Make room in your calendars…the monthly Nature Network Boston pub nights are starting up again this year. The next one will be next Tuesday at 6:30pm at the Middlesex Lounge near Central Square in Cambridge. Please come, bring labmates and scientists-friends. Details and RSVP here.
And later next week, the European Career Fair will be held at MIT (Feb 1-4). They call themselves the largest career fair in the US featuring employers based in Europe. About half of the companies are in the life science/engineering/technology sectors.
I had lunch a couple of weeks ago with one of the organizers, Wiep Klaas Smits, and he told me, to my surprise that most of the people registered to attend the fair are NOT homesick Europeans. According to the organizers’ stats, only about a third of registered attendees declare themselves to be from Europe. One third say they are American and the other third from other parts of the world.
I found that interesting. In science, the conventional thinking has been that you go TO the US (or STAY in the US) to further your career. Is the flow of traffic reversing now? Are more scientists finding Europe to be a more attractive place to work and live? Why? Is it just for the superior wine, cheese, bread? :)
Wiep Klaas has started a group here on NNB for anyone attending the career fair. Join the conversation there about why you might be interested in careers in Europe.
Hi Corie,
I think it is too early to say that the flow is reversing. Fact is, that globalization is bringing continents closer together, and this makes more Americans consider a (temporary) career in Europe. When the organizers of ECF2008 spoke to dr. Laurent Bochereau (Head of Science, Technology and Innovation of the Delegation of the European Commission in Washington DC), he indicated that only 10% of the Marie Curie fellows (MC is an EU-sponsored program for scientists) comes from the US, whereas 75% of the scientists leaving Europe (temporarily) goes to the US. There is still a long way to go to balance that out, I think.