What is a post-doctoral experience?
Postdoctoral training is very typical as a career step for researchers in the “hard” sciences (e.g., biology or physics) but it has been less common in the social and behavioral sciences. However, postdoctoral training is becoming more common in the social and behavioral sciences as it has become apparent that to be successful in a large research university (i.e., Research Extensive Universities) additional research training beyond the PhD is essential. In postdoctoral training, the new PhD graduate typically goes to a university different from where he or she got the PhD and continues research training with a successful and grant-funded researcher. The postdoctoral training, usually 2 years in length, will typically involve working on some of the mentor’s projects and beginning to develop an independent line of research. Funding for postdoctoral training can come from the mentor’s grant funds, from institutional postdoctoral training grants, or from an individual postdoctoral grant. T
