Dear Polymer Chemistry Blog followers,
We would like to introduce a new category on New Academics in Polymer Science. We will be inviting young academics to share their experiences in becoming an independent academic on our blog. Most of the PhD students and post-doctoral researchers try to answer the same question at some stage of their projects. This question is “How to become an academic?“.
Most of the academics state that they always aimed to become an academic but also a significant number of academics say it just meant to happen. There is one common feeling about becoming an academic, which is competition is getting more and more though everyday. The number of independent fellowships is limited, the candidates have very high number of publications, and permanent academic posts are getting short.
Therefore, we believe it is important to share the experience of new academics to give the next generation an idea about how to become an academic. There is no right or wrong way in this adventure but it is more about the combination or series of actions started during your PhD studies. Every small step in following the literature, creating your own brilliant ideas, presenting, publishing, and networking will make you closer to become an independent academic. Once you think you finally reached your goal, actually it will be just starting!!
Please contact Remzi Becer (r.becer@qmul.ac.uk) if you would like to share your stories on your academic move at any level. We would also like to share the experiences of established academics when they move their groups to another institution. Hopefully, these stories will help the next generation to find their first academic positions!
