Academic Adjacent careers

Work in-between the academic world and industrial/external partners. Roles in this area help to support academics to commercialise their research, either by licensing their ideas and technologies to a partner organisation or setting up a spin-off company.

The University of Birmingham’s Enterprise function is an example of a department that works to connect academia and industry. Former PGRs have been employed as Technology Transfer Officers and Research and Knowledge Transfer Facilitators, who work to support academics to bring their research into the commercial world. Many PGRs have also been involved in creating or working for 'spin-out' companies. 

Opportunities are not restricted to those in the sciences; humanities and social science PGRs can also find relevant opportunities in this field, supporting academics from these disciplines or creating links between universities and cultural partners, for example.

If you are interested in working at the intersection between academic research and industry, there are other potential employers who encourage knowledge exchange between the two. One example are the Catapult centres: organisations which aim to increase collaboration between scientists and engineers in key areas of the UK's science, technology and engineering agenda.

Research Councils, charitable bodies and other funding organisations offer roles in which work focuses on administering research grant applications, advising grant applicants and organising the peer review of grant applications. Universities also offer roles in research support, helping academics make bids for research funding and prepare statements and submissions for the REF. Job titles in this field might include Grant Administrator, Research Support Officer, Research Facilitator or Portfolio Manager.

This work combines discipline-expertise with an understanding of how academic research works, making PGRs competitive candidates. It also offers an opportunity to keep in touch with research without being directly responsible for undertaking research.

Professional bodies represent people working and researching in particular sectors; you may already be a member of a professional body or society during your postgraduate research degree.

It is also the job of professional bodies and societies to promote others to study, work in and support their subject area. As a result, these organisations offer roles in a range of areas including education, outreach and communication, policy, publishing and member support.

These roles all offer the opportunity to apply the research understanding and subject expertise that you will have developed during your PhD. Keep an eye on the ‘jobs’ section of your professional body’s website to get an idea of the range of roles available; a full list of such societies in the UK can be found through the HM Revenue & Customs webiste.

KTPs are collaborative research projects in which academic institutions or other research institutes and organisations work with private companies.

The benefit of these is two-way: researchers have the opportunity to apply their research to real-world business problems, whilst private companies benefit from the expertise of researchers. For more information see the Innovate UK website.

Large museums like the Natural History Museum take on Postdoctoral Researchers, whilst galleries and heritage organisations may have lecturing opportunities for experts in particular fields to lecture to school groups, members of the public and other non-academic audiences. Larger museums and galleries like the Victoria and Albert Museum even have their own research departments where opportunities may arise for PhD-level researchers.

The National Institute of Health Research attached to the NHS, as well as individual hospitals (more common in North America) offer Postdoctoral Fellowships to PhD-qualified scientists.

Some health-related research institutes and think tanks may also offer Postdoctoral Fellowships, such as the The Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute.

Some large pharmaceutical companies including GSK and Astrazeneca offer Postdoctoral Programmes; here there are likely to be links with academic institutions and even the opportunity to publish research. Industrial postdoc opportunities also exist in the biotech sector.

There are opportunities for scientists to undertake postdoctoral research fellowships in non-university settings; examples include CERN, The European Space Agency (ESA), The British Geological Survey, Diamond Light Source, Max Planck Institutes, The Francis Crick Institute, and the Pirbright Institute. If there are other research institutes or agencies linked to your field, they may well have postdoctoral opportunities available.

More popular in North America are postdoctoral opportunities to work in government (federal) labs or in larger think tanks like RAND.

Some UK-based Think Tanks offer Postdoctoral Fellowships, including the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).