Considering a Career at an Independent Research Institution
As a scientific researcher, you likely are familiar with what a career path would look like conducting research in academia, industry or government, but you may be less familiar with the wide variety of independent research institutes that exist and also employ PhD scientists at various career stages, including as postdoctoral fellows, staff scientists and independent researchers.
You can learn more here about the considerations of seeking a role at an Independent Research Institute:
This article from Nature highlights the experience of a scientist conducting their postdoc training at the Van Andel Institute (VAI) in Grand Rapids, Michigan. While this article from ASBMB highlights what a career at an independent research institute might look like.
You can read more about Independent Research Institutes and see a list of appx 80 US-based member organizations at the Association of Independent Research Institutes (AIRI)
This table was created to help you sort independent research institutions listed on the AIRI website in the context of geographic location and research focus. Please let us know if you discover errors or omissions in the data provided (ashley.brady@vanderbilt.edu)
All_Research_Institutes and locations_Jan 2026