BU Research Blog

You may wish to pursue a research career outside of higher education. The commercial and public sectors undertake large volumes of research and all value the experience and skills of academic researchers. Depending on your discipline, you could pursue a research career in:

• Charities and NGOs
• Cultural organisations
• Industry
• Central and local government
• Research institutes and research funders (such as research councils)
• Social research organisations
• Market research organisations
• Think tanks (the University of Oxford have produced an excellent guide on working for think tanks)

The Careers Group (University of London) have produced a comprehensive guide to research careers outside of academia.

The RCUK webpages feature case studies highlighting the opportunities research skills can give.  The case studies can be found at http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/careersinresearch.

Case study

Dr Mayank Anand was a Research Tribologist in the R&D Department of Daido Metal Co. Ltd. He completed his PhD at Bournemouth University before making the transition to a researcher in industry. Read Mayank’s case study for information on his career progression.