Programs Pursuing Post-PhD Ideas: What's Next?

[handsomecat]

right now I'm in the midst of completing a PhD thesis. I have some ideas for future work that I'd like to see through if possible.

What would be the usual course of action? Right now I can see the following

(1) Sound out my supervisors about supporting me through these ideas

(2) Knock on the doors of other profs who could have an interest in these

(3) Join an institute where I can pursue these ideas

Any comments?

 

[jtbell]

What field are you in? In physics, in the USA at least, the usual route after finishing a Ph.D. if you want to stay in academic research, is to get a postdoc somewhere. And then maybe another, and another... until you either find a regular position, or give up and switch to another line of work.

 

[handsomecat]

What field am I in?

well, my PhD is going to be awarded by the Mechanical Engineering department. However my work is more on Physics as I'm doing DFT calculations and stuff ...

I cannot help but feel that I'm in some kind of a bind ... Its too far away from Engineering and not close enough to Physics...

 

[f95toli]

The next step would -as jtbell has already pointed out- to get a postdoc position somwhere.
In order to pursue your own ideas you would need to get funding and that is almost impossible directly after a PhD, you need one or two postdocs first.
Of course you might get really lucky and find a postdoc where whoever is in charge is also interesten your ideas and has some "free" money that is not tied up in another project.