Attention! dear LinkedIn users. "I REQUEST YOU TO SUPPORT DR. SUBBURETHINAM OR SHARE THIS POST SO THAT SOMEONE COULD STRETCH A SUPPORT TO HIM"

I have decided to create this post since I strongly believe that the LinkedIn community, beyond being a business and professional platform where content on skill development and updates on science & technology are posted, we LinkedIn users also give meaning and worth to the connections we have made here. If somebody is at a career crossroads/ career deadlock/ a situation of lack of infrastructure, or whatever that can keep someone from getting up and keeping the chin up to run a professionally satisfying life, we help them materially and conceptually, and maybe emotionally too.

Here, I have made this post to seek support for my co-scholar Dr. Subburethinam Balakrishnan to secure a position as post-doc fellow/ Research Assistant in Biological Science or a teaching position. Dr. Subburethinam has recently defended his PhD-viva and has ever since been waiting for the award of the certificate. His Ph.D. thesis was titled: "Autotomy and Regeneration of the freshwater crab Paratelphusa hydrodromous (Herbst)."

Those who know him, call him Sunil, and as a senior-most person in the whole department, respectfully and lovingly we call him "Sunil Chettan(elder brother)"

After defending his Ph.D. viva, Dr. Subburethinam started applying for jobs - I can't use the word job as we know the common trajectory a Prospective Ph.D. holder seeks is a productive and prospective post-doctoral position. So, being a hardworking and ambitious person, he started applying for post-doctoral positions within the country and abroad.?

Dr. Sunil was offered a post-doctoral position at the school of stem cells, at the University of Minnesota right after the submission of his thesis. This offer was bestowed upon him from the network of our mutual guide, Prof. Sudhakar Sivasubramaniam. Thanks to him for being a highly supportive guide. But as fate would have it, like most people who were laid off due to Covid-19, Dr. Sunil also faced lots of technical difficulties in securing the position he was offered with. Incidentally, and thankfully, for his expertise in RT-PCR, Dr. Sunil was given a position as a research assistant at the Government Medical College, Tirunelveli. After this temporary professional stint, Dr. Sunil joined Anna University as a Project assistant. But, what was waiting for him was another misery. Until finalizing the contract, it was negotiated with?Dr.Sunil that the contractual project was going to be consistent with his skills and technical expertise, and the pay is commensurate with his qualification and load of responsibility. But the authority who placed him in the position burdened him with office assistant tasks that had no connection whatsoever with his scientific expertise and knowledge. Now Dr. Sunil is at square one. He is currently busy applying for jobs - not only postdoctoral positions but also for a position as a teaching staff in Biology. He came to research with tons of hopes and ambitions, but the reality has made a disillusionment about his success with a career in research and academia. He is currently unemployed, struggling to earn his bread and butter. He is equally proficient in wet lab Biological research and Bioinformatic works.

Dr. Subburethinam hails from a middle-class family, located in the rural village of "Pillayarkulam" of "Manur block" in the district of Tirunelveli, TamilNadu. His family comprises his mother, six sisters, and a brother. What I feel very proud about this man is that he has willfully, and with lots of struggle has reached a level of accomplishing a Ph.D. degree, even though no one, be it the inmates of his family or anyone in the entire village haven't had the benefit of a college education. I have witnessed Dr. Sunil being celebrated as a hero and a sensible man by fellow villagers for his strife and commitment to academia and education.?

I would kindly request the people who have read this post until here, to kindly stretch a support/ advice so that he could fulfill his dream of advancing and building up a career in academia. For anyone who has loved research like someone inebriated with alcohol, it is mentally challenging to switch careers and settle down with a job that has no way of affording opportunities to apply the skills and expertise learned as a researcher.?

------VIJITH??