SEB Bulletin October 2006 - In this Issue
Feeding the mind
What's a PhD for? Is it a training for research? Is it a training by research? Or is it both? The future of Europe's economic success is based on policies and strategies which identify postgraduates as key actors in the realisation of a goal to be “the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world” by 2010. Thus, the answer to the question “What's a PhD for?”is experiencing a shift from the former answer: “for research” to the latter answer: “both”; training postgraduates for a potential career in research (in industry or academia) but also towards careers enabling them to contribute their generic qualities to other areas of the economy. The answer is very different to that of 15 years ago. This shift is being facilitated by a wide ranging number of initiatives and in this issue we report on two conferences, organised by the UKGRAD Programme and UKHERD, which reviewed the progress being made towards supporting postgraduates and contract research staff. Initiatives, such as Roberts Funding, organisations such as Eurodoc, latest results of key surveys and keynote lectures by Funding bodies were all reported on and formed part of a packed programme which addressed the challenges facing those involved in training PhD students and supporting postdoctoral researchers.
The SEB is helping to contribute to this support by running career planning and development workshops. In this issue we report on our first one-day careers workshop which was run at the University of Birmingham in July where we invited almost 50 postgraduates and postdoctoral researchers to participate in a range of group work exercises to raise their awareness of the aspects which should be considered for successful career management. This included personality and skills analysis, job-seeking techniques, how to write an effective CV as well as interview technique and a comprehensive source of vacancy information. We are planning to run these workshops on a regular basis during 2007 and will collaborate with other organisations too to broaden their appeal.
In addition to our stand-alone workshops the SEB is contributing to the Biosciences Federation's three careers information conferences during November/December. This year they will be held in Manchester, Edinburgh and Reading so urge your undergraduate and postgraduate students to attend as places are limited for these dedicated life science events. We will also be organising our regular programme of education and career events during the SEB's Annual Main Meeting in Glasgow including European Funding opportunities, a pre-conference networking event for early-career scientists and a CV workshop. The scientific sessions are currently being drawn together and promise an excellent programme of animal, plant and cell sessions. This year we also have cross-sectional sessions on Aging and Oxidants and a novel training session on in vitro techniques for physiological and ecotoxicological studies in invertebrates and fish. We also invite young scientists to submit their presentations to be considered for our Award Session which takes place on the third day of the conference - Monday. This is the first SEB Meeting to run through a weekend so be aware of not getting your days mixed up.
Our Cell Symposium which took place in Southampton in July is reported on by John Bryant and Dennis Francis and look out for news of our Animal Symposium being organised for next year. Our Plant Section Secretary, Keith Lindsey also reports on the latest FESPB Meeting held in Lyon in July where over 1000 plant scientists gathered for a gastronomic feast of science and sausages. The SEB ran two Science & Society events at this meeting. It was the first time we had run events out of a non-SEB meeting and so were very pleased with the positive response we received from the delegates. In particular, our debate which brought together scientists, social scientists and policy makers, was very well-received.
Last but not least, our news and views section pays tribute to Nancy Baines who recently left the SEB to move north to York. New officers and an office re-structure are reported on by Chris Trimmer and in the President's Letter.
Sarah Blackford
Editor