u/ArtVoyager77

I received a postdoc offer, and I am not sure what to say to my current PI. My current PI is nice (as in no micromanagement or demands) and well-known in a specific research community, but I feel I am not growing academically in the lab (and I (and other postdocs) also feel some partiality in terms of providing opportunities from my PI to postdocs based on demographics), and the research topic feels very saturated and competitive (AI). Also, I did my PhD with the same PI, so I have been with the same PI for the last 5 years. My current PI is also planning to retire in a few years, if that matters.

I recently got an opportunity for a senior postdoc position (just a bit of an increase in salary and title) in a field between conservation and AI research, and this PI is from conservation (and a rising star in the field), so I will lead AI research in the lab. I've also been interested in conservation for quite a while.

I know you are supposed to avoid doing a postdoc with the same PhD advisor in most cases, but I decided to do it because it was the only option I had when I was graduating, and I was aware that Postdoc jobs were very competitive and scarce, and now I feel I'm not growing much academically and feel trapped. I still have a year left on my contract, but if I stay another year, I will just feel miserable.

So, for people who moved from one Postdoc to another in the UK while you still had a contract left, what did you say, and how did you tell your PI you were leaving without burning the bridge?

I applied for a Schengen visa at the Spanish embassy in Tokyo starting in August, and I have not heard anything from them about the application. On the Sutramite website, it is written as EN TRAMITACIÓN Pendiente de expedición. Has anyone gone to the embassy to check if the passport and visa are ready?

I live in Kyoto, and traveling to Tokyo is not cheap, so I need to decide only if the Spanish embassy grants entry.

Has anyone experienced a similar situation recently?

PS: I have emailed them and called them since yesterday, but there has been no response whatsoever.

I’m currently considering a move from academic research into Machine Learning Engineering / Applied ML roles in industry, and I’d be interested in hearing from people who are currently hiring or working as MLEs. I am a postdoc working on computer vision and have a PhD in Computer Science, focused on Applied AI / Affective Computing.

I am a first-year postdoc and am currently organizing a workshop at a STEM conference. There are seven organizers in total: my PI, several postdocs, and some senior postdocs.

In practice, however, I have done almost all the heavy lifting. I wrote the workshop proposal, distributed most of the call for papers, looked for reviewers, managed the submissions and reviews, and handled most of the back-and-forth with the conference chairs.

My PI did not help with any of this, which honestly did not surprise me. Apart from approving the university budget for the keynote speaker and me, I never expected much involvement from him. What disappointed me more was that most of the other postdocs also did virtually nothing, despite agreeing to be organizers and saying that they would help. I asked for help with specific tasks, but, except for one person, nobody really stepped up. One postdoc became more involved during the later stages, mainly by communicating with the conference chairs. Her PI is one of the main conference chairs, so I suspect she only became involved after concerns were raised about the workshop not progressing as smoothly as expected.

We are now at the publication stage. We received a decent number of submissions, completed the reviews, and the workshop is scheduled for the end of the year. After all that work, one of her recent messages had a tone of resigned relief—something like, “Well, at least it's done.” I know it may sound minor, but the comment really bothered me. It felt as though she was disappointed with the outcome or relieved that the workshop had merely avoided failure.

I have known these people for more than three years. I already knew my PI would not be particularly helpful, but I genuinely hoped the other postdocs would share the workload. They agreed to be organizers, presumably knowing that organizing a workshop involves more than having their names listed on the website and program.

The more time I spend in academia, the more disapointed I become about this kind of collaboration. I feel people agree to be part of workshops, conference committees, or papers because they want the credit and visibility, while contributing as little as possible or providing last-minute feedback.

How common is free-riding in academia?

Anyone here who has worked (2+ years) or is working at Cambridge Consultants? What kind of projects are done, and how good is the tech stack over there?

I am a senior postdoc, and I am currently co-organizing a workshop co-located with an international academic conference (and relatively well-known) in STEM (IEEE conference). We have promoted the call through several relevant mailing lists and research communities and extended the submission deadline, but we are concerned that we may receive no submissions. All submitted papers will be peer-reviewed and included in the proceedings.

I would be grateful to hear from anyone who has organized a conference workshop before.

What normally happens if a workshop receives no submissions?

• Is the workshop usually canceled by the main conference?
• How early should the workshop chairs inform the conference organizers?
• Are there effective last-minute ways to attract legitimate submissions?
• We already have a confirmed keynote speaker and believe the topic is timely, but attracting submissions has been more difficult than expected.

Any practical advice, experiences, or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

I am currently co-organizing a workshop co-located with an international academic conference (and relatively well-known) in STEM (IEEE conference). We have promoted the call through several relevant mailing lists and research communities and extended the submission deadline, but we are concerned that we may receive no submissions. All submitted papers will be peer-reviewed and included in the proceedings.

I would be grateful to hear from anyone who has organized a conference workshop before.

What normally happens if a workshop receives no submissions?

• Is the workshop usually canceled by the main conference?
• How early should the workshop chairs inform the conference organizers?
• Are there effective last-minute ways to attract legitimate submissions?
• We already have a confirmed keynote speaker and believe the topic is timely, but attracting submissions has been more difficult than expected.

Any practical advice, experiences, or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

I am submitting my PhD thesis this month (final submission), so basically by the end of this month I will be awarded a PhD degree from a Russell Group university in the North West.

Since I do not, unfortunately, have a job lined up, I still want to use the office space with a monitor to apply for jobs and do some extra research. My supervisor does not care much whether I am using the space or leave, but has anyone stayed in the university lab/office after PhD graduation?

I am an EU Permanent Resident, and I will be coming to Kyoto University as a visiting researcher, although my visit is less than 1 year. In my CoE, it's written "1 Year visa and Professor status"; not sure exactly what that means. I have a few questions; it would be great if I could get help.

1. I was told by the Japanese Embassy that I will be issued a Zairyu Card at the Airport without an address. And the embassy told me that I need to register my address at the local city hall/ward office. Could anyone please let me know the registration process, including all required documents? Do I need a lease contract or a letter from the International House at Kyoto University for registration?
2. Also, I might need to travel to Australia while I am in Japan for a conference. Can I apply for an Australian Visa from Japan?

I am an EU Permanent Resident, and I will be coming to Kyoto University as a visiting researcher, although my visit is less than 1 year. In my CoE, it's written "1 Year visa and Professor status"; not sure exactly what that means. I have a few questions; it would be great if I could get help.

1. I was told by the Japanese Embassy that I will be issued a Zairyu Card at the Airport without an address. And the embassy told me that I need to register my address at the local city hall/ward office. Could anyone please let me know the registration process, including all required documents? Do I need a lease contract or a letter from the International House at Kyoto University for registration?
2. Also, I might need to travel to Australia while I am in Japan for a conference. Can I apply for an Australian Visa from Japan?

I am final year PhD student in a lab which I used to think was very social and welcoming lab till recently.

The lab is decent size (10-15 people) with all international students and researchers. We used to do after work drinks, birthday parties and so on. So basically my impression was we were close friends, till recently. I used to reach out when someone was not doing well mentally.

Last few months was really hard on me as I was navigating through the whats coming after PhD and was burned out. I was quiet and didn’t interacted much with people in the lab even when we were hanging out and started mostly working from home. What surprised me was no one ever checked on me. “Hey you seem down, everything okay?” or “How are you doing?”

Fast forward now, I am doing better with the support from my partner, I do workout and do mindful activities.

I started to hangout more with labmates and I started to realize, I do not have the “friendship vibe“ with them now.

I started to see that the labmates were more of colleagues than friends.

Has anyone felt similar feelings?

I submitted my withdrawal application a few days ago, but I have not heard anything from BLS or the Spanish consulate. Does the BLS send an acknowledgment email upon receipt of the withdrawal application?

And how many days does it take to get the passport from the day of the withdrawal application submission?

How hard is it to get DKO fellowship in Manchester. I am in CS and from my research, I have only seen two DKO fellowship in department of computer science in Mancheste.

Uncertainty after uncertainty about academic job market. I am in 2nd year of Postdoc and the market in UK seems very bad from my observation.

People who left academia, how was your feeling while deciding if academia is not for you?