Tag Archives: Employment

The Problem: A lack of faculty positions at top-tier Canadian Universities and Research Institutes

Related post:  Making the Case for Increased Federal Support of Biomedical Research Science, technology, and innovation are critical drivers of economic growth and national well-being. In the context of health research, their impact extends to matters of human health, quality … Continue reading

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Google Scholar “My Citations” – Useful tool or the height of narcissism?

Since I first read about it on the Piece of Mind blog by UBC Professor Nassif Ghoussoub, I have been trying to figure out whether or not Google’s new “My citations” is a useful tool for researchers.  Essentially, this tool … Continue reading

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Happiness Outside of the Academy? One year later… see how this former postdoc is doing

This is a follow up on my previous blog post where I described my choice to enter an industrial position: “Academia vs. Industry: A former Postdoc’s perspective”.  I have been in my current position (a management position in a small start-up … Continue reading

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A deeper look into the “80% of PhDs who do not become professors”

In a recent comment left on the site by SubC, a request was made to “look deeper” into the 20% number of PhDs becoming professors.  Specifically, the question was raised as to “how many that wanted an academic career in … Continue reading

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Good news from the Border – Keeping international PhDs in Canada

QUICK REMINDER: For those that missed it, I’ll be chairing a session on the Education and Training of Scientists at this year’s Canadian Science Policy Conference in Ottawa next week.  I posted on the topic a few weeks back and would … Continue reading

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Quarterly Summary: Guest Bloggers are Great!

This summer featured our second summer series.  Last year’s “So you want to be a…” was followed up this year by “Notches in the STIC” which navigated through the key points of the Science and Technology Innovation Council’s recent report … Continue reading

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The 24/7 lab: Motivated scientists or slave-driving supervisors?

At the end of August, an article popped out from Nature News that sent many PhDs and postdocs into a tailspin.  After asking 11 labs with a reputation for “working hard” and being allowed to visit just one of them, Heidi … Continue reading

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Quick Hit: Recruitment of Policy Leaders Program to run Oct 3-17, 2011

The Government of Canada has released details of its 2011 Recruitment of Policy Leaders program.   We’ve written before about becoming a public servant which contains information about this program and others in the Canadian Public Service.  If you are aware of … Continue reading

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Notch 4 in the STIC – The 30 year old question: Why does Canada lag in R&D spending?

Many reports have been written over the past 30 years about Canada and its R&D spending, and they clamour one after the other about Canada’s relative lack of investment into R&D.  We’ve been through periods of deep cutbacks and periods … Continue reading

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Notch 2 in the STIC: Federal R&D spending, Direct vs. Indirect Funding

One of the most obvious statistics that jumps out of the Science Technology and Innovation Council’s report is the method by which the Government of Canada elects to fund research and development. Funding was broken apart into two categories: direct funding (grants, … Continue reading

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