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Among the barriers faced by researchers who move abroad to develop their careers is a so-called “hidden curriculum”, says Sonali Majumdar, whose book, Thriving as an International Scientist, was published last year.

Navigating these unwritten rules that cover social norms and cultural expectations, both in the lab and outside work, can feel particularly daunting to scientists who, like her, were born elsewhere, she adds.

In addition, international scientists often have restrictive funding arrangements that tie them to a particular lab or principal investigator’s research focus, she says.

US visa restrictions can often mean missing family events back home. Majumdar, for example, who gained a biochemistry and molecular biology PhD from the University of Georgia in Athens in 2014, could not return to India to attend her parents’ funerals. “It was probably the biggest sacrifice I’ve had to make in my life,” she says.

In the final episode of a six-part podcast series covering books about the scientific workplace, Majumdar, who is now assistant dean for professional development at Princeton University in New Jersey, tells Holly Newson that having a “growth mindset” can help international scientists to thrive abroad.

This means not focusing on problems, but on possibilities and solutions, she says, supported by advisers, mentors and sponsors.

The United States, she says, has a reputation as a melting pot of different cultures, a place to meet colleagues with a shared passion for science and solving problems.

But in the past decade the climate for researchers who relocate there from abroad has become more difficult, she adds.

Listen to Sonali Majumdar in conversation with Holly Newson.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-00550-8

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Transcript

Listen to Sonali Majumdar in conversation with Holly Newson.

Holly Newson 00:00

Welcome to Working Scientist, a Nature Careers podcast.

I’m Holly Newson, and in this series, you’ll hear from authors who can help you in your career.

In this episode, I’m joined by Sonali Majumdar, a scientist and higher education expert, and the author of Thriving as an International Scientist, a book that looks at the challenges facing global STEM PhDs, and offers advice and solutions to help.

Sonali, thank you so much for joining me.

Sonali Majumdar 00:27

Thank you so much for inviting me Holly.

I’m excited for this conversation.

Holly Newson 00:31

To kick off with, how would you define an international scientist?

Sonali Majumdar 00:35

Yeah, for the purposes of my book, the way that I think about the population that are foreign-born.

And most of them are typically on visas, are the ones that I call international scientists.

For those who have somehow acquired a permanent residency in the country that they’re in. In the case of the book, mostly the United States.

Those are defined. Those people are defined more as immigrants. And so for internationals, I am mostly catering to the visa-holders who are more early in their career, are just kind of training in their PhD or postdoc, or are in their first job after.

Holly Newson 01:09

Great. That makes complete sense.

So why did you personally want to pursue your science career in the United States?

Sonali Majumdar 01:19

So I’ve had a fairly non-linear career path.

And I’ve been actually thinking on different moments of my life that kind of steered me towards the path I was in.

And I think the farthest I can kind of go is more like my high school.

When I came across one of these, actually one of these afternoons when my father left me in the British Library, and I spent the day kind of reading papers.

And I somehow came across the Human Genome Project.

At that point, and there was a report on it. And I was so fascinated by the whole idea of genomics, And so I really wanted to study that.

And this was in India in early 2000s.

There weren’t that many programmes on genetics or molecular biology.

So I ended up doing my undergraduate in microbiology and masters in biotechnology.

And worked after that for a few years as a clinical embryologist. I was part of a healthcare team that started an IVF clinic in a maternity health hospital.

I was like, as has been the story of my life, since, every few years I kind of get bored with what I’m doing because my interests evolve.

And one of my family members, who was an academic in the United States, told me you should think about research seriously.

Because they actually pay you to do research, and

How to thrive in science when you move abroad