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Interested postdocs and students
The group is always looking for talented postdocs and PhD students.
- PhD students: Our PhD students are based at either the University of Cambridge or the Baker Institute. Students interested in the UK should read about graduate studies in Cambridge; while students interested in Australia should read the graduate studies information for the following Melbourne universities where we enroll students: University of Melbourne, Monash University, La Trobe University. Please contact Mike with a CV and copies of your academic transcripts.
- Postdocs: If interested in a postdoc at either the University of Cambridge or the Baker Institute, please contact Mike with a CV and a cover letter.
The group is primarily a 'dry' laboratory (i.e. computational, no reagents or chemicals). We draw on many fields, which in practice means each member brings a unique mixture of skills and all are encouraged to work together. We have flexible working hours and are quite goal-oriented; when/where research is done is less important than, say, developing a new method to solve a problem or uncovering a disease gene. Mike is committed to training independent multi-disciplinary researchers who want to use genomics/systems biology/bioinformatics/biostatistics to alleviate disease.
Information for moving to Cambridge (UK)
An excellent and nearly comprehensive guide for Cambridge is available at Moverdb (housing, shipping, food, transport, internet etc).
Cambridge (UK) and its university namesake have a long tradition of scholarship and the pursuit of knowledge. This is particularly strong in the natural sciences, where it is the premier hub for biotech industry and biomedical research in Europe. The city itself is home to ~120,000 people and has a mild climate that, for the UK, is relatively dry and sunny. Temperatures are generally between 0–10 °C in the winter to 15–25 °C in the summer.
The Department of Public Health and Primary Care is currently based at Strangeways Research Labs, adjacent to Addenbrooke's Hospital and the Cambridge Biomedical Research Campus (Cambridge BRC), a thriving and rapidly expanding ecosystem (see image above).
The BRC is at the centre of an immense amount of industry and academic activity. Ten minutes north is the Cambridge Station tech precinct which houses leading data science and AI companies, such as Microsoft Research, Amazon, Apple and Samsung AI. A short bus/cab ride south is the Wellcome Genome Campus, home to the Wellcome Sanger Institute, EMBL European Bioinformatics Institute, Genomics England and others. A 45 minute train south is the London King's Cross tech precinct, which includes Google's London Headquarters, DeepMind and the Francis Crick Institute.
Information for moving to Melbourne (Australia)
The city of Melbourne is a multicultural bayside metropolis of 4 million inhabitants in the state of Victoria that has placed among the world’s most livable cities in multiple surveys. It is the cultural capital of Australia and is well known for its literature, art galleries, theatres, live music, and standup comedy. Melbourne enjoys a temperate climate with warm to hot summers, mild and sometimes balmy springs and autumns, and cool winters.
Accommodation
Finding long-term accommodation in Melbourne, as in any big city, can be challenging. It's best to have something short-term set up when you arrive. Preferably, it will be somewhere you can stay for 2 weeks to 1 month to give you a chance to explore the neighborhoods and not feel pressured to take the first place available.
The diversity of Melbourne's neighborhoods is incredible, have a look at:
- City Hobo for short descriptions of the suburbs
- Descriptions and maps from the City of Melbourne
- This is also a really great guide
- And another one
Besides hotels and hostels, short term options are:
Long term accommodation options are flats (apartments), houses and shared houses. There are a few main resources:
- domain.com.au
- realestate.com.au
- gumtree (accommodation and all sorts of other things)
Whenever renting, especially in a new state/country, you should know your tenants rights. Good sites for this are:
Typical Victorian-style terraced housing in Melbourne
Mobile phone
Of course, it's an essential item. If you don't already have a phone that works here, then it should be one of, if not THE, first purchases when you arrive. Like accommodation, it's recommended that you split this into short-term (e.g. a pay-as-you-go plan) when you first arrive and long-term later (e.g. a contract with a particular service provider or as part of a bundle with other communications services like internet, once you've got a flat/house/etc).
The main mobile phone providers are Optus, Telstra and Virgin mobile. In addition to online purchases, they also have shops scattered around Melbourne with loads in the CBD. iinet is probably the most efficient and cheap place to get a mobile and internet service.
See here for a map of mobile phone shops in Melbourne's CBD.
Public transport
There are loads of public transport options in Melbourne including extensive train, tram and bus networks. Public Transport Victoria has a good website with timetables and maps. They all use the myki electronic card system. You should probably get a myki as soon as (if not before) you arrive in Melbourne because you can no longer purchase tickets while on the bus/train/tram. Myki's can be used in pay-as-you-go format or in a monthly/yearly format. They can be topped up online, at 7-Eleven shops, myki machines and train/tram stations. Uber (as well as UberEATS and Deliveroo) is everywhere in Melbourne.
A Melbourne tram
Cars
Melbourne has well maintained roads and there are plenty of fantastic get away spots all over Victoria. The car options are varied with popular sharing schemes like flexicar and goget, the usual car hire companies, and of course the option to purchase one for yourself. For short term visits (a week or less), it may be best to either hire a car (or use public transport!). For the medium or even long term, car share companies can be quite useful; it just depends on how often one wants to explore wider Victoria. However, for the long term (i.e. you hope to be in Melbourne for many years), it is almost unavoidable to purchase a car... although using it for daily commutes can be grating!
Of course, there's always the issue of driving in a foreign country so here's the relevant information for Victoria. Victorian licensing and car insurance may not be a problem for short term stays but should be considered for the long term.
Bank account
It is highly recommended to become familiar with the financial system here in Australia. Not that it is much different from other Western countries, but of course prudent financial management is both an valuable personal and professional skill. Wikipedia has a useful entry on finance here in Australia.
The ground-level basics are: there are 3 common types of accounts which are useful for everyday transactions: Debit, Savings and Credit. Investment in stocks and bonds are less common than they are in, for example, the USA or UK. Since interest rates are relatively high, it is common for individuals to keep their savings in their Savings account. There is also a very high level of investment in property. There are 4 major banks and they have fairly dense coverage of the inner Melbourne suburbs in terms of ATM machines and walk-in banking space. The major banks are: