I disagree with this answer. You added the word "academic" before "research position", even though that's not what the OP asked. There's plenty of companies that regularly hire plenty of physics researchers without PhDs or even undergraduate degrees: Xanadu, Zapata, 1Qbit, or any one of 100+ more companies.

@BryanKrause what's your point?

@user1271772 unfortunately for the OP their research interest are not well-aligned with industry research. They might find an industry research position (I never claimed otherwise) but it will not involve relativity or basic E&M. Now you’re entitled to disagree but this answer was accepted so whatever assumption it contains must have been close to the assumptions of the OP.

@ZeroTheHero thanks for your response. I still disagree with your cynical response to the OP (and I think you did to some extent too, which is why you added the word "academic" before "research position", which makes your answer more accurate than it would otherwise be). The companies that I mentioned are as "academic" as it gets, and publish more well-respected physics papers per month than many universities do, and one of them hired a 2nd year undergrad for a field in which relativity is highly relevant.

@user1271772 well… no you don’t need relativity to work at Xanadu, and research in quantum computing is nowhere near the areas in which the OP published.

… and I may add that a research intern position (which is typically not a permanent position) is NOT what the OP appears to have in mind

@ZeroTheHero no one said that relativity is needed to work at Xanadu. You are putting words in my mouth.

@user1271772 sorry if I misunderstood your “a field in which relativity is highly relevant”.

@ZeroTheHero you and I both know that "highly relevant" is different from "needed". I think you didn't "misunderstand" me as much as you changed what I said in order to fit your narrative.

@user1271772 let me clarify that I do not think that knowledge of relativity is particularly relevant to get an internship at Xanadu.

@ZeroTheHero why is that? Do you work in the same field? I do.

@user1271772 I’m disappointed you should think my answer is cynical. The reality is that the chances of the OP are next to nil, simply because the number of applicants for research positions is vastly greater than the number of positions.

@user1271772 I'm really glad to hear you have a job in this area. It's an area of growth and I certainly encourage all my students to seriously consider quantum information/computing/science as a career. However, there is nothing to indicate the OP is interested by this field...

@ZeroTheHero thanks for moving the conversation to chat. I never said that the OP is interested in this field, but I was giving Xanadu and other similar institutions as examples of employers that hire researchers without PhDs (100s of them per year, just look at the CV of Valentin Senicourt for example, in fact Pooyah Ronagh and Aramn Zarabafiyan were PhD students when they became leaders of research teams at 1Qubit).

yeah but we're talking about two different things here. Quantum information is a hot topic and because it is in the phase of transitioning between university labs to industry labs there are plenty of young people with the energy and the expertise to make their mark in this area.

But that's exactly what I'm trying to say: I think it was overly cynical to tell the person that he has no hope of getting a research job.

I guess we have to agree to disagree on this one.

Why?

because there's on indication that the OP is interested in this.

@ZeroTheHero Valentin Senicourt's CV points to a degree in a CS related area, and no physics training at all, and yet he has exactly the type of job doing academic research that OP is seeking. OP has plenty of physics experience.

sure. CS is extremely relevant to quantum information.

As is physics!

on a side note: your link is interesting as (AFAIK) Dattani has left academia/research

What link?

@user1271772 this link

What makes you say that Dattani left academia (which you then edited to say academia/research)?

see ocwa.com/content/nike-dattani

@ZeroTheHero where does it say that he left academia/research?

Board members of Crown corporations are part-time volunteers.

that's not how I understood this job but you could be right.

6 papers in 2023 suggests "active research"!

well I stand corrected.

The point of the link to the MMSE answer, was that relativity is important in quantum chemistry calculations, especially for molecules involving atoms heavier than krypton, and instead of explaining it all over again, I just pointed you to that answer that was written about 1 hour before I first read your post on Academia.SE.

The undergrad student that worked at Xanadu, has a first-author paper on Google Scholar (2022) in this field (quantum chemistry). Most if not all of these "quantum computing" companies are doing quantum chemistry these days.

Xanadu is into solid state as a matter of fact.

we're moving off topic.

My point is simply: from the profile of the OP, and the question as originally phrased, it did seem to me the OP was looking for an academic research position.

@ZeroTheHero I think you are! I don't see how the fact that they're "into solid state" is relevant!

There is no relativistic chemistry effect in their devices.

I have to get my evening organized... sorry.

@ZeroTheHero I think now we're getting somewhere. I have a slight issue with people who think that the only type of "academic research position" is one at a university.

@ZeroTheHero no one said that their devices have relativistic chemistry effects, I'm saying that they are interested in doing quantum chemistry calculations, which is something for which relativity is related (if not absolutely necessary in many cases).

@ZeroTheHero okay, have a good evening!

Lots of visitors here, hello @S.Catterall and @user1937198!