PhD graduate skills survey
Following a discussion between the EPSRC and the Organic Chemistry Community Council about the demand for organic chemistry PhD graduates from organisations such as Contract Research Organisations, the Organic Chemistry Community Council decided to survey industrial colleagues to investigate the skill sets they require.
The Organic Chemistry Community Council developed a survey to explore the importance of different skills required for typical technical roles that recent organic chemistry PhD graduates are recruited into in these organisations, and to explore views on areas for emphasis in future PhD education.
The Council identified 55 people holding R&D leadership roles in 39 organisations including at pharmaceutical and agrochemical companies, Contract Research Organisations (CROs) and Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisations (CDMOs) that employ organic chemistry PhD graduates. A full demographic breakdown of respondents is shown below. The Council sent the survey in February 2023, and 27 people responded to it anonymously. Respondents were invited to share the survey as they thought relevant, with other industry colleagues connected to PhD graduate recruitment/training.
Opinions shared by respondents are their individual viewpoints, based on their experience working with and/or recruiting PhD organic chemistry graduates. They do not represent the views of their organisation. The nature of the sample surveyed, and the number of responses received means these findings should be considered indicative of viewpoints for the types of organisations as described above not a comprehensive representation of the wider industrial sector.
This is a summary of those responses.
Key findings
Some key findings from the 27 responses are:
The typical technical roles that organic chemistry PhD graduates are recruited into in respondents’ organisations include lab-based scientist, synthetic chemist, medicinal chemist, analytical chemist/scientist and process chemist.
When thinking about the practical/ knowledge-based skills needed at recruitment for these typical technical roles:
- 93% said prior knowledge/experience of traditional synthetic techniques is very important for PhD graduates to have (a further 7% said important).
- 81% said prior knowledge/experience of designing & improving multistep synthetic routes is very important for PhD graduates to have (a further 19% said important).
- 70% said prior knowledge/experience of chemical safety & risk prevention in laboratories is very important for PhD graduates to have (a further 30% said important).
- 67% said prior knowledge/experience of reaction mechanisms is very important for PhD graduates to have (a further 33% said important).
When asked how much emphasis they think these practical/ knowledge-based skills need in future PhD education compared to now:
- 78% said traditional synthetic techniques need more or much more emphasis.
- 78% said designing & improving multistep synthetic routes needs more or much more emphasis.
- 67% said chemical safety & risk prevention in laboratories more or much more emphasis is needed in future PhD education compared to now.
- 53% said reaction mechanisms need more or much more emphasis.
Respondent demographics
Table 1. Q1. How long have you worked in the industry? (*n=27)
| % of respondents | |
|---|---|
| 6 to 10 years | 7% |
| 11 to 15 years | 15% |
| 16 to 20 years | 15% |
| More than 20 years | 63% |
Table 2. Q2 What is your current job role at your organisation? (*n=27)
| % of respondents | |
|---|---|
| Head of Department/Section | 22% |
| Director/Associate Director | 19% |
| Project/Team leader | 15% |
| Vice President | 11% |
| Chief Scientific Officer | 7% |
| Chief Operating Officer | 7% |
| Principal scientist | 7% |
| Chief Executive Officer | 4% |
| Consultant | 4% |
| No Response | 4% |
Table 3. Q3 What is the size of your current organisation? (*n=27)
| % of respondents | |
|---|---|
| Large (250 or more employees) | 67% |
| Medium (50 to 249 employees) | 19% |
| Small (0 to 49 employees) | 15% |
Table 4. Q4 Which best describes your organisation? (*n=27). Multiple options could be selected.
| % of respondents | |
|---|---|
| Contract research organisation (CRO) | 48% |
| Pharmaceutic | 33% |
| Contract development and manufacturing firm (CDMO) | 15% |
| Analytical services and testing | 4% |
| Custom synthesis | 4% |
| Other (please specify) | 22% |
| Other - Agrochemical | 7% |
| Other - Translational Research NPO | 4% |
| Other - Consultant | 4% |
| Other - Precious metals, catalysis and sustainability | 4% |
Table 5. Q5 Where is your organisation based? Please select all that apply. (*n=27)
| % of respondents | |
|---|---|
| England | 89% |
| Northern Ireland | 4% |
| Scotland | 22% |
| Wales | 0% |
| Republic of Ireland | 0% |
| Outside the UK & Republic of Ireland | 22% |
Practical/knowledge-based skills needed in typical technical roles
The 27 survey respondents highlighted typical technical roles organic chemistry PhD graduates are recruited into in their organisation, the most frequently mentioned were synthetic chemist and medicinal chemist. Other roles included process chemist, analytical chemist/scientist, formulation scientist, chemical engineer, and development chemist.
For these roles, survey respondents indicated the practical and knowledge-based skills needed alongside the importance of these skills. Survey respondents chose from a selection of skills put together by the Organic Chemistry Community Council.
The following tables present the combined responses, ordered by the combined percentage of ‘Important’ and ‘Very important’.
Table 7. Q7 (*n=27) & Q8 (*n=27). When thinking about the practical skills / knowledge-based skills needed for these roles, at recruitment how important or unimportant is it for organic chemistry PhD graduates to have experience of:
| % selecting important + very important | % selecting unimportant + very unimportant | % selecting very important | % selecting important | % selecting neither important nor unimportant | % selecting unimportant | % selecting very unimportant | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional synthetic techniques | 100% | 0% | 93% | 7% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Designing & improving multistep synthetic routes | 100% | 0% | 81% | 19% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Chemical safety & risk prevention in laboratories | 100% | 0% | 70% | 30% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Reaction mechanisms | 100% | 0% | 67% | 33% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Characterisation techniques | 100% | 0% | 59% | 41% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Handling of molecules with challenging properties | 81% | 4% | 22% | 59% | 15% | 4% | 0% |
| Qualitative data analysis | 78% | 7% | 19% | 59% | 15% | 4% | 4% |
| Parallel synthesis approaches | 70% | 11% | 37% | 33% | 19% | 7% | 4% |
| Quantitative data analysis | 70% | 11% | 19% | 52% | 19% | 7% | 4% |
| Physical organic chemistry | 67% | 7% | 11% | 56% | 26% | 4% | 4% |
| Interdisciplinary knowledge from adjacent branches of science | 56% | 7% | 22% | 33% | 37% | 4% | 4% |
| Incorporating sustainable research practices | 48% | 11% | 0% | 48% | 41% | 7% | 4% |
| Biomolecules: amino acids, peptides, and proteins | 48% | 4% | 15% | 33% | 48% | 0% | 4% |
| Theoretical techniques e.g. modelling software | 41% | 11% | 4% | 37% | 48% | 7% | 4% |
| Process chemistry | 33% | 19% | 15% | 19% | 48% | 15% | 4% |
| Interpreting biological data | 26% | 33% | 0% | 26% | 37% | 19% | 15% |
| Screening methods | 22% | 48% | 4% | 19% | 26% | 44% | 4% |
| Digital skills e.g. coding, automation & robotics | 22% | 37% | 4% | 19% | 37% | 26% | 11% |
| Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods for molecular design | 19% | 30% | 4% | 15% | 52% | 19% | 11% |
| Evaluating the environmental impact of research practices | 19% | 15% | 4% | 15% | 67% | 11% | 4% |
Other skills
The survey also asked respondents to think about the general skills needed for these roles, and at recruitment how important or unimportant is it for organic chemistry PhD graduates to have experience of them.
Table 8. Q9 (n=27) When thinking about the general skills needed for these roles, at recruitment how important or unimportant is it for organic chemistry PhD graduates to have experience of:
| % important + very important | % selecting very important | % selecting important | % selecting neither important nor unimportant | % selecting unimportant | % selecting very unimportant | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Collaboration & team working | 96% | 78% | 19% | 4% | 0% | 0% |
| Written & oral communication | 96% | 63% | 33% | 4% | 0% | 0% |
| Prioritisation & time management | 96% | 63% | 33% | 4% | 0% | 0% |
| Problem solving | 93% | 78% | 15% | 4% | 0% | 0% |
When asked if there are any other skills that are important or very important for organic chemistry PhD graduates to have at recruitment, responses included:
- Data set handling
- Record keeping
- Electronic lab notebook familiarity
- Ability to use chemical searching tools (e.g. SciFinder, Reaxys)
- Ability to use chemical drawing tools (e.g. ChemDraw)
- Accountability
- An understanding there is still a lot to learn, and a willingness to learn, develop and adapt to new ideas
- Can-do attitude
- Creative skills
- Critical thinking
- Enthusiasm
- Intellectual curiosity
- Listening and learning skills
- Love for the lab
- Open mindedness – ability to move from being an expert in your narrow PhD area to openly taking on board how things work in an industry environment with different priorities
- Proactiveness
- Self-awareness
- Self-drive/ motivation
- Strong team ethos
- Tenacity
Emphasis of practical/knowledge-based skills in future PhD education
After asking about the importance of these skills, the survey asked respondents how much emphasis they think these skills need in future PhD education compared to now. Table 9 presents the 27 responses to these questions, displayed in the same order as the skills appear in Table 8.
Table 9. Q11 (*n=27) & Q12 (*n=27). When thinking about the practical skills/knowledge-based skills needed for these roles, how much emphasis do you think they need in future PhD education compared to now?
| % more + much more | % less + much less | % selecting 'much more' | % selecting 'more' | % selecting 'about the same as now' | % selecting 'less' | % selecting 'much less' | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional synthetic techniques | 78% | 0% | 37% | 41% | 22% | 0% | 0% |
| Designing & improving multistep synthetic routes | 89% | 0% | 41% | 48% | 11% | 0% | 0% |
| Chemical safety & risk prevention in laboratories | 67% | 0% | 26% | 41% | 33% | 0% | 0% |
| Reaction mechanisms | 63% | 0% | 19% | 44% | 37% | 0% | 0% |
| Characterisation techniques | 52% | 0% | 19% | 33% | 48% | 0% | 0% |
| Handling of molecules with challenging properties | 67% | 0% | 15% | 52% | 33% | 0% | 0% |
| Qualitative data analysis | 41% | 4% | 7% | 33% | 56% | 0% | 4% |
| Parallel synthesis approaches | 56% | 15% | 15% | 41% | 26% | 11% | 4% |
| Quantitative data analysis | 56% | 7% | 7% | 48% | 37% | 4% | 4% |
| Physical organic chemistry | 41% | 7% | 7% | 33% | 52% | 4% | 4% |
| Interdisciplinary knowledge from adjacent branches of science | 52% | 7% | 4% | 48% | 41% | 4% | 4% |
| Incorporating sustainable research practices | 48% | 7% | 7% | 41% | 44% | 4% | 4% |
| Biomolecules: amino acids, peptides, and proteins | 33% | 7% | 4% | 30% | 59% | 0% | 7% |
| Theoretical techniques e.g. modelling software | 33% | 11% | 7% | 26% | 56% | 4% | 7% |
| Process chemistry | 30% | 11% | 11% | 19% | 59% | 11% | 0% |
| Interpreting biological data | 26% | 22% | 4% | 22% | 48% | 11% | 11% |
| Screening methods | 19% | 15% | 4% | 15% | 59% | 11% | 4% |
| Digital skills e.g., coding, automation & robotics | 37% | 22% | 19% | 19% | 37% | 19% | 4% |
| Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods for molecular design | 33% | 22% | 11% | 22% | 44% | 15% | 7% |
| Evaluating the environmental impact of research practices | 41% | 7% | 7% | 33% | 52% | 4% | 4% |
*Number of responses