Oxford

ACADEMIA + HIGHER EDUCATION
PROF. ALISON BANHAM
Professor of Haemato-oncology
and Head of the Nuffield Division of
Laboratory Sciences – University of
Oxford
Alison studied Botany at St
Catherine’s College,
BA 1986, D.Phil 1990.
A fascination with natural history
led me to study Botany at Oxford. I
subsequently decided to pursue a
DPhil because I was curious about how
biological systems worked and had
enjoyed the challenges of designing
and doing experiments during both my
course and summer internships.
I currently lead a cancer research group at
the John Radcliffe.
EARLY CAREER: Looking for a job after
my DPhil, I quickly discovered that having
a postgraduate degree (even one from
Oxford) did not mean I could just step into
a postdoctoral research position, either in
industry or academia.
I had not even considered, when embarking
on my DPhil, whether the experimental skills
I was learning could be easily transferred
to research projects in another laboratory. I
was persistent and after 6 months unpaid
work in the Plant Sciences Department I
got my first job, and was only successful
because of the additional technical skills
I had acquired. The broad range of
experimental techniques and publications
from my first postdoctoral position made
it relatively easy for me to find subsequent
research jobs.
ALUMNI PROFILES
PROS & CONS: I am easily bored and
find the constant learning and problem
solving rewarding, although success
has not come without failures or the
need to step outside my comfort zone.
While scientific research is an exciting
and flexible career it can be difficult
to make the transition from being a
postdoctoral researcher to a Principal
Investigator. This reflects the scarcity
of tenured positions, and the need to
transition into a role requiring a new
skill set to obtain research funding,
run a research group, engage in peer
reviewing and teach. I found that
participation in tutorial teaching and
practical demonstrating early in my
career and exploiting the wide array of
University staff training courses helped
considerably. I have been fortunate
to stay in Oxford, although it can be
easier to progress when colleagues
don’t remember you as a student!
ACADEMIA + HIGHER EDUCATION
ALUMNI PROFILES
JOHN ELLIOTT
Research Scientist in Earthquakes
– University of Oxford
WHAT: I want to understand how
the earth deforms, with the ultimate
goal of reducing seismic hazard by
better understanding earthquakes. I
am very fortunate that by using the
latest satellite technology, I can look at
ground deformation anywhere across
the world. That means I have been
able to work on large devastating
earthquakes globally, such as the 2015
Nepal earthquake and the 2012 New
Zealand earthquakes. We map faults,
measure how and where faults break
in earthquakes, and how fast the
pressure is building up on them - like
an elastic band, the longer and harder
you pull the earth’s crust, the more
likely it will snap.
It is not just a desk job though, and
sometimes I go out into the field to
look at faults on the ground. I also
teach undergraduates both in the
field and the lecture theatre, and help
co-supervise DPhil students on their
research projects.
WHY: I have always enjoyed looking at
our planet and understanding the way it
works. My job lets me apply quantitative
geophysics to the earth using highresolution
images from space. Therefore,
my research is both scientifically rigorous as
well as having a pleasing aesthetic in being
able to map the continents and produce
beautiful pictures of the world.
ADVICE: Academia is very tough, and
particularly competitive at the moment.
The postdoctoral life is a state of perpetual
transition, with typically temporary, shortterm
contracts. Many young scientists
aspire for the ultimate pinnacle of academia
– the permanent lectureship, with over 100
well-qualified applicants per advertised
post typical. Also scientific funding is in
crisis, with success rates (the bread-andbutter
income of a research scientist) below
10%. Therefore the academic path must
be taken with eyes wide open to the poor
career prospects. Success in academia
relies on luck, hard work and innate ability,
but the greatest of these is luck.
John studied Earth Sciences
at University College, 2005.
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