Academic Career
After earning his PhD with Professor Petrashov, Geim worked as a research scientist at the Institute for Microelectronics Technology (IMT) at RAS, and from 1990 as a post-doctoral fellow at the universities of Nottingham (twice), Bath, and Copenhagen. He said that while at Nottingham he could spend his time on research rather than have to deal with politics, and determined to leave Russia.
He obtained his first tenured position in 1994, when he was appointed associate professor at Radboud University Nijmegen, where he did work on mesoscopic superconductivity. He later gained Dutch citizenship. One of his doctoral students at Nijmegen was Konstantin Novoselov, who went on to become his main research partner. However, Geim has said that he had an unpleasant time during his academic career in the Netherlands. He was offered professorships at Nijmegen and Eindhoven, but turned them down as he found the Dutch academic system too hierarchical and full of petty politicking. “This can be pretty unpleasant at times,” he says. “It’s not like the British system where every staff member is an equal quantity.”” On the other hand, Geim writes in his Nobel lecture that "In addition, the situation was a bit surreal because outside the university walls I received a warm-hearted welcome from everyone around, including Jan Kees and other academics." (Dr. Jan Kees Maan was the research boss of Geim during his time at Radboud University Nijmegen).
In 2001 he became a professor of physics at the University of Manchester, and was appointed director of the Manchester Centre for Mesoscience and Nanotechnology in 2002, and Langworthy Professor in 2007. Geim's wife and long-standing co-author, Irina Grigorieva, also moved to Manchester as a lecturer. Later they were joined by Novoselov. Since 2007 he has been an EPSRC Senior Research Fellow. In 2010 Radboud University Nijmegen appointed him professor of innovative materials and nanoscience.
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