Research@KU

Forums discuss postdoctoral training

More than 40 faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and university administrators met May 4-5 to discuss postdoctoral training on the KU Lawrence campus.

"Postdoctoral training is an important component of the research mission at a place like KU" said Jim Roberts, vice provost for research. "We are committed to making the Lawrence campus a good place to do postdoctoral training." Issues discussed at the two forums included benefits given to postdoctoral researchers, the various types of training, and the appropriate length of that training.

"There are really three different types of postdocs," said John Augusto, research training coordinator. "The first are postdoc employees who are employed by the university and who work for a faculty researcher. The second are postdoc fellows who are supported by an outside agency (NIH, for example) through a fellowship and the training fellowship is paid through KUCR. The third are those postdocs who are paid a fellowship directly by the funding agency. We want to make sure KU addresses the issues of all three types of postdoctoral training," says Augusto.

Based on the feedback gathered in May, a working group will convene this summer to review policies and procedures directly related to postdoctoral training on the Lawrence campus. This group will make a formal set of recommendations in the fall.