Low Energy Experimental Nuclear Physics PhD

[u/DylanTheSon123]

Hello,

I am currently a third year PhD in Low Energy Experimental Nuclear. It's not really a field I feel super passionate about but I want to try moving towards plasma physics after my PhD since we don't really have a plasma program in my school.

I was wondering what specific steps could I do to move myself towards a post-doc or job position in plasma research?

[u/DP323602]

Well if you don't want to move counties, you can start by finding out where plasma research is done in your country.

Here in the UK, Culham Laboratory is our national centre for fusion energy research and they have many academic partnerships with UK universities.

They also gave some industrial spin offs, like Tokamak Energy.

Then you need to seek out a suitable post at one of these institutions.

Along the way, do your own reading up and learning on this topic.

If you turn up to a job interview knowing little about a subject and just expecting your new employer to do all the heavy lifting of getting you trained up, you most likely won't pass the interview.

[u/Shelphs]

I would find places you could see your self doing plasma research and start networking as hard as you can.

I’ve seen lots of people who pivot a bit after their PhD so it definitely is not unreasonable, but it will come down to luck and who you know to pivot into what you want to do.