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[tobephd]

Hi,
I plan to graduate in June '08 with a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences (Major Biochemistry) from a univeristy in United States. My husband is working in England  (Kent) and therefore I am planning to look for postdoc positions there. However I am not sure whether the postdoc experience in U.K. is comparable or  better than universities in U.S. I would appreciate if anyone could comment on the current postdoc opportunities and quality of research experience one had in U.K. labs.

Thanks
to be Ph.D.

[daniel_von_flanagan]

I did a postdoc in the UK (many years ago), and never regretted it.  One thing you should be aware of, however, is that it will be harder later to get a US job from England than it would be from the US.  - DvF

[august_leo]

my fiance is looking for a UK postdoc (interviewed, now waiting). I'm hoping that if we still go to US conferences and publish and get grant money that we will be competitive in the US in a few years if we want to go back.

I did learn that you can still get a post-doc NRSA or write an RO3 or R21 while in the UK. But you can't get a K award (e.g., K99) or R01. These are all NIH grants, I should clarify. I haven't found anything at NSF that we still qualify for, but haven't looked as much.

[secretweapon]

I can't comment on the quality of biology research, but just a heads up that hiring happens on a different time scale in the UK - for one thing, the entire process moves much, much faster.  At least in humanities and social sciences, it's common to have a job advertised, a deadline 2-3 weeks later, an interview 2 weeks after that, and an response a day or two after the interview.