Last year, French immunologist Amélie Bigorgne got the job she always wanted:
a permanent staff scientist position at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM).
Not exact matches
Such training best prepares young
scientists to fill specialist
positions, such as technician,
permanent postdoc, and
staff scientist — not necessarily to perform all the tasks needed to conduct studies of their own and eventually become a PI.
Several programs have been initiated to help promote young investigators, such as the Avenir program at INSERM, which provides young
scientists who already have a
permanent position with fully equipped space within their host department and funding toward research expenses and salaries for nonpermanent
staff for up to 5 years.
Through decisions made haphazardly 60 years ago, «we chose as a country to
staff our labs primarily with graduate students and postdocs and a few non-tenured
staff people, while other countries have
permanent ways of staffing their labs,» often with PhD
staff scientists in career
positions, says Georgia State University economist Paula Stephan, an authority on the academic labor force.