Wednesday, 4 April 2012

The Travelling Postdoc Life


Amy’s farewell party made us all think about our life as researchers (some of us get philosophical after a few beers).

Most science research labs have a strong international flavour with students and staff from all imaginable nationalities passing through. It is fairly rare that we stay at the same place from the start of our career to retirement and most of us have spent at least part of their studies or a post doc appointment in another country.  Mobility is part of the job description and getting to know the working ways of various countries is also personally very enriching.

For my part I have lived and worked in 8 different countries around the world (9 including Tasmania). I was wondering how many places have other people lived and worked in science or other types of jobs?

One annoying side effect of the travelling life is the need to change the plugs of each and every electrical appliance after every relocation :-(

3 comments:

  1. Thanks Martin for being the first person in the group other than myself to brave enough to post a blog entry! I've been tied up with teaching but should be back posting shortly. You've worked in many more countries than me, I've just kept bouncing between Australia and the US.

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  2. I have worked in five different countries, but I guess numbers go up easily when you are in Europe. So I guess I have really been bouncing between Europe and Australia.

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  3. I should clarify, my definition of 'working' was spending more than 2 weeks actually working in another country, not just attending a conference. There are many amazing places that I have visited for work. Two highlights for me would be the absolute middle of the South Atlantic Ocean and a visit to the Falkland Islands that occurred during a research voyage on the UK research ship RRS James Clark Ross (AMT18)

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