Sketching a polymath international research career
With Dr Vijay Raghavendran
Dr Vijay Raghavendran is a researcher in microbial biotechnology, who has experienced the tribulations of short-term research contracts. Vijay studied in India before moving to Denmark, USA, Brazil, UK and Sweden…many countries on several continents. Vijay has also worked as a science teacher. His broad ranging interests from science to the humanities have enriched his nomadic research life. Vijay is also a poet and an artist.
Vijay is currently working as a research engineer at Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), where he manages a large laboratory of 45 people, training researchers in the use of bioreactors and complex Chromatography Systems.
If you want to know more about Vijay, you can find details about his research interests:
https://www.chalmers.se/en/staff/Pages/vijayendran-raghavendran.aspx
Vijay has also a blog where he shares his creativity through writing poems and drawing:
https://vijayraghavendran.wordpress.com/
If a blog was not enough, Vijay has also got a Youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/VijayendranRaghavendran/videos
Listening to our conversation will prompt your thinking
Would you have the courage to leave research and come back?
What kind of conversations do you need in research teams within contexts of uncertainty?
What would belonging look like for you, if you had a nomadic research life?
How will you build your own resilience, if you decide to move around several times across countries and projects to keep working as a researcher?
Some reflections and questions inspired by my discussion with Vijay
We all know the challenges of short-term research contracts for postdoctoral researchers. We can ask ourselves whether it is a curse or a blessing. For some researchers, it will certainly give them the possibility to travel across the world and work in different countries. When I say possibility, I am unsure which term to use. There are both some positives and massive challenges in the nomadic research lifestyle that some postdoctoral researchers may need to live. This is not an easy path to set roots and live with family ties.
Making the choice or having to make the decision to uproot yourself multiple times to follow various research contracts is not for the faint hearted. It will take a lot of courage and resilience to approach research career in this way.
Vijay is an example of someone who took that not so easy path. In our discussion, I feel that he probably underplays the challenge that all these changes represented for his personal life. Whilst he mentions that it was not an option for his partner to move or that he would not have wanted them to move country when he had to, this still represents a lot of sacrifice on both sides.
My perception of the resilience that Vijay developed in his nomadic research life seem to come from a deep sense of curiosity and interest in a great many topics, ideas, but also people. That’s why I used the term polymath in the title of this episode. The diversity of Vijay’s interests in a range of topics appear to me to have been the fuel of his resilience in having to adapt to life in multiple countries.
o What would be your own source of resilience, if you had to follow such nomadic research life?
o Who would be the support you would rely on?
o How would you cope with this level of uncertainty?
There is often a fear expressed by PhD students and Postdocs that leaving academic research, means it is impossible to return. Vijay demonstrates through his own career path that this is not systematically the case. Vijay taught science for 8 years in an alternative school run by an Indian philanthropist, before returning to working as a research scientist. He particularly enjoyed engaging young people in debates.
His return to scientific research was not straightforward as he had spent many years out of research, but his example shows that this is possible. Some of his applications for Postdoc positions will not have been successful, probably in parts because PIs recruiting Postdocs will have wondered why someone 8 years out of a Postdoc would want to come back to bench research.
Such narrow mindset probably causes a loss of real expertise and maturity in the research environment. Anyone who has left research and express the desire to return to the lab after other professional experiences, is likely to be someone worth considering. Research is never easy, so anyone prepared to go back to the research ring after many years out, is either insane or indeed highly motivated!
Ageism in recruitment for Postdoc positions is not a topic we often discuss. This is something that PIs may want to think about in their approach to recruiting their research teams. Our biases against age are rarely challenged. With the realities of short-term contracts, many research scientists may spend an entire career on temporary postdoctoral contracts. While this may not be easy for Postdocs, as salary progression is pretty much non-existent on postdoc contracts, the seniority of a Postdoc applicants should not be an additional barrier for Postdocs to continue their employment.
Countries and institutions have reacted differently regarding the long-term employment of Postdocs. The legal and policy context may prevent PIs from continuing the employment of Postdocs longer term with repeated short-term contracts. In some contexts, Postdocs will be transferred to open ended contracts, even though when research funding ends, research staff may still find themselves out of a job. In some countries, the legal framework intended to protect short term employment, may be detrimental to the longer-term employment of Postdocs. For Postdocs and PIs, navigating the legal framework of Postdoc employment can be tricky, as rules will change between countries and institutions.
As a Postdoc, when you get a position, you may be so focused on the research that you will be starting, that you may not pay attention to the employment conditions that are offered to you. These matter a lot. Whatever these conditions are, you need to know early on, not in the last 3 months of your research contract.
You may not have considered having a conversation with someone from Human Resources, but it could save you a lot of headache later on. Rules and regulations for research contracts may not be straightforward, so getting clarity from the PI, HR and the funders is well worth the effort.
In some cases, you may get different messages from different people, so not relying on just once source of information would be one of my key advice. I remember nearly missing out on a maternity leave payment, as information about the rules were really not straightforward. It took a lot of time and effort for my head of department to find what was necessary for me to access the maternity leave fund, which I was entitled to.
If you are Postdoc, starting a research position:
o Do you know what’s the deal when it comes to the rules of your contract? How long can you stay working in the same research institution?
o Will the institution allow you to say on multiple research contracts?
o Is there a limit in the number of years that the university is prepared to employ you on short term contracts (will vary between countries)?
o Can you be moved into an open-ended position after a number of years (remember that permanent positions rarely exist…an open-ended contract does not mean a permanent job!)?
If you are a PI:
o Do you know the rules well enough, when it comes to the employment of your Postdocs? If not, make sure to check things out from HR and the funders, and make sure to communicate this to your Postdocs from the start. Transparency and clarity when it comes to this, is part of your work in building trust with your team members.
o If you are faced with a mature Postdoc applicant, how will you keep in check your own biases against age to consider such applicant for your short-list?
o How much of your network are you using to reach out to colleagues and collaborator, either when one of your Postdoc needs to move to another research contract, or when you are trying to recruit a new Postdoc?
“They gave the freedom, They trust you. I think that was very important to trust that person and to not to judge all you, he or she, or they would have done something wrong”
