UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

The life of P.I. - Transitions to Independence in Academia

Acton, S; Bell, A; Toseland, C; Twelvetrees, A; (2019) The life of P.I. - Transitions to Independence in Academia. bioRxiv: Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA. Green open access

[thumbnail of New_PI_survey_results-6.pdf]
Preview
Text
New_PI_survey_results-6.pdf - Published Version

Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

The data in this report summarises the responses gathered from 365 principal investigators of academic laboratories, who started their independent positions in the UK within the last 6 years up to 2018. We find that too many new investigators express frustration and poor optimism for the future. These data also reveal, that many of these individuals lack the support required to make a successful transition to independence and that simple measures could be put in place by both funders and universities in order to better support these early career researchers. We use these data to make both recommendations of good practice and for changes to policies that would make significant improvements to those currently finding independence challenging. We find that some new investigators face significant obstacles when building momentum and hiring a research team. In particular, access to PhD students. We also find some important areas such as starting salaries where significant gender differences persist, which cannot be explained by seniority. Our data also underlines the importance of support networks, within and outside the department, and the positive influence of good mentorship through this difficult career stage.

Type: Working / discussion paper
Title: The life of P.I. - Transitions to Independence in Academia
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1101/571935
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1101/571935
Language: English
Additional information: The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Keywords: Careers, NewPI, Academia, Fellows, Lecturers
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Lab for Molecular Cell Bio MRC-UCL
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10070033
Downloads since deposit
146Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item