Thursday, 24 June 2010

Best to work. At any expense?

Here is a link to "The Scientist" shortlist of The best Institutions to work as a post-doc in US or around the world. Regarding institutions from UK, again only my two favourites made it in the list, University College London and Cambridge (praise, praise, praise!)

My other personal favourites at the international level would be the Whitehead Institute, Cambridge, MA; Novartis Institutes, Cambridge, MA; Genentech, San Francisco,CA and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories, NY.

Facilities, funding and benefits are their top strengths and all a researcher is really looking for to excel. However, what all these places have in common is that their major weaknesses listed is the family and personal life aspect. So I wonder how can these places be listed as best to work if they don't allow for a balanced  and quality of life?