Statement of Proposed Research

[anonime]

I am applying for a post-doc and I wonder if anyone can give me advice on how to approach writing a statement of proposed research. I mainly want to use the fellowship to prepare my dissertation for publication. How different should this be from the Statement of Research when applying for teaching positions, besides being longer?

Thank you all.

[more]

Hopefully others will respond, but I think you might need to come up with something a little beyond revising your dissertation. Maybe you realize that and are thinking that you'll be doing some additional research to beef up your dissertation findings. That said, a statement like this should sound like a very confident, very brief research proposal. "I'm going to do X because of Y and this is how I will do it..." A research statement for a regular faculty job can be a little more general, with some specifics of course, and some kind of clear plan for your research trajectory for the next 5 years or so, but for a post-doc, they're going to want to see a much more project-specific plan.
I'm assuming others will chime in on this. I'd be interested to hear more opinions.

[itdepednsonthepostdoc]

In some sense it depends on the nature of the postdoc. Is it to go work on a specific project? Is it and NICHD/NIA pop-center postdoc? RWJ? I would take different approaches to each of these. If it the first, then you will need to describe a research agenda that fits well with what the larger project is about. Ideally how you can bring some interesting ideas/analytic skills to the project. The later two you can be more general.

Either way you want to give the impression that you are going beyond your dissertation. You don't want them to think that you will simply be polishing the diss up for publication. At the very least you should discuss plans to extend your dissertation into its logical next steps.

You should also think of a postdoc as an opportunity to kickoff new projects/papers. That will ensure you get a permanent job afterwards as search committees want to see evidence of future productivity beyond the dissertation. Remember lots of people have a dissertation's worth of good ideas in them. To have a successful career as an academic/researcher you need to show you are good bet into the future. Having new interesting/important projects underway is the best way to do that. Plus you will never again have the unencumbered time and freedom to launch new projects as you have during a postdoc. Take maximum advantage of it if you get one.

[anonime]

Thank you both for your replies.

The post-doc is not for a specific project and the ad did state that it may be for preparing the diss for publication, which is what I plan to do. But this is why I am a bit confused on how to present/translate my diss as a 'proposed research' and the proposal should be about 15 pages. I do plan to extend my research and I plan to state it in my research proposal. But I am still trying to figure out how to approach the proposal, especially since much of the research has been done.

Again, thank you both for your responses. You've both been helpful.

[anon]

I have an NIH funded postdoc now, and when I applied, I needed to write a cover letter and research statement. These were similar to what you would write for a faculty job. My cover letter discussed my research interests and dissertation research, other major projects, and thoughts regarding how my work would benefit from being in the position I was applying to. I had already contacted someone at my present institution who had agreed to act as a mentor, and I mentioned this in the letter as well (that's important for most non-project postdocs). In my research statement I talked a little more about my dissertation, then discussed how I would expand upon this in a postdoc (next steps/questions), and I also wrote about a new project I wanted to start. I definitely mentioned that part of my time would be spent publishing my dissertation, but that was only part of the statement (it may depend on the length of a postdoc--in a two or more year program, you can get a lot more done than just publish your dissertation). My research plan was only 4 pages, so it didn't have to be too in-depth--15 pages sounds huge!

I think two things are particularly important for a postdoc--show how your work meshes well with the research interests of the person you want to work with and hopefully a couple of other faculty members in the department, and show that you are ready to do independent work. They want to have someone who will reflect well on their department/center/program, and who will be a natural fit. They should see you as a good collaborator (more papers/research for them), and someone who would benefit from time at their institution without them having to hand-hold. And don't assume your record speaks for itself--make an argument for your "fit".

Also, if you know anyone who has held the postdoc you are looking at, it may be worth it to ask them for a copy of their application.

[abdone]

I'm not the original poster, but thanks for the great feedback, anon!

[anonime]

Thank you for your responses!!! They surely helped clarify some stuff for me.