Becoming an academic in the UK

I've already posted here once, asking about PhD funding for international students. I'm currently finishing my Master's (English literature) at a university in my home country (in the EU). My plan has been to take a year off academia afterwards and work on my PhD and AHRC applications.

Doing research in the UK has been my no. 1 life goal, but recently one of my professors has encouraged me to apply to work with her on a very interesting (and quite well-paying) project. That would, of course, require me to start my PhD this October and give up on my plans to apply to UK schools. I feel like it's a wise and practical thing to do, certainly more realistic than attempting to obtain the very scarce and competitive AHRC funding. However, I'd like to work as an academic in the UK (or somewhere in western Europe, but preferably the UK) in the future, and I'm worried that it simply won't be an option if finish my PhD at my current (well-regarded, but not really prestigious) uni.

So, I guess my question is, do you think it's a good idea to give up on a good opportunity in order to try to get into one of my dream schools, from which top-tier research in my field is coming?
And if I stay where I am, do you think it'll be more difficult for me to ever get a job (or do a post-doc, or something like that) at a UK uni?

Original post by annawiktoria

I've already posted here once, asking about PhD funding for international students. I'm currently finishing my Master's (English literature) at a university in my home country (in the EU). My plan has been to take a year off academia afterwards and work on my PhD and AHRC applications.

Doing research in the UK has been my no. 1 life goal, but recently one of my professors has encouraged me to apply to work with her on a very interesting (and quite well-paying) project. That would, of course, require me to start my PhD this October and give up on my plans to apply to UK schools. I feel like it's a wise and practical thing to do, certainly more realistic than attempting to obtain the very scarce and competitive AHRC funding. However, I'd like to work as an academic in the UK (or somewhere in western Europe, but preferably the UK) in the future, and I'm worried that it simply won't be an option if finish my PhD at my current (well-regarded, but not really prestigious) uni.

So, I guess my question is, do you think it's a good idea to give up on a good opportunity in order to try to get into one of my dream schools, from which top-tier research in my field is coming?
And if I stay where I am, do you think it'll be more difficult for me to ever get a job (or do a post-doc, or something like that) at a UK uni?

Take a look at the profiles of UK academics, it's an entirely international population, so there is no particular disadvantage in having a PhD from overseas rather than the UK. However, roles are extremely competitive and there is a lot more to a successful application than just where you got your PhD from. Having research experience will be a bonus to any application.

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annawiktoria

OP

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Original post by threeportdrift

Take a look at the profiles of UK academics, it's an entirely international population, so there is no particular disadvantage in having a PhD from overseas rather than the UK. However, roles are extremely competitive and there is a lot more to a successful application than just where you got your PhD from. Having research experience will be a bonus to any application.

Thank you for your answer.
To be honest, while I realise that the UK academic community is very much varied, this doesn't seem to be the case with English lit. All the professors I'd like to work with have PhDs (and usually also Master's degrees) from British universities, I don't know if it's an English lit thing only, but there's definitely a pattern.

Original post by annawiktoria

Thank you for your answer.
To be honest, while I realise that the UK academic community is very much varied, this doesn't seem to be the case with English lit. All the professors I'd like to work with have PhDs (and usually also Master's degrees) from British universities, I don't know if it's an English lit thing only, but there's definitely a pattern.

Hi @annawiktoria,

I'm currently studying for my PhD in English Literature at Keele. We do have staff on faculty (https://www.keele.ac.uk/humanities/study/english/ourpeople/) who have studied and worked abroad - one of our professors did her MA in Italy, whilst another does much of her research on Québec and so has taken up a number of fellowships and research opportunities in Canada. However, as you say, most of our current faculty completed their doctorates in the UK.

You'll probably find that many staff were UK-based for their MA and PhD programmes because they were primarily working on literature written in English and by English/British authors - so having ready access to the UK research repositories in order to access archival and manuscript material is, if not essential, certainly very helpful. Even in the age of digitisation, it's beneficial to be able access material first-hand - especially at PhD level - and the major repositories for writings in English do still tend to be in the UK or the US.

Having attended a few international conferences however, I can say that there are plenty of international scholars conducting valuable research on English language literary materials and within the field of English Literature - some of them are based in the UK, but there are usually plenty from overseas! If you look in journals for your field of literature, you'll probably also find plenty of scholars based internationally.

Ultimately, when you're considering a PhD, you need to think about where you and your research will be best supported - both in terms of access to research training and to any materials you might need, and in terms of supervisory support. I chose Keele, for example, because my supervisor is a specialist in British literature of the eighteenth-century and I could get secondary supervision from academics working on both the nineteenth-century and medievalism (my PhD looks at British appropriations of Arthurian myth across the long eighteenth century). The university also offered access to opportunities for specialist training I thought I would need, such as palaeography and archival skills training. Finally Keele is relatively easy travelling distance to the British Library, John Rylands Library and the Bodleian - all of which hold primary materials of interest for my research.

If you're really worried about scuppering your chances of working in the UK if you don't study here, I'd suggest having a chat with a few academics at the UK universities you are interested in potentially applying to. In my experience most academics are more than happy to speak with prospective PhD students and talk through the options available to them - and they're often happy to share their experiences of the academic job market too.

Hope that helps!

Amy Louise :smile:

(edited 2 years ago)

Becoming an academic in the UK

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