What could I do with my PhD in Biology or Biochemistry?
As a Biology or Biochemistry postgraduate, perhaps the most important question you need to ask yourself at this stage is whether or not you want to use your subject! It's entirely your choice - you will have acquired and developed many skills during your PhD which are complementary to the scientific and technical skills you might think define your career choice.
If you'd like to continue using your Biology or Biochemistry and
would like some ideas as to how, open
one of the documents below to see
details of what previous Bath Biology and Biochemistry PhD graduates
have gone on to do.
PDF
file 22 kb or 
RTF
file 223 kb
(To view the PDF document you need to have Acrobat Reader installed
- you can download a free copy from
the Adobe site.)
This covers the most obvious
choices (academic and commercial bioscience jobs) but there are many
other options.
You might want to continue in science as a whole, but leave lab-based Biology or Biochemistry behind. There are many professions which would value your PhD, including pharmaceutical or agricultural company technical specialists or sales representatives, health and safety specialists, environmental and conservation officers, patent attorneys, science communication, scientific journal editing or technical writing. Teaching can also be an attractive option. For more information on Biology or Biochemistry-related employment, look at the AGCAS leaflets ‘Options with Biology' and ‘Options with Biochemistry', viewable on the Graduate Prospects website.
If you are interested in using your Biology or Biochemistry in a more clinical setting, you could consider working in the various specialisms of clinical science (as a clinical scientist or biomedical scientist) or clinical trials (as a clinical research associate). These jobs would all require some element of further study or on-the job retraining, and have differing career progressions, but are interesting options for using your subject in a practical, but not research-driven, way.
For more information on these jobs and their training and entry requirements, see the Useful Links section and the Occupational Profiles on the Graduate Prospects website.
What else could I do?
If, having got to this stage, you're not sure that you want to use your Biology or Biochemistry any more, don't despair! You have many skills and experiences that are highly valuable to employers and you can choose from the huge range of graduate jobs on offer, from structured training with large financial services firms to analysing policy for governmental departments. The key is to think of the skills you have and enjoy using and explore occupations that use them to suggest possible alternatives. Look at the ‘What career planning should I do during my PhD?' pages to get some ideas on how to do this. For information on different types of jobs, explore the occupational profiles on the Graduate Prospects website.
You may be interested in starting your own business. If this is the case, take a look at the self-employment community on the Graduate Prospects website, the ‘Going it alone' page on researchers@bath and the websites for the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship and Business Link.
You might find the AGCAS booklet ‘Your PhD…..what next?' useful in helping you consider your options. Our searchable jobs database within MyFuture should also give you some interesting ideas of jobs open to you if you select 'For PhD students' under the 'Service' option and leave the discipline box blank. And, of course, you are recommended to look at the material in the Student section of our website and make full use of the services available to you.