Perhaps you have maternity or paternity leave on the horizon, or have been thinking about taking a sabbatical. Whatever your situation, it is possible to maintain your professional development and in this masterclass we will explore how. Presented at SLS Lab Show and Conference, 25 May 2016.

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Keeping your skills current
Journeymen Scientists
Suzy Rigby

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Journeymen Scientists run bank of experienced locum
scientists providing short term placements for local life
science companies
We also run LABREADY courses aimed at bridging the
gap between academia and industry and
upskilling/refreshing basic lab skills after a career
break.
Who we are

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• Introduction
• Scientific Skills
• Keeping up to date
• Stay connected
• Help when returning to work
• Summary
Introduction

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You take a break from your career
not from being a scientist
Key message

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• Basic Scientific training
• Numeracy
• Logical thinking
• Problem solving
• Scientific writing
• Basic fundamentals
• Additional training
• Specific techniques
• Instruments
Skills

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• Maintain your professional memberships
• Keeps you in a network
• Society Publications will provide overviews
of new technologies and also updates on
commercial activities within the industry
• Could provide support and advice as you
decide to move back into employment
• Biochemical Society’s Stay Connected
bursaries
• The internet is a easy resource to tap into
• Journal subscriptions
Keeping up to date

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• Stay connected or connect with people with whom
you were professionally associated
• Use LinkedIn to maintain your presence
• This keeps you networked and, to a certain extent,
visible when you are looking for employment change
your status to seeking
• Join groups that post discussions about your
area of interest
• Follow companies that may be of interest
Keep your network

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• WellcomeTrust
• “Getting back into research after a career break”
• Research career re-entry fellowships
• Other grants and fellowships
• Sanger Institute, Daphne Jackson fellowships, British Heart
Foundation, Institutional Awards, Dorothy Hodgkins
fellowships
• Women returners network
• Upskilling or reskilling courses
• Journeymen Scientists LabReady course for basic scientific
skills
• Local network organisations or local enterprise
partnerships may have networking events or courses e.g.
D2N2 Growth Hub – look for your local one
When you decide to return

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• Maintain your confidence
• Your skills are still relevant
• Rigour of scientific approach and
fundamental understanding is more
valuable to employers than knowing
how to use a specific equipment
• Demonstrating that you have been
keeping up with the literature and can
discuss advances is a great place to start
Remember Your skills

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“Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time”
Desiderata Max Erhmann
Final word