Many PhD students or those with post-doctoral research experience take the opportunity to develop their research careers away from universities.
If this appeals to you, there's information about some of the options and useful links below.
On this page
How we can support you
Searching for research jobs
Scientific opportunities for chemical scientists
Other opportunities using data handling & analytical skills
How we can support you
Getting involved with our interest groups and divisions offer excellent networking opportunities to explore your career options.
Mentoring – if you have just moved into a new role in industry or you are considering taking this step you may benefit from having a mentor. Their experience can help you develop in the new role.
Contact our career management team for more detailed and tailored advice
Searching for research jobs
For some jobs a PhD isn’t a requirement, and if you do hold one, it won’t always lead to a higher level role unless you have specialist knowledge the employer is looking for.
You need to be able to show how the experience you have gained from doing a PhD or post-doctoral research is relevant to the job you are applying for. This could be technical knowledge and/or other skills.
Converting your skills from an academic environment into the world outside can take some practice, but it’s worth taking time to think about this.
For more information on how to search for jobs visit our job seeking page.
Scientific opportunities for chemical scientists
There are a number of options for developing a career in research.
Commercial research & development
Commercial research and development (R&D) is different from academia. It's faster, with less emphasis on the purity of the research and more on trying to achieve a commercial end goal. It can sometimes mean you have less control over the direction of your research.
Projects tend to be more dynamic, and you'll change project more often, giving you the opportunity to work on a wider range of projects in a shorter time. This offers an opportunity to build up your experience and technical knowledge much more quickly.
R&D into new substances or products provides opportunities for chemical scientists in a wide range of industries such as pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, gas and oil, sustainable energy, environmental clean-up and protection, and in manufacturing industries ranging from aerospace to textiles or food. These opportunities arise across all sorts of companies, from large multinationals to smaller or medium size enterprises, to new start-ups and spin outs from universities. Use the links below to find out more.
PharmaceuticalsResearch Institutes
Some of these are run by government while others hold charitable status and carry out research in many different areas, particularly in the medical and healthcare fields – for example, the Institute of Cancer Research and Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.
Technical consulting companies & contract research organisations (CROs)
These organisations are involved in the development of new products or services for larger companies and often employ chemical scientists to carry out this work.
Science policy
Many types of organisations commission or carry out research, or are heavily involved in supporting science. These may be in government departments such as the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, or policy shapers – for example, think tanks.
Other types of organisations – such as NGOs, charities and campaigning groups – are reliant on the outputs of scientific research, and so employ scientists to help them make use of that research.
Science communication and writing
Scientific communication and writing jobs can range from helping non-scientists to understand science, to scientific journalism, writing and publishing. There are also opportunities for writing in technical marketing – for example, medical communication roles.
Technology transfer
Knowledge Transfer Partnerships offer opportunities for graduates and postgraduates to help companies to innovate using the latest research.
Other opportunities using data skills
As a chemical scientist you’ll be used to handling and analysing large volumes of data; these skills can open up opportunities for you in other non-scientific areas.
The financial sector is one of the largest contributors to UK GDP, and offers numerous opportunities for chemical scientists to apply their knowledge of analysing and modelling data. The efinancial careers site lists many of these roles.
Management consultants often recruit chemical scientists due to their numerical and problem-solving skills.
Other sectors, such as the environment, healthcare, retail and marketing also offer opportunities for working with and analysing large data sets.
If you want to explore these career options in more detail, contact our career management team for a consultation.
Career management team
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