Back in the early days of Nature Network, UK post-doc Paul Wicks raised the issue of whether ‘post-doc’ is a sensible term.

Why don’t we try and reclaim the word “researcher” to describe our job roles? Lecturers aren’t “professor students” or “post-postdocs” so why should our labels be attached solely to something we’ve already done (sometimes many years ago)? By extension why not call undergrads post-a-levellers? [An A-level being the UK qualification typically preceding a university degree]

Does anyone agree? And if so, is there a more appropriate term for such researchers?