Am I crazy thinking of a move back to academia?

[tpeas]

Hi all,

Looking for some independent advice. I finished my PhD around a year and a half ago and since then I have worked in a non-research role in the civil service that isn't aligned with my academic background. The more time has gone on hoping things would improve (including with a change of role to a slightly more aligned area, but still quite far off) the more I've started to think it's just not the right sector or personality fit for me.

I'd say I was fairly "successful" as a PhD student - I published two papers, with one still in the works, and gave a talk at an academic conference. I received excellent feedback from my supervisors who advised me to stay in academia. However, the precarity of academia and the wish to settle down and start a family put me off, particularly when I received a permanent job offer towards the end of my PhD.

My partner and I have bought a house and I'm currently undergoing fertility treatment. I'm therefore "tied" to my region and there's obviously a possibility I may become pregnant soon. But the longer I stay in my role the more I think "what if" and wonder if I should give academia another go. I don't want to look back in 30 years and regret the career I could have had. I interviewed for a position a year ago and was successful but ended up turning it down as it was only for a year. So on balance I would only consider switching if I could find a relevant project within commuting distance with a contract length of at least two years. While I know any move would be risky, if I end up being happier and more fulfilled then maybe it would be worth it.

However, I'd really appreciate views of those who are currently in academia - feel free to ward me off if you think it's a bad idea leaving a permanent role, even if it's not quite as fulfilling. I suppose the "what would I do if I couldn't find another role afterwards" would haunt me a bit, even if I did find a role now. I've not really found any research-based roles in the civil service in my location that aren't extremely analytical (which is not quite my thing) so that wouldn't be the right route for me.

Thanks if you've read this far!

Hi OP. I've worked in research in the Civil Service for 20 years and loved it. What's your academic background?

What’s your field?

I think you’re rather unrealistic about starting and developing a career as an academic. It’s quite normal to do several fixed term contracts and a fair bit of teaching to establish your career. This was the case in the late 80s when I started.

What’s your teaching experience? It’s rare to land a permanent contract without a fair bit of teaching on your CV.

And you will need to be more mobile than you seem prepared to be. This might mean moving, or commuting.

All those things notwithstanding, you may have noticed that most universities are shedding staff, rather than recruiting.

You seem a bit naïve - maybe start reading the Times Higher? Or go to a couple of conferences in your field, to deliver a research paper or two, and try to pick up on the current situation for jobs in your field.

Be prepared to start with fixed term postdocs (I recently appointed one, out of 60 applications) and teaching-only contracts.

I think you'd be crazy to. The sector is undergoing a brutal round of redundancies currently. The only departments I see hiring are tech growth areas like AI / machine learning / data science. There are few guarantees from the government for future funding settlements. If I had a do-over there's no way I'd choose academia and a fair few colleagues feel the same. Why don't you try something like career coaching to check you've a good range of ideas about future possibilities beyond the civil service or academia.

What field are you in?

If arts / humanities then stay in your safe job.

You said you've published a couple of papers so I'm guessing science or engineering where people publish quickly.

So do look for job adverts for postdocs in your field. Finding the right postdoc at the right time is a matter of luck and you might need to be flexible on location. London has enough universities to have many options in one city but elsewhere it is hard.

In the long term, academic careers are always precarious. You get more security at lectureship level but it is never a 9-5 secure job. I still love it though

Does it have to be civil service or academia?

Other private sector companies have applied research teams, would that suit? Or if you're science/engineering focused, something like the catapult centres? The latter focus on turning academic research into industrial applications so have close ties with academic institutions, but with the benefit of a fixed location and permanent contracts

Some large companies even have departments based at universities. Eg JLR at Warwick uni (wmg) and Brunel university (with novelis).

Have a look at the civil service research and evaluation career paths. Equally there are lots of government and industry aligned roles in thinktanks, consultancies, arms length bodies, charities, charitable foundations etc which might be of interest

Research is a tough area generally at the moment - salaries across the board (unless you work in big teach or pharma) are quite depressed and it is all quite unstable. Lots of more junior roles, however.

I wouldn't rule out a return to academia however. Yes it is tough, but if you love it worth considering. But look at the vast array of other opportunities too.

What I would say, however, as someone who has done this. If you aren't publishing regularly to contribute to REF then a later return to academia can be very difficult. I have over 70 national policy level publications of varying different types and sorts, some of which are still being referenced 20 years on and several of which have informed large legislative changes. However, because they are applied research and focused on a moment in time, and often don't have listed authors (because you write as part of the organisation rather than as an individual) it means diddly squat to many universities. REF is entirely geared up to "academic" endeavour and has little to do with actual impact on real people... go figure.

Thanks all for your replies. Lots of food for thought and I completely understand your feedback about academia being a particularly tricky sector at the moment. I'll definitely cast the net a bit more widely and think about other roles I may be more suitable for. Although @YellowAsteroid , it's unfair to say I'm naive. I referenced fixed term contracts multiple times in my post and I'm certainly not thinking I'd get a permanent academic position without any postdocs under my belt yet. The impermanence of academia is why I'm thinking about this so carefully!

My PhD was quite multidisciplinary - it was in health sciences with lots of statistics (though I preferred the more "human" side) and straddled social sciences a bit too.

If things work out that you have kids you might want to bear in mind how time demanding your partner’s job is, if they work locally or if they are commuting can make a big difference to the load on you as a couple raising a child. Or maybe you have family locally or enough money to buy lots of childcare. Because my experience of academia was that we all worked way, way over our official hours and it didn’t work for my family with my partner doing a long commute (leaving home before 6am back 8pm) as well. You really really need to love academia for it to be worth the hassle and low pay.

Maybe there are NHS research positions. But really from what I’ve seen civil service working conditions are much better. Maybe try and get something research related in time. In my field I know quite a few who move back and forth between uni research and government departments. I don’t think it’s either/or. you’re not necessarily closing down the option of uni work later if you navigate towards govt or ngo etc research now, particularly in social sciences/ health applied roles.

Given your background I think research orientated jobs in private industry would be an option in various sectors, OP. Does that appeal at all?

So this is my background. There are plenty of options but - depending how senior you are - there are very few roles where the hours aren't long.

If you are happy working at a lower level then the flexibility across civil service/NHS etc is good. As soon as you step up to "Head of" and above the pressure is on with a lot of responsibility for quality assurance, reporting etc. Consultancy and industry are long hours too with frequent travel.

Charity sector is better on flex working, but salaries poor and many are cutting back. The government funding agencies are still pretty reasonable too. Thinktanks and policy institutions would be worth a look as well. Or getting on a good long term grant for a while.

If you have expertise in statistics and data analysis (ie you code in R or Python) then look at jobs in data science that pay very well for those skills.

"a relevant project within commuting distance with a contract length of at least two years."
I write as someone in a comparable position in some ways, but currently with a postdoc.

First, look at the universities that are commutable in your area - how many are there that you can envisage making a strong case for in terms of 'fit' into the right department? Are we actually looking at a decent number? I.e. does this option actually exist? Don't forget that your definition of 'commutable' may change if you have children. Then look at jobs.ac.uk and get a sense of how often relevant jobs are advertised in your field per institution per year/decade.
In my case, I know the maths doesn't work out, and that's why I'm fully expecting to have to leave the sector after my current postdoc because I'm not able to move across the country any more, nor even to do 1.5 hour commutes as I'm expecting a baby.

Perhaps you're only looking at postdocs on existing projects for now, but even so, do you have a project you want to pursue that you can make an amazing case for? If so, identify some funding to target with it, and then you could reach out to people at a university you'd like to work with. Even if you don't go ahead with the project you will get more of a sense from doing this.

I'm in arts & hums but I know of people in fields like physical geography and social sciences who have multiple impressive publications, multiple postdocs, extensive teaching experience, and are still having to move across the country to whatever postdoc they can find next - and are losing hope of finding anything permanent. Don't forget you'll be competing with those people for every post.

It’s not just tricky, some Universities are threatened with closure. Plus for those left behind it’s really tough. My DH just took a severance deal his dept lost 3 posts, two of his colleagues cried when he said he was leaving. I had already retired, amongst our friends 4 have taken redundancy, all late fifties. Should add he was a head of dept so. About as top of the game you can get unless you become a Dean.

The thing a lot of academics-turned-civil service researchers/analysts struggle with is you aren’t pursuing your own projects and research interests. You have to do what aligns with your department’s priorities. So you might find you prefer policy work? You still won’t have free rein, but there’s scope for more creativity.

@tpeas "So on balance I would only consider switching if I could find a relevant project within commuting distance with a contract length of at least two years..."

Given you are looking at starting at a family I would say that this would be very stressful once the children come with school and related issues.

Weigh out what would work best for the long game.