I am back from an incredibly successful meeting at the institution where I will be doing my postdoc. While I am flattered and happy that a position has been created for me, I have also been mildly sceptical with regards to the character of this project and how well I would fit in. The focus of the main project is quite different from the research focus I would like to maintain and I never discussed the level of independence I would be given until now. The entire postdoc concept seems so loosely defined and as it might contain anything from "professor gets grant and hires slave(s) with PhD degree(s) to do the actual work" to "intellectually independent researcher does high-quality work and builds the foundation for his/her future research carreer while employed on temporary contract". Not exactly the same thing, I should say. And while I was pretty sure not to be walking into the first kind of position without knowing what I was doing, I wasn't entirely convinced I would be offered the latter either. Hence my surprise when I found out that I was not only eligible for a higher salary than I had expected and paid moving costs, but also for a significant degree of freedom and green light to put together what has been my dream research programme for the past few years. Looks like all the hard work is going to pay off after all.

I can't believe it! My degree-granting institution is characterized by what can best be described as utter lack of academic carreer goals. Very few students are let into the PhD programme at all, and of those who are, most go into industry or unemployment. I didn't even know until two years into the programme that I wanted an academic carreer, because no one had one and no one expected to get one. I suppose the philosophy behind this training concept was to prepare us for the lack of an academic jobmarket in our tiny homecountry, and any ideas of moving on to greener pastures across the border were apparently too exotic to be thought out loud. I feel a bit like someone who has run away from home and discovered a candyfloss garden, that everyone thought was a fairytale.

Now I have of course found new things to worry about...... as it turns out I have to MOVE to that candyfloss garden. AND that I will have to do original and independent scientific work to be able to stay there. I am already exhausted from the mere thought of amount of papers I should crank out a year. Not to speak of packing my earthly belongings and move to some unknown place in a foreign city. It's still a bumpy road, but I think I'm gonna love it!