fits what you want to do. With an unsolicited application however, it might look random, as if you wouldn't care what topic the group can offer you as long as it roughly fits the area you were working in before. We all know that most of the times it is like that and people arejust looking for a, relatively unspecific, position in their field but as post docs usually aim for an academic career (and sooner or later have to come up with own research ideas) they probably expect more than that.
tYes I am writing unsolicited aplications. But the specific group I am writing to now is doing particularly interesting things for me so I think it is a really good opportunity since the supervisor seems to also be interested in hiring me. I have a lot of cool (or so I hope) ideas that I would like to discuss with him. However, I am a bit reluctant writing things my way without before knowing if he thinks alike. I guess however it is also the way one thinks that matter in this case and we can rediscuss thinks later together. So I may write some general ideas of mine and see what he thinks.
