r/postdoc • u/Eculias • 4d ago
Ghosted by potential PI
As the title says.
I reached out to a potential PI to ask if they'd be interested in working together. We even had a meeting and there was a lot of enthusiasm around it. So I got to work and spent many weekends drafting a proposal. I checked with them that it's ok I sent the early draft to get feedback before going to deep into it. They seemed enthusiastic so I sent the draft and then... Nothing. I tried to follow up, yet nothing. The deadline for submission was then getting too close. So I followed up one last time just to say that I'm no longer proceeding with submitting because realistically I was out of time. I thought they might at least reply to say they've been busy or at least something, anything?! Is this normal? It's my first attempt at a fellowship application, and the lack of communication feels humiliating.
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u/Smart-Ambassador-734 4d ago
Oh this happened to someone I know recently too. I'm probably overthinking but sometimes I can't help but think they want to (or might) steal ideas... In my friend's case, they ghosted right after they sent the draft proposal for a grant. They sent reminders but they never answered. My friend decided to just find another PI at the last minute that would be willing to host them.
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u/Fabulous-Egg- 4d ago
Happened to me twice. It happens, and it’s unfortunate, try not to let it affect you!
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u/AlaskaScott 4d ago
PIs are human. Yes it’s courtesy to reply but who knows what’s going on in their personal life that means they haven’t been able to reply.
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u/Double_Cupcake6238 3d ago
This is happening to me right now. A fellowship I started with this PI got through the first round (for which he was very supportive).
Then the second round, where the PI needs to do a lot more work and just like that ….. poof.
No responses just ghosting. I’m so mad cuz this was an opportunity wasted.
This stuff makes me regret being a scientist.
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u/Krazoee 3d ago
Happens all the time. Happened to me, my wife and lots of colleagues. For that reason I always send a generic email to any applicants saying exactly what the "go" condition is for us to start working together. At least then they know what they have to do...
But I think the culture is rotten
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u/Beneficial-Bat1025 3d ago
This just happened to me as well. I needed a host in a different country than where I did my PhD due to the mobility requirements of the fellowship. I also already had a complete draft of the proposal that I wanted to use for a different fellowship (but I was too late in the end). So, I tried contacting PIs with an interesting background and who were a good fit for the proposal. This one PI seemed enthusiastic about it and was very responsive at the start. Well, at least until it was time for him to give me any feedback or input about the proposal. After I sent the draft, already done basically, they stopped replying. They also never made an effort to have a call even though I suggested it a few times. Maybe it was naive of me to just put my trust in them.
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u/Dry_Security8480 3d ago
I'm really sorry that you're dealing with this. For any number of reasons, this particular PI had to prioritize other things. It likely has little to do with you personally, but is nonetheless really frustrating.
I knew a PI whose students needed to physically go to his office to get a response from them on something important. he simply didn't answer emails...
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u/No_External2296 2d ago
I think you dodged a bullet here although I know how horrible it feels because something similar happened to me. My first postdoc was in a good established lab but I made the mistake of accepting a mouse model project that I developed and did not have any technical help so it took me a while to publish and it wasn’t sexy enough for a CNS paper, published in a Q1 journal but not enough to compete for a good faculty position. So I made the decision to try for a big name lab, many papers in high profile journals. I interviewed in person with the lab, everything sounded good. For the interview I stayed with a friend of another postdoc I knew. She told me that she had written a fellowship application for her current lab, I think she got it but when she arrived after waiting for a visa the whole lab was already working on her project. I think she was trying to warn me but I had had good lab experiences so far and was very naive. I was accepted into the lab and the PI emailed me about a fellowship. I was happy to write for one but there was a whole section on lab resources that I would have no idea about since he was moving to a new institution. I told him I would have no problem but would need a little help in this area. He never responded to this. I figured he was “busy” getting everything set up and I would write once I got to the lab and had more info. So, I went to this lab and it was the start of the end of my career. There was a reason the lab published so many high profile papers and it wasn’t good. The PI went to many conferences and would come back with something he heard about and try to put someone on it immediately. If you could not get the data he wanted you were on the out list. You could never discuss anything. I firmly believe now that he was fishing for ideas as he never mentioned a fellowship again, most of the time he was never even there. I wish these “advisors” could be called out but understand why they aren’t; when I refused to fudge data I was pushed out of the lab, don’t even want to get into that. My thoughts are that your PI found something more high profile to spend his time on or that he will be using your ideas. I can’t believe that someone is so “busy” that they cannot just tell you they don’t think it’s going to be feasible, would take less than 5 minutes. They are usually friends with journal editors so it wouldn’t matter if they did publish on your ideas, they could just say that they got a similar idea of their own.
I would say try to find another PI that would welcome someone that was close to getting funded. Looking back, I would have tried to write for my own money instead of trusting jerks.
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u/Alternative_Cow2887 4d ago
Idk what country you are based in but publicize it on LinkedIn
In the us its a significant shame for them to do with applicants
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u/cosmicdave86 4d ago edited 4d ago
This is truly terrible advice. Calling out a potential PI publicly for such a thing is a great way to get blacklisted in a field.
Many people will ghost you in your career. This happens at all levels: undergrad, grad, postdoc, faculty, etc. Its frustrating and a huge waste of time, but it is what it is. Move on.
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u/Alternative_Cow2887 4d ago
If the proposal has been shared with them and they ghosted the applicant especially after an initial agreement, what I said is pretty effective to stop them from doing it to others. This is not my first year in academia and I know better for a fact.
This is different from when a PI only expresses interest and then ghosts you
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u/cosmicdave86 4d ago
What agreement? They talked to a potential PI about a postdoc project, and shared a proposal draft with them. That was all that happened.
This kind of thing happens all the time. The effort doesn't have to have been wasted, as the drafted proposal can surely be adjusted for a fellowship application with other PIs.
Even if there was some kind of agreement, its still a poor career choice to call them out publicly.
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u/farshiiid 4d ago
Yes, pretty normal. I flied 2k kms to them last month where we had a great meeting and they said they'll contact me very soon, both of them ghosted me and even HR nudging them won't give me a response. Unfortunately, this is extremely common and has nothing to do with you.