Are you considering whether to move to a different country, institution or research group as part of your career plan? Many PhD students and researchers benefit from experiencing the diversity of new research perspectives and knowledge, working alongside new colleagues and collaborators, as well as learning about new cultures and even languages. Research is a global business and so new experiences can open up the mind and allow novel ideas and directions to develop.
Of course, on the downside, there are disadvantages associated with academic mobility, especially in terms of professional work:personal life balance considerations. To this end, I have written a blog which covers many of these issues, as well as suggesting alternative strategies for those who are looking for inspirational career opportunities, but are largely confined to a particular geographic region. In addition, I also deliver a one-day workshop on this subject, in which participants have the opportunity to review and discuss their situation and the associated issues and challenges facing them, in order to help them to make informed decisions about their next career move.
A wealth of literature has been written on the subject of academic mobility, which I have been accumulating over the months and years. Keeping it up to date is a challenge, but I hope you’ll find the following list helpful:
RESEARCH ON ACADEMIC MOBILITY
Foreign-born scientists: mobility patterns for 16 countries
Study on mobility patterns and career paths of EU researchers
RAND survey: International movement and science
OECD survey: Mobility of PhD researchers
Go figure: salary drives researchers to move to new countries
Multiscale impact of researcher mobility
Time to go? (Inter) national mobility and appointment success of young academics
Global mobility: science on the move
Influence of international mobility on the attitudes of researchers
Entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship and scientific mobility: The Spanish case
GENERAL AND ACADEMIC ARTICLES
Mobile scientists and international networks
How to find the right place to do your PhD or postdoc
Considering going abroad for work? Recent research can help you to weigh up the pros and cons
Away from home: Why the postdoc phase is crucial
How to break cultural and language barriers down in the lab
Crossing continents for your research career: A personal journey
International academic mobility: Towards a concentration of the minds in Europe
9 reasons not to go abroad – and how to handle them
Fewer invited talks by women in evolutionary biology symposia
New lab, new adventure – Moving your lab to another country
Doctoral Graduates’ transition to industry
PERSONAL STORIES
How to fit in when you join a lab abroad
Sacrifices for science (podcast)
Putting down roots (personal story – Natasha Reikhel)
DUAL CAREERS
Negotiating the dual academic career deal (video)
Higher Education Research Consortium (USA)
Dual-career couples (list of resources – USA)
International Dual Career Network
Dual-career academics: the right start
Dual career academic couples: What universities need to know
WORK-LIFE BALANCE AND FLEXIBLE WORKING
Gendered strategies of mobility and academic career
Flexible working: Science and the gig economy
Flexible working: the solo scientist
Juggling the balls, having it all? Tips from a mother and part-time professor
The price you will pay for work-life balance
How to become a digital nomad in 2020
The life career rainbow (Super)
OTHER INFORMATION
Euraxess: Researchers in Motion
The European Charter for researchers. The code of conduct for the recruitment of researchers
Flexible working: Solo scientist
Why building a start-up is probably your most sensible career path
The hidden costs of a career in scientific research
Funding sources (scroll down list to find relevant information)
Human Frontier Science Program
Academic career paths worldwide
Academic career maps in Europe
BOOKS AND BLOGS
Academic Mobility, in Nina Maadad , Malcolm Tight (ed.) Academic Mobility (International Perspectives on Higher Education Research, Volume 11) Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.i
Global Mobility of Research Scientists: The economics of who goes where and why, 2015, Aldo Geuna (Ed.), Elsevier.
Lean In, 2015, Sheryl Sandberg, Ebury Publishing.
Women Don’t Ask, 2007, Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever, Princeton University Press.
Professor Mommy – finding work-family balance in academia, 2014, Kristen Ghodsee, Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.
Female Science Professor – Blog
Occam’s Typewriter – Blog by Athene Donald