The advice I guess I’d give a new PI would be: first, use your postdoc; they are a part of your team. Do not think that they’re just there to make up the numbers. Don’t think that you need to take responsibility for everything. I know there are pressures on the PI, but use your postdoc. Use them as an effective member of the team to support the work that you’re doing. That’s the first and most critical thing that you can do.” 

Prof Bhavik Anil Patel, Professor of Clinical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, University of Brighton.  

“Also, working with them as a partner, right from the start, and making them understand that the PI is somebody who can help them in their projects, in their development, in their overall career planning, it's very important.” 

Prof Carsten Welsch, Head of Department of Physics, University of Liverpool.  

“Something someone told me when I started but I never really took seriously, enjoy having a first postdoc because you get to collaborate with someone who is going to be a brilliant scientist and who you have the opportunity to develop in terms of a brilliant scientist. Postdocs should be seen as colleagues rather than someone who's working under you, and I've always taken this viewpoint. If you have a small lab, I think you should be able to enjoy those relationships where you have a much more personal relationship, a much more interconnected relationship with a person. It is a wonderful experience when you're starting up, to have that small group that can be more disruptive sometimes and can push the boundaries of research quite a lot at that moment in time.” 

Dr Raechelle D’Sa, Senior Lecturer in Engineering, University of Liverpool.  

 “Treat them as a peer and help them to help you, so give them the opportunities to help you, which coincidentally are almost certainly the things which will help them in their future career after they're no longer working with you.” 

Prof Simon Maskell, Professor of Autonomous Systems, University of Liverpool.

“The more open the dialogue between a postdoc and the PI can be, the better.” 

Prof Carsten Welsch, Head of Department of Physics, University of Liverpool. “ 

“My advice to a PI who’s managing their first postdoc is; talk to them a lot! It goes back to this old adage; you don’t need to be friends to be colleagues. But I think it helps if you have trust and you have an openness in that relationship that allows you to talk about both professional and personal goals and professional and personal challenges.  

“They are not disconnected, they can both negatively and positively impact each other. So that would probably be the tip I would give a new PI; is to kind of talk to your postdoc about what professionally… I think the professional thing is easier to do because you can say, ‘Firstly, where do you want to be in two, three years or ten years or whatever? What can I do to help you get there how would we manage this together?’  

“The personal stuff is harder to approach because some personal stuff is personal and some people find that harder to talk about. Equally make it clear that there are opportunities, as much as you can as a PI and you’re willing to talk about personal things, you don’t have to disclose anything about yourself of course. To make it clear to a postdoc that we are humans and there are personal factors at play.  

“I think the automaton approach of just a very robotic, ‘I am just here to do this bit of science’, that instantly shuts down a conversation that the postdoc might want to have with you about something which is making their technical work suboptimal. I think then that becomes your problem as a PI.  

“If you have done that and then the work is suffering but you’ve made it really difficult to unpick that and make the work progress again because you’ve said, ‘I don’t care about your personal life and what’s going on at home; all I care about is whether you can do this thing.’” 

Prof Christopher Jackson, Chair in Sustainable Geoscience, University of Manchester.  

“I try and develop a dialogical relationship with them. I like them to know what I think, but I also like to know what they think and I like to have an exchange and a dialogue develop. I would say to someone, well, this is the kind of relationship that I'm able to have that I think the postdocs value, I certainly value and they've worked for me. I think I'd share that experience without saying, this is what you should be doing. It's what's worked for me and I wouldn't want to do it any other way.” 

Prof Tariq Modood, Professor of Sociology, Politics and Public Policy, University of Bristol.  

I would say you need to be talking with the postdoc and having that conversation with them and very much saying, well, what do you want to get out of this and what would suit you in terms of how I can help you and how our relationship can work, and working it out together. You might get things wrong and you might have to then change how you do it, but it's better to do it while having that conversation with each other, and quite often, to work out how you can both improve. Rather than not discussing how best to do it with the actual postdoc and instead, taking advice from other academics who might tell you things that have worked for them and their postdoc, but might be completely wrong for you and yours.” 

Dr Tom Hasell, Royal Society University Research Fellow, Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool. 

“Encourage postdocs to take ownership of their part in the project. Have a plan but be flexible, listen and be prepared to change.” 

Dr Igor Chernyavsky, Presidential Academic Fellow of Mathematics, University of Manchester. 

“Make sure that you establish a relationship where you give them enough freedom to become the leaders that they need to become, to become the colleagues that you want them to become, and promote them; promote their careers.” 

Dr Patricia Murrieta-Flores, Senior Lecturer in Digital Humanities, Lancaster University.  

“I think it’s important to encourage autonomy in the postdoc. Don't over manage the postdoc; that's another feeling that you're in a position of management, you have to answer every possible question, you have to direct them in every detail of what they do. So you don't have to do that. You don't have to answer every question; you can be puzzled as well. You can work with them to resolve the difficulties and puzzles. Don't assume that just because you're the PI and they're the postdoc you have to know everything or be able to answer every question, resolve every issue. That can't always be done, and it's much easier to admit to your own limitations and work with that postdoc to resolve problems in a way that they find satisfactory.” 

Prof Peter Wade, Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Manchester.  

“So I think the thing about managing postdocs is it's really important to give them some space, even to make mistakes sometimes. I think you need to remember that it's a training role for them and they're not just there to produce data for you. So I think you need to listen to their ideas, you need to allow your postdocs to have those ideas, to try and incorporate them into the project, or at least let them try them out, and I think, actually, it's important to allow postdocs to fail sometimes. So to let them try something, give them a bit of freedom to try something, and actually find out that they don't always work.” 

Prof Rachel Williams, Professor of Ophthalmic Bioengineering, University of Liverpool.  

“I give the postdocs a lot of freedom. We meet to discuss a piece of work that's got to be done and that might take a couple of weeks. I then give them a lot of freedom to go away and work on it and just say to them, if you get stuck, let me know, let's talk about it, if there's a problem of some kind. Usually, there isn't, they go away and work. On the whole, I don't ask for loads of reports, I don't have lots of deadlines, I don't demand lots of meetings. A lot of our meetings can be spontaneous. We bump into each other, have a coffee. I encourage them to think and read what's important and stimulating” 

Prof Tariq Modood, Professor of Sociology, Politics and Public Policy, University of Bristol.

“I suppose that boils down to trusting them and believing they can contribute. The point of the exercise is to further the knowledge and grow what the world is capable of, not to accumulate numbers in a spreadsheet. I think you have to believe that. If you believe that, you put your trust in the postdocs being able to do things, you support them and you encourage them to be open about when they're finding things tough, so that you can help them when they need it, and nobody is hiding anything. 

“You want to have as much respect for them as they have for you, and that means you should say when you don't know something, and you don't understand, and be open and honest about the fact that you're fallible, with finite knowledge and finite skills and gaps, and all this kind of stuff. “ 

Prof Simon Maskell, Professor of Autonomous Systems, University of Liverpool. 

“Make sure you support them; make sure you support their career progression. Do that by giving them the opportunity to sequester additional mentorship beyond yourself. You have to be bold enough to say that, ‘There are other people you can speak to that are going to enrich your experience. If you do that, that’s going to make you a better person.’ We have to accept that, so be bold enough to give them the opportunity to seek additional mentorship and support. 

“Lastly, I’d say the most important thing is then to constantly look and evaluate their performance – not by what they achieve in the laboratory or by the research; by skillsets. Actually what we’re doing is we’re developing a person here. We’re developing a person, and developing a person means we’re developing their skills. We’re not developing how cool their science is or whatever they’re doing. We’re developing whether they can do all of these effective skillsets that improve their career prospects in any walk of life they go into. So focus on those things because they’re the ultimate things that are going to give that postdoc a job at the end of their time that they are working with the PI. Ultimately when you get to that point – which you won’t know until you get there – that’s what gives you the most joy. 

“To me, the most joy is seeing my postdocs progress on to fantastic careers inside or outside academia. That’s the best bit because you know you’ve shaped their life. It’s not what you did at the time and you got a great paper; it happens two or three years later, where you see the greatness of the journey you’ve made.” 

Prof Bhavik Anil Patel, Professor of Clinical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, University of Brighton.  

“A motivated postdoctoral researcher can be a fantastic future collaborator; so train them well.” 

Dr Cyrill Bussy, Lecturer in Infection, Immunity and Respiratory Medicine, University of Manchester.  

“My advice would be to think about the postdoc’s development well beyond the research project that they are on, both in terms of their long-term career goals and introducing them to the Department/Faculty/University activities well outside the immediate research group.” 

Dr Maria Sharmina, Senior Lecturer, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, School of Engineering, University of Manchester.

“Show the postdoc what it means to be an active researcher, instil the spirit of helping colleagues to do the same, and build positive relationships with administrative and support staff (you will really need their assistance in managing research finance and postdoc contracts!).” 

Dr Maria Sharmina, Senior Lecturer, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, School of Engineering, University of Manchester.  

“I think the lack of clarity can be really difficult for postdocs, and I think in some senses for a PI we feel that, well we kind of know what the scene is like and we know what’s expected. You know, we know what the research community is like and we know what the journal hierarchy is like and what the timelines are for future funding streams and so on and that it will take two months to put a grant application together and so on. I think for somebody new, particularly if they’re new to the British context, they may not know this so they just need some demystifying. So for the postdoc its important that they should feel able to ask but for the PI to make sure that they spend time demystifying, that they’re inducting somebody into the sector and into the profession.” 

Dr Siobhan McAndrew, Senior Lecturer in Quantitative Social Science, University of Bristol.  

“I think some of it should be done at the application stage and make sure that you’ve budgeted in correctly for their time but also that there’s a budget for their training. I think it’s really unfortunate if there’s a postdoc without some conference attendance funding attached or training attached, so for the last bids I’ve been involved with I’ve included some money for that.” 

Dr Siobhan McAndrew, Senior Lecturer in Quantitative Social Science, University of Bristol. 

“I would recommend completing project management training and talking to more experienced colleagues. This should help with setting clear targets and being realistic about what you can achieve in limited time.” 

Dr Igor Chernyavsky, Presidential Academic Fellow of Mathematics, University of Manchester. 

“Always keep improving your own skills, whether it’s in research methods, getting grants, publishing high quality papers, communications skills, or time management. In each area, look for the best training, books, and experts both within and outside your University. This attitude will rub off on the postdocs you are working with.” 

Dr Maria Sharmina, Senior Lecturer, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, School of Engineering, University of Manchester. 

“I think what has always worked good for me is to reflect on the things that have worked well and also the things that didn't work well in my own career and then try to do things better with my own postdocs.” 

Prof Carsten Welsch, Head of Department of Physics, University of Liverpool.  

“Remember that you have been there, and you know the multidimensional issue of this unclear position in the academic system. Line management is the easiest part of the job” 

Dr Cyrill Bussy, Lecturer in Infection, Immunity and Respiratory Medicine, University of Manchester.  

“I would also recommend to new PIs to reach out to colleagues to get a mentor, to learn from the good practice that is out there and also, and very importantly, to learn from the mistakes that other people have made. No postdocs are the same so there will always be new challenges and there will be situations where nobody has an answer too. That's where the PIs grow, that's where they build up expertise that other colleagues will not have and then they can guide others in the department in the future about these challenges.” 

Prof Carsten Welsch, Head of Department of Physics, University of Liverpool.  

“For a new PI managing their first postdoc, absolutely talk to people who are already PIs. Make sure you're connecting with people at different stages and levels of experience of managing a postdoctoral team. Whether it's just one postdoc or a wide variety, because they can give you reflections, on not only what's working for them and what hasn't, but the different kinds of roles that postdocs can take on. The different kinds of personalities and how to manage that, but also, they've also got stories of being a postdoc themselves and their memories. So you can kind of get this wonderfully rich inheritance that you can think about.” 

Dr Ruth Nugent, UKRI Future Leaders Fellow, Archaeology, Classics & Egyptology, University of Liverpool.  

“I've heard a lot of advice from other people about what you should do with postdocs, what you shouldn't do with postdocs, how to treat them, and what's right and what isn't. I think in every case, it will depend on the nature and personality of the supervisor, it will depend on the nature and the personality of the postdoc, and it will depend what the postdoc wants to get out of things.” 

Dr Tom Hasell, Royal Society University Research Fellow, Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool. 

“I think if you were a PI managing their first postdoc, it’s important to be able to take a long-term view. If this is your first major project involving postdocs then its quite easy to get too focused on the project itself and the specific outcomes that you’ve promised to the funding agency in terms of books and other kinds of product outputs, conferences etc. It’s very easy to get fixated on those quite short-term outputs. So its important to remember that for the postdocs and also for you, this is a longer-term endeavor. And if you don’t manage to get all the publications done in the timeframe that you initially promised, which is always an over ambitious timeframe, that’s ok. These things can take quite a long time. If the publication come out a few years down the line after you’ve finished the project that’s ok, in terms of your CV and in terms of the CV of the postdocs involved – it will eventually add value to those CVs so that shouldn’t be seen as a failure. Keep your feet on the ground, don’t panic and think longer term.” 

Prof Peter Wade, Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Manchester.  

“I think also making sure that the tasks are reasonable and that the project commitment is reasonable for the postdoc so that they do have a little bit of time for themselves and that they don’t feel that they’re completely overloaded by having to deliver several papers within a short space of time.” 

Dr Siobhan McAndrew, Senior Lecturer in Quantitative Social Science, University of Bristol.

“First of all, be kind; treat them as you wish anyone else will treat you. be compassionate, be kind. Just remember how it felt when you were at that position. I think that is really important to have that empathy and to lead them through the things and the difficulties and the challenges that being in early career basically poses.” 

Dr Patricia Murrieta-Flores, Senior Lecturer in Digital Humanities, Lancaster University.

“It's also about everybody having a homelife and other lives and priorities and that will give you a really happy morale within the team, which really is not something that money can buy.” 

Dr Ruth Nugent, UKRI Future Leaders Fellow, Archaeology, Classics & Egyptology, University of Liverpool. 

“Do not forget that they can teach you one or two things during their stay!” 

Dr Cyrill Bussy, Lecturer in Infection, Immunity and Respiratory Medicine, University of Manchester.