Research Scientist

Overview

Key skills:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree in a relevant field (Higher Degree valuable).
• Subject expertise
• Experience relevant to the field in either a research or lab environment
• Well-developed communication skills, both written and oral
• Self-motivated; able to work independently and under pressure
• Able to integrate into a research group

Typical job titles: Research Scientist, Scientist, Investigator, Specialist

In some research institutions or industrial research organisations, professional research roles can be called Scientist, Staff Scientist or Research Officer.

The Research Scientist or Research Officer role is essentially similar to that of a Postdoctoral Researcher or a Research Fellow in a university. It focuses on research but in the context of a research institute/organisation not a university, so there is no (or very limited) teaching of students. So a scientist can focus more on research, although there will always be some administrative work too.

A Research Scientist or, more likely, a Senior Scientist may act as a Principal Investigator (PI) or Co-Investigator to lead a research project, in just the same way as a university researcher.

Roles exist at a range of levels from Junior Research or Scientific Officer, Scientist, through to Senior Scientist or Staff Scientist. More management responsibilities come with progression, such as supervising staff and managing budgets.