International Survey of Postdocs in Medicine & Other Life Sciences

This study presents data from a survey of medical and other life sciences postdocs from major medical schools and science faculties at major universities in the USA, UK, Australia, Canada and Ireland. Postdocs in medicine and other life sciences give their opinions on what are the best universities to work for in the English-speaking world. The study surveys opinions on salaries and working conditions, tenure track and “superdoc” position prospects, and the overall quality of the postdoc experience in leading medical schools and life sciences faculties and major research universities. Postdocs present their opinions of postdoc career affairs offices, career counseling, information technology, opportunities to attend scientific conferences, mentoring services, grant search support, housing policies, assistance with visa/immigration issues and much more about their postdoc experience. Just a few of the report’s many findings are that: • More than two thirds of survey participants said that their universities offered a postdoc affairs office. • The mean salary for all postdocs surveyed was $53,107; the median,$46,000. • Respondents felt they had the best prospects of obtaining permanent positions after serving as postdocs in the USA or Canada. • External funding accounted for 77.1% of the total compensation for female postdocs in the sample. • 22.09% of all postdocs surveyed said that their institution offered “superdoc” positions, permanent staff positions similar to postdocs but with greater pay and stability. Males and females reported with nearly the same frequency that “superdoc” positions were available. • 59.99% of postdocs outside of the USA and UK were satisfied with their current salaries, slightly higher than the 53.84% in the USA but much greater than 36.85% in the UK. • 22.64% of respondents listed Naturejobs as a useful website for finding postdoc and other scientific job prospects, making it the most frequently used website among respondents. Some of the institutional affiliations of the postdocs interviewed were: Australian National University, Brown Medical School, Brown University, Columbia University, Columbia University Medical Center, Drexel University, Duke-NUS Medical School, Emory University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Griffith University, Monash University, Pennsylvania State University, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers University, St. Louis University, The University of Birmingham, The University of Western Australia, University College Dublin, University of Birmingham, University of California Riverside, University of Connecticut, University of Idaho, University of Leeds, University of Nottingham, University of South Florida, University of Utah, University of Western Australia, Yale School of Medicine, Yale University