SEB Bulletin - March 2008
Horizons
Christabel Stokes Head of Education and Membership Services, Physiological Society
How do you escape from the lab and secure a job where you still use your science but which is much more broad-based? Chrissy says the secret to her exit strategy was to get involved in other activities whilst she was doing her PhD as this provided her with a wealth of transferable skills which increased her employability. “Unless you think you're going to secure a permanent research or academic post in the future”, advises Chrissy, “it's important for any postgraduate to think about how they will increase their range of skills to facilitate a transition to an alternative career away from the bench”.
Currently working for the Physiological Society, Chrissy is responsible for a number of major initiatives within the membership and education departments. The Physiological Society is one of dozens of biological learned societies in the UK some quite large (e.g. Biochemical Society, British Ecological Society, Institute of Biology and, of course, the SEB) and others quite small with no office staff. The societies act as a 'club' for like-minded scientists to communicate with each other and so activities such as membership, conferences, publishing and education are central to their purpose. The societies need to keep a constant eye on their membership numbers and their attractiveness to new members so that they sustain their relevance to the community they serve. For example, in addition to postgraduates, postdoctorals and academic members, Chrissy is also investigating ways to improve benefits for their newest membership category - undergraduates. The very real issue of rapidly decreasing numbers of school students taking up science at GCSE and A-level is also of concern to Chrissy who is involved in devising strategies to try to assuage this trend.
In addition to these responsibilities, Chrissy is also responsible for coordinating the YPS initiative (Young Physiologists Symposium) which involves postgraduates and some early-career scientists and undergraduates organising and contributing to their own scientific meeting. This is déjà vu for Chrissy who was involved in organising such an event when she was a member of the Physiological Society during her PhD. “Never underestimate the power of networking and getting involved”, says Chrissy. “My experience of organising and running events when I was doing my PhD gave me additional administrative skills which helped me secure my first job with BioMed Central”.
Chrissy had decided to leave research after her PhD (graduating from the University of Bristol in 2003) not only because of the relatively high competitiveness, but also because she felt she was becoming far too specialised and isolated from her real interest which was the broader aspects of physiology. By working with scientific journals she was able to broaden her scope again as well as build up further contacts and experience. Ironically, however, this work turned out to be too broad for Chrissie as she dealt with a journal spectrum ranging between health and plant science. Therefore, after 15 months she moved to the Wellcome Trust as a Science Programme Officer. “This was more of a middle ground for me”, explains Chrissy. “During my three years at Wellcome I managed the peer review process for grant applications, managed active grants, looked at strategies for funding within the remit of Physiological Sciences, and planned conferences to facilitate networking and collaboration. The individual fellowship schemes were dealt with on a more personal basis to address personal career aims”.
Thus, as well as her initial scientific experience and qualifications, all aspects of Chrissy's career path have led to her acquiring more and more skills so that she is now highly employable and working in a broad career area with many job opportunities. Her knowledge of the research culture, science education and career issues for biologists as well as her broad-ranging organisational skills make her an asset to the Physiological Society. As the newest member of the Bioscience Federation's affiliated society education managers it is a pleasure to welcome Chrissy and I look forward to working with her on joint projects in the future!
Sarah Blackford
Education & Public Affairs
Further contacts and information:
Biosciences Federation
(lists websites of over 40 biological learned societies) www.bsf.ac.uk
British Association for the Advancement of Science http://www.the-ba.net/the-ba/
Euroscience www.euroscience.org
Eurodoc http://www.eurodoc.net/
School-university Biology discussion site www.biology4all.com/
Researchers in Residence http://www.researchersinresidence.ac.uk/rir/
University management posts www.jobs.ac.uk
PSCI-COM discussion list http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/psci-com.html