Does anyone work for the UK research councils?

[GetOrfMoiLand]

The most perfect job has come up for the Research Council UK.

As is public sector though, am slightly concerned that it would be subject to cuts.

Plus am slightly at the thought of working for public sector, and how different it would be to my current enviornment.

But it is working on massive projects which is right up my street.

Any advice would be most valuable.

It depends on the research council. Some of them (e.g. MRC, AHRC) have had a minimal uplift or are on a flat settlement. Others (e.g. ESRC) have had cuts. But the research council cuts are nowhere near as bad as the teaching cuts, so I'd say a newly advertised job would be pretty safe.

Or do you mean that the job is at Research Councils UK? In which case, again, probably OK.

Incidentally, why are you worried about working in the public sector?

Thank you!

It is for the Shared Services Centre - so working on projects which cover all of the research councils.

I am a bit hesitant re public sector because I have worked in the private sector for donkey's years and it will be very different I imagine.

What is the role?

What things are you worried about? (I'm public sector BTW)

my mum works for ssc. She came from nerc - I also used to work for nerc.

Afaik the ssc working environment is much different to the research council environment e.g. research councils had flexy time, 30 days annual leave, etc, but this is not so much the case within ssc.

Whether there will be cuts in the future is as yet unknown, but one thing in it's favour is that this is a new venture and millions have already been invested in it so unlikely to be scrapped just yet.

It is for a Procurement Engineer.

Similar to the work I do now - large scale and high value procurement projects with a technical interface.

I have just spent years working for huge companies, all of them with a bullish reputation. I have also been a decision maker.

I have nothing to base it on really other than talking to ex colleagues who have ended up working for placed like the MoD at Abbeywood, and GCHQ, who say that the stress levels are minimal, the work is easier in comparison, work/life balance is fantastic however you trade that for not having really any autonomy, decisions made by committee, and it takes an age to get things agreed/processed.

But the projects look fantastic - I would give my right arm to work on the stuff which has been detailed in the spec.

Also, the perks are different. The salary is a good basic, but no bonus (obv), no car, no BUPA.

ooh thanks wannabee.

Does your mum like working there? And did you enjoy it as well?

It would be a huge move, but it does look so appealing.

Well you could always try it and go back to the private sector. I can recognise some of the stuff about autonomy etc - but you are talking about taxpayers money and public accountability here, so I can see why.

Actually, it sounds exciting.

Is your current job in research, or in managing research (or in any area spinnable as research)? If it is, I would imagine RCUK would be very interested in having an applicant from the private sector, as more and more university research becomes business oriented.

If not, I suspect it might be tough getting shortlisted, because there are plenty of research management professionals working in universities already. IME many of them are not very good, but knowing how to deal with academics and academic research grants involves skills and insider knowledge that take a lot of time to build up.

Hmm, well I suppose the other concern would be would I be taking myself out of the private market.

I tend to move jobs frequently - if I go into public sector would I be able to get back to private, iyswim.

Well plenty of people move from public to private no problem. You should focus on the projects themselves, not the culture. You can demonstrate a history of private sector work - and being in the public sector can give you an added dimension.

I don't see the two sectors as mutually exclusive and think it's sad when people rule out moving between the two.

"stress levels are minimal, the work is easier in comparison, work/life balance is fantastic however you trade that for not having really any autonomy, decisions made by committee, and it takes an age to get things agreed/processed."

University research is almost the exact opposite to this -- very high stress, huge and difficult workloads (I'm a lecturer and have never worked less than a 60-hour week); but the trade off is lots of autonomy. It does, however, indeed take ages to get things processed.

It is possible that working on the management side might personally be less high pressure, but you will be dealing every day with very pressured people, and you'll need to understand that kind of culture.

Yes - the stress. I get pretty stressed and work very long hours when the deadlines hit!

Not to say that stress is a bad thing - that is one of the things in my current job which makes me thrive.

And i do not know any colleagues who have worked for the research council - those comments earlier were for those who worked at Abbeywood (which is notoriously difficult to deal with)

Thanks very much everyone for your help, this is very interesting.

Sounds like you might be just what they're looking for! I'd go for it.

Thank you again.

It looks fantastic, really interesting, I got completely excited when i read the spec (and I thought I was too cynical to get excited).

I think it may be a good idea to have a break from my industry - as much as I love it, I have worked with aeroplane design and manufacture for so long, it may well be a good idea to do something new.

Like someone said, I can always go back if I want to.