Dr Sharon Lin

Dr Sharon Lin is a statistician currently focusing on health and preventative health projects at the University of Southampton. She was a member of the University's first Prosper cohort in 2025.

We interviewed Sharon about her career journey and experience with Prosper - read more below.

Role

Research Fellow within the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Southampton.

Case study conducted

November 2025

What is your background as a postdoc?

I’ve been a researcher for quite a while. I’m a statistician and have applied my skills across a range of disciplines.

For instance, my previous role involved financial markets, whereas my current research at Southampton is focused on heath and preventative health projects.

Why did you join the Prosper cohort?

I want to shore up my independence as a researcher and give myself options for the future – including options beyond academia – so that I can make positive choices about what to focus on, and not simply have to react to what’s available.

Prosper seemed like the ideal opportunity to do just this, and get some extra tools along the way.

How did you find the Prosper cohort?

I think it’s very helpful to look at oneself and your career goals and values. Previously I was more looking at opportunities available to me, rather than thinking about what I can do for myself too.

So it was a useful opportunity to engage in this sort of reflection and challenge my thinking and approach.

Which aspects of Prosper did you find most useful?

The way in which the cohort was arranged at Southampton was very helpful – with sessions built around informal lunches together.

It’s more relaxed and really good to get to know other postdoc in similar circumstances – this in turn is very conducive to the inward-looking, reflective element I mentioned previously.

The more informal and activity-based nature of the cohort was a welcome contrast to the more structured, lecture-like form that career development can sometimes take.

What are your future career plans?

I’m still keeping things quite open at the moment – I have some ideas, including building out my current role, and maybe at some later point branching out into a more commercial line of work.

I’m also quite happy in my current role for now. But Prosper has given me some useful tools and thinking for how to approach my next step (not least – I need to revamp my LinkedIn!).