A Research Associate is a budgeted position with a formal job description that is perpetual in an academic institution. A Research Fellow, on the other hand, is a limited-term appointment that is normally funded by an endowment or research grant from a state, federal or private company.
Although both will engage in research activities, the Fellow is normally paired to a senior scholar whose work he or she will assist. The Research Associate, on the other hand, will normally work in a department and be available to offer research assistance (consultancy help) to a number of faculty and graduate students needing assistance with technical aspects of their research.
A person who is an expert in SAS or SPSS would be hired by a university as a Research Associate to work in a grant writing department or the graduate school to help doctoral students with dissertation research. A person on the cutting edge of research on, say, "the DNA of Aging" would offered a three-year fellowship to work in a genetics department as a Research Fellow, under the mentorship of a senior scholar in the field.
Dear Dr.Samer
A research associate is a non-salaried appointment intended to provide for visiting scholars and scientists of distinguished standing who may be recommended by departments and organized research units for such association with the university.
The candidate must hold the degree of Ph.D. or possess training substantially equivalent to that required for the Ph.D., and must have demonstrated exceptional fitness in independent research in addition to that required for the Ph.D.
Appointments to this title are for a specified term not to exceed three years. There is no maximum number of years of service in this title.
A research fellow is a non-salaried appointment intended to provide for visiting fellows who come to the University, for example: National Research Council Fellow; Social Science Research Council; Commonwealth Fund Fellow; Rockefeller Foundation Fellow; traveling fellows from other universities, etc.
The candidate must hold the degree of Ph.D. or possess training equivalent to that required for the Ph.D., but need not have had experience as an independent research worker aside from research done for the doctoral degree.
Appointments to this title are for a specified term not to exceed three years. There is no maximum number of years of service in this title.
As per my country standards (India) Research Associate exactly match to the description given by Hasan, he should have PhD qualification otherwise we can call him Postdoc/Post doctoral fellow PDF, they get salary as per standards maintain by UGC (University Grants Commission) in my country. PDFs have weightage/rank as per their experience/publications/work they had done. Had they been foreign returned/ from well known universities that is a plus point.
Where as research fellow is working/doing research to get PhD qualification, once he defend his work the he award PhD. We address him as Research Fellow while working. Research assistant could be of any qualification need not be PhD. He too get fellowship as per the norm of UGC.
A Research Associate is a budgeted position with a formal job description that is perpetual in an academic institution. A Research Fellow, on the other hand, is a limited-term appointment that is normally funded by an endowment or research grant from a state, federal or private company.
Although both will engage in research activities, the Fellow is normally paired to a senior scholar whose work he or she will assist. The Research Associate, on the other hand, will normally work in a department and be available to offer research assistance (consultancy help) to a number of faculty and graduate students needing assistance with technical aspects of their research.
A person who is an expert in SAS or SPSS would be hired by a university as a Research Associate to work in a grant writing department or the graduate school to help doctoral students with dissertation research. A person on the cutting edge of research on, say, "the DNA of Aging" would offered a three-year fellowship to work in a genetics department as a Research Fellow, under the mentorship of a senior scholar in the field.
Unfortunately, there are no universal standard definitions for these two terms. It seems to depend on the institution and field of research. Research Fellow and Research Associate are basically two postdoctoral positions on (roughly) the same level. But the exact definition will vary from institution to institution.
Though sometimes, in the UK, the research career path goes: Research Associate (Postdoctoral Research Fellow), Research Fellow (lecturer), Senior Research Fellow (senior lecturer or reader), Professorial Research Fellow (professor).
As I am a Research Fellow, I agree with Bell's answer. In addition to that, Research Fellow have little freedom to pursue personal research interest which align the research theme of the department. In addition to research activities, RF have teaching responsibilities.
For both depending upon the requirement, doctoral degree or equivalent experience in industry or academia is required. Both positions are not covered under social benefit and can be terminated upon completion of the project or otherwise notified.
Research Fellow and Research Associates both are almost the same positions and same values in their perspective fields but Research Assistant is different from others qualifications.
I agreed with Professor Bell definitions. However, reading through all the contributions I am tempted to ask if with all these varied definitions based on jurisdictions, how do we ensure universal practice in academy?
Is there any internationally acceptable research hierarchy. I would appreciate if someone may please share any official document giving details of public health research positions/designations used uniformly across most of the nations.
I need this information as many employers gives designations like 'Public Health research officer', Senior research officer etc. For anyone to highlight progressively higher responsible positions in his/her career path, this information would be useful.
Dear prof.
What is the meaning of associate researcher?
And may I kindly request you give me information about associate researcher
The following answer from my own perspectives,
Both the Research associate and Research fellow are quite similar but name alone different. they both do research after their masters in science or engineering or humanities.
Both will be doing research before and after doctoral course...
For example, Research associate will be doing research after Ph.D for 2 to 3 years (UGC-CSIR-RA)
Research Fellow which can also include JRF or SRF (UGC-CSIR-JRF-SRF) even fellow doing research even after Ph.D degree ( called universally as post doctoral research).
Observation of answers posted here so far suggests what Dean said seems to be true: "there are no universal standard definitions for these two terms". Just to add another example to the diverse definitions, the case in my institution is that both Research Associate and Research Fellow are salaried posts, but having a PhD degree is required to be appointed as a Research Fellow, which is one grade higher on the salary scale than a Research Associate.
I am more confused with the difference between senior research assistant and research analyst
Dear Marouane,
Junior Researcher is a researcher at the first steps of the research, so young researchers are categorized in this class.
Senior Researcher is one who has a lot of experience in an area of interest, sometimes a team leader in a large research group.
Is there is a difference between Research Associate and Research Associate Professor?
Dear Mohamed El_Tokhy
Research Associate is a researcher generally holding a PhD or sometimes a Master degree employed by the department/faculty to support the scientific activities of students and or faculty members. But a Research Associate Professor is a faculty member that has no educational duty in teaching activities of the department, focusing on research. A Research Associate Professor is somehow like an Associate Professor, but just in research.
I have noticed hot this academical ranking varies from University to University. Research associate is a lower position than Research Fellow. I was Teaching associate during my PhD studies. I was not a member of the regular staff but with fixed-term position. With the end of my contract, that was it. Now i am being offered a position of Teaching Fellow. Its also a fixed-term Position. Let us not put the word Professor in it since Professorship is something different.
As far as I know, the researcher and the research fellow are essentially postdoctoral positions.
The job description and responsibility for the positions like Postdoc, Research associate and research fellow varies with country and institution. Like in NZ/AUS Research Fellow (have some Postdoc experience) is a research position in research only institution, fellow apply for funding for their own salary and research; and if money is enough then hire PhD or Postdoc. I think in UK Postdoctoral fellow or research associate are same and salary come through project funding.
Research Assistant: He is technically and scientifically qualified to support the research team and coordinate laboratory and field work. He works under the responsibility and supervision of the principal researcher and the participating researchers. Preferably a holder of a bachelor's degree or equivalent or a higher degree
A Research Associate is a junior researcher, usually with a PhD, usually employed on a fixed-term contract. This term is sometimes used interchangeably with the term “postdoc”.
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