Many researchers want to use their subject knowledge, expertise and/or generic academic skills to do something else than research. The options in this category are endless and can vary from work in relation to research to work with something completely else and in a variety of fields and sectors. For many of these jobs a research background/a PhD is not a requirement but it is often an advantage. Below you can get an idea of a few of the options in this category and for more information and options we recommend to contact your career service.
Organisations are increasingly using and collecting larger amounts of data during their everyday operations. Because of this data, scientists are in high demand across a number of sectors for their knowledge and experience of turning data into information using algorithms and machine learning. For many businesses it doesn't matter which background you have as long as you match the requirements. This means that physicist, theoretical chemists, mathematicians and economists in many cases can apply for the same type of job.
As a researcher, project management is one of your key functions as you are responsible for completing project work within a certain deadline. Project manager is a very broad job title that is used across different sectors and fields and you can therefore become a project manager regardless of your research background. Project management is for you if you enjoy being responsible for project plans and resources, delegate tasks, identify risks, and work within deadlines.
Another broad titel that many researches will move into is consultant. Being a consultant involves offering advice and expertise to organisations to help them improve their performance in terms of strategy, operations, profitability, management and so on. As a consultant you will typically be specialised within a certain field such as HR, Law, Banking, advertisment, technology, engineering, environment or others.
Working with communication means being responsible for communicating an organisation's services, products, and values to the public as well as handle correspondence in-house. You don't have to have degree in communication to work with communication but you need to be motivated by communicating to others and by applying writing, editing, and research skills on a daily basis.
Teaching is obviously another kind of communication but it is also a job type that attracts researchers and where focus is on sharing your subject knowledge and being a strong communicator.
The jobs that fall into this category demand technical skills, knowledge and often practical experience. It can be jobs that focus on technical development within a variety of areas of or jobs that support that development.
