Most postdocs in the Netherlands want to stay in academia, but only a few will be able to do so. In 1999, Peter Peters, dean of postdoc affairs at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, helped postdocs to establish an annual retreat focusing on career development. Since then, attendance has doubled to 150. The theme of last month's retreat was 'Making the right moves', based on a Burroughs Wellcome Fund/Howard Hughes Medical Institute scientific management course.

Workshops on time management, communication and project management were highly interactive. Professional trainers familiar with academia taught us, for example, how to stop work from piling up, something many of us had accepted as a natural consequence of a science job.

Established scientists from all over the world discussed ways of setting up collaborations, hiring personnel, getting funded and balancing work with family. Managerial skills are indispensable.

A talk on careers outside academia, such as industry and publishing, noted the transferable skills and qualities postdocs have, such as problem-solving, creativity and perseverance.

Participants gave five-minute talks in groups of ten to explain their research and to formulate five-year research and career goals. Discussing our goals in small peer groups made us realize that we are responsible for our future and should direct it.

During a forum — the only session that included institute directors and principal investigators — we discussed many aspects of scientific careers. A key topic was Europe's rigid yet unclear academic path, which hampers funding and independence for young investigators. We proposed more peer-reviewed funding for young independent investigators and external review committees for faculty members to create better opportunities for postdocs.

The retreat combined an enthusiastic atmosphere with the comfort of confidentiality. Afterwards, some of us initiated important career moves, starting collaborations and looking for niche projects. Others began looking for a career outside academia. We all looked at our projects from a different perspective and learnt that we must invest now in our future to create the career options we need. We encourage postdocs to look at our website and be inspired to organize their own retreat.

http://www.mekentosj.com/postdocs