JOB JOY!

[liv]

I have a job. And not just any job, but the most perfect job I could possibly imagine.

As of 1 October (!) I'm going to be a lecturer in bioscience in the school of medicine at Keele University. This is pretty amazing because it's an actual job where I get paid to do academic biology type things. But it's even better than that because Keele is just the kind of institution where I was hoping to end up, a modern university with innovative approaches to education, but one that actually has a solid reputation and serious research output. And it's even better than that because this job is actually two half-time jobs: one as a researcher and one as a teacher.

The research part is: they give me £10K and some lab space, and I have three years to establish a research group. This means I have to apply for funding, set up collaborations, find people to employ, manage the lab including budgeting and everything, and actually do some experiments which I will hopefully eventually publish. This is the most brilliant opportunity ever; I'm being given free rein to just do science and pursue whatever I find interesting. But it's also terrifying, cos I'm going to be something close to a group leader at the age of 30, with only 3 years of experience since qualifying. I feel a bit like someone who has just won one of those entrepreneurship competitions, I have the prize which is worth a few thousand pounds, and lots of prestige and expectations, and now I have to knuckle down and actually run a business. Except this business isn't producing profit (or not directly, anyway), it's producing scientific knowledge.

The teaching part is: I get assigned a class of 12 medical students for half a semester, and they are assigned a real case study, carefully chosen to involve medical issues relevant to the appropriate stage in their education. And they have to learn, which means I have to teach, every aspect of that case, whether it's the biochemistry and genetics side that I actually have expertise in, or the epidemiology and health policy and (eep!) anatomy side where I have almost no background. I think this is a very cool way of training people to be doctors, because the real world isn't divided neatly into separate subjects, but it's also going to be amazingly challenging to teach well. At some point during this I am expected to get a post-graduate qualification in either medical education or some more intense pedagogy thing I can't quite remember right now.

After three years, they reassess me and decide whether I should be specializing more in teaching, or more in research, or keep with the 50/50 thing. Anyway, this is exactly the kind of job I hoped I might reach at the end of a long and uncertain career, but instead I can get started right away, and if all goes well build an exciting career from there. Also considerably more money than I've ever earned before, which doesn't hurt, though I'm hardly going to be living a life of luxury.

The downside is that I have three weeks. Three weeks which includes all the major Jewish festivals. Three weeks to move to, um, Staffordshire. The nearest large town is Stoke-on-Trent, and since probably the majority of my job is going to be at the hospital rather than on campus, I probably want to live there. Stoke-on-Trent has something of a bad reputation, but on the plus side, it is 90 mins by Pendolino from central London, and about half an hour from Manchester. And it's surrounded by extremely pretty countryside. And there is the option of Newcastle-under-Lyme, which is not really distinguishable from SoT on a map, but I learned that it is socially extremely distinct and has something of the character of a nice middle-class English country town. I will have to investigate further; I've lived in a depressed post-industrial town before (Dundee) and it didn't kill me. In fact, living in an ethnically and socially mixed area has a lot of positive appeal for me.

The next three weeks is going to be really really interesting. And the next three years after that. I am not sure when I will next have time to sleep, let alone socialize, though!

Comments

[mongoose]

Wow, congratulations! :-)

[pne]

You took the words right out of my mouth :)

Congratulations, Liv, and I wish you success in making arrangements (moving, etc.) and much joy in your work!

[abigailb.livejournal.com]

Congratulations!

[lethargic_man]

Well done, and good luck!

[jacquic]

So exciting! Congratulations!

[karen2205]

Well done! That's excellent news. *offers large mug of tea and biscuits*

[liv]

Tea, yes, that's the only way I'm going to get through the next few months. Thank you!

[chickenfeet]

Congratulations!

That part of Staffs isn't so awful. The moors are nice and there is climbing at the Roaches and Hen Cloud (though I think the wallabies died off). Manchester and Chester are both fairly close.

Plus, Keele is probably the only university with its own motorway service station.

[mummimamma]

Congratulations. It sounds like a great opportunity. Even though I have no idea where Staffordshire is...

[liv]

It really is very great! I couldn't find random districts in Norway either, but Staffordshire is in fact in North-West England, somewhat close to the border with Wales.

[kass]

This sounds utterly fantastic. Congratulations!

[forthwritten]

How exciting! Congratulations!

Also, I am going to be at Nottingham which isn't that far away.

[liv]

Ooh yes, you have scary short notice moves going on as well. Let's visit eachother once we're both settled. Good luck, anyway!

[emperor]

Wow. Many congratulations!

[afuna]

Congratulations! Sounds like youhave some pretty exciting times ahead of you *____*

[doseybat]

Cooool! Let me know if you need help moving objects and boxes or similar :)

[liv]

That's a really nice offer, thank you. Most likely I will not need help; I am probably going to do this one professionally, as I am moving across the country and not just across London. And because my parents are keen to give me a lot of furniture to start up with, and there have been hints that Keele may give me money for relocation. So I'm hoping to avoid imposing on all my friends to stash boxes in cars and vans and drive across country, and instead get a proper removal lorry.

You should totally help me come and warm my house once I have one, though!

[redbird]

Congratulations!

[mathcathy]

Well then we'll be living in the same town, near enough.

I live in that beautiful countryside you mention and work in Newcastle - which is, yes, a lovely little town.

I don't go near Stoke, everything I need is in Newcastle.

Congratulations on the job.

[liv]

Oh wow, you really are near! I knew you were in the area, but not right there. Mind if I prod you for local knowledge?

It would be lovely to meet up with you, but perhaps that can wait until I've actually moved there, because any trips I make now are going to be madly stressful. I have known you virtually for so long, it would be fantastic to actually see you in person.

Wow!

[syllopsium]

That's an incredibly impressive job with lots of potential and I hope it works out for you :).

The only thing I'd personally do is not actually live in Stoke, but that depends how much of a city girl you want to be. Stoke isn't the most wonderful of towns, but it has some very nice countryside nearby.

[liv]

*bounce* This is going to be so much fun, yay! And I'll be at least relatively near you. I know you do very well living a bit out of town, but the big difference is that you drive. I think I would rather be in a town and have access to public transport and local shops, and require a bit more effort to get out of the town and into the surrounding countryside.

[tig_b]

Congrats!

I did my BSc at Keele, in Biology and Psychology, and loved it. My final year Biology project was sponsored by the Comms/Neuroscience team, so I used the medical library in Stoke a lot.

I lived in Newcastle-under-Lyme, which had good connections to the Uni campus and Stoke.

Stoke is built up from several older towns, eg Hanley, and they vary a lot.

[liv]

Ooh, you're a Keele graduate, coolness. I have a really great impression of the place, I mean I already did before they offered me my dream job. But yeah, living in Newcastle-under-Lyme is starting to look like my most plausible option.

[taimatsu]

Wow, well done! That's brilliant news.

I have visited Stoke a few times; one of the problems is that because (as someone else said) it is a conglomeration of several smaller settlements, parts of it are a long way from other parts of it, and the public transport is apparently not very good between them. So if you were to choose to live there (and there will be some pleasant bits of it!) you'd want to check out how you were going to get around.

[liv]

Thanks for the tip. I'm putting a lot of emphasis on access to public transport in my preliminary househunting attempts. I think I have a reasonable chance of finding somewhere accessible, as long as I'm careful.

[rochvelleth]

This is fantastic news - well done! That really is a very impressive job to get at an early stage of your career. I'm sure some of it sounds daunting, but that will make it all the more rewarding :)

By the way, Newcastle-under-Lyme is rather a nice place - probably better than being in the middle of Stoke. If you had your own transport or there was a decent bus route, there are also some lovely villages around. Oh, and Alton Towers if you're that way inclined! (Not to live there, just for days off...)

[liv]

Yeah, I think I made absolutely the right decision in looking for more prestigious jobs at somewhat less prestigious institutions. At this point I don't think Oxbridge and the like are going to touch me, and even if I did manage to blag a job, I would be a very lowly post-doc. And you're right, if I can make a go of this, it will be incredibly rewarding.

I think I probably want to be in town rather than a pretty village, mainly because I don't drive and I would rather avoid having to learn. I'm not very sensitive to prettiness of environment, so it's a higher priority for me to have access to shops and facilities. I am increasingly leaning towards Newcastle-under-Lyme as a place to live, but I have many many decisions to make yet.

[wychwood]

Huzzah! And congratulations!

[naath]

Squeee job! Fantastic job at that! Conga-dancing-rats

Congrats! :D

[verazea]

Wee! I hope it works out wonderfully :)

[purplecthulhu]

Wow! That's fantastic news!

I can understand all your excitement and trepidation as I've been there myself. Keele's an interesting place and the teaching part of the job sounds a rather cool approach to the problem.

Good luck with the move and hopefully we'll be seeing more of you in London!

And many congratulations!

[liv]

Thank you, I appreciate hearing from someone who knows how I feel. I started out feeling positive about Keele, and they've really impressed me during the interview process. I am sure there are flaws like those of any institution, but I am really looking forward to working there.

[green_knight]

Congratulations - that's fantastic news.

Sailing on an even Keele

[hairyears]

Woot!

Congratulations - all the effort, delay and disappointment, and now you get the Ideal Job!

[liv]

I am really, really glad now that I didn't get any of the previous jobs I applied for, because I didn't feel nearly as positive about any of them as I do about this. There was one research position in Glasgow that I was really keen on, but even if I'd got that, I would have regretted committing myself to another several years without serious teaching. Plus the timing has been really good; I had a brief moment of being scared because my future was so uncertain, but realistically, I got out of my Swedish job before it broke my spirit, and I had a couple of months of pleasant summer holiday, and now I'm ready to start a new exciting job.

[(Anonymous)]

Yay you! Very pleased. - Lise