New website for aspiring academics

A new website has been developed by Manchester University Careers service  designed to support aspiring academics: An Academic Career – www.manchester.ac.uk/academiccareer

It includes video clips of academics and early career researchers and has sections on:

- “Is an academic career for you?” (looked at from UG/Masters, PhD and post-doc perspectives, separately)

- “About academic careers” (including what do academics do, career paths and a more detailed section on “PhD and beyond”)

- Finding jobs

- Making applications

- Interviews and assessment

Don’t forget, UCL Careers Service also has information on developing your academic career, located in both our Research Student webpages, as well as our Research Staff webpages.

Posted by Calum Leckie, UCL Careers Service

European academic career paths: country specific information

The League of European Research Universities (a consortium of 22 of Europe’s most prominent, research – focussed institutions, of which UCL is a member) has created ‘Academic Career Maps‘ for 9 European countries. The maps are designed to do the following:

The maps show the different research positions available in an institution, the levels of responsibility, how they are funded at each stage and how a researcher may progress from one level to the next.

For those of you hoping to progress your academic career either in the UK or another European country the maps are a quick way of establishing what roles / job titles you should be aiming for and a rough idea of time scales and employment ‘bottlenecks’.

Posted by Calum Leckie, UCL Careers Service

Interested in Working Overseas as a researcher?

The researcher development site, Vitae, has a ‘Working Overseas‘ page dedicated to providing information for those of you who may wish to continue their research careers beyond the UK with some links to useful websites for finding vacancies, as well some resources on arranging short visits abroad. If you need more country specific information then we highly recommend the overseas academic careers page of the UCL Careers Service (Postdoctoral) Research Staff pages. This site contains down-loadable helpsheets with information on country – specific  online resources for planning an academic career, which includes vacancy sources, as well as in-depth survey reports on the academic career structure and employment issues for five selected countries.

Posted by Calum Leckie, UCL Careers Service

Opportunities for arts and humanities researchers in India

I picked up this interesting news item from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) website, published on the 7th of August;

A major new report has been published that offers arts and humanities researchers in the UK a chance to better understand the potential funding and collaborative opportunities available to them in India. Commissioned by the AHRC, on behalf of Research Councils UK, this report presents an overview of the arts and humanities landscape in Inda through mapping the centres of excellence and funders. The report also highlights the strengths and challenges of Indian research in the arts and humanities.

A copy of  the report can be accessed via the RCUK website, but you can download a copy of the document directly, in PDF format, by clicking here. You may also like to check out our own information sheet on Indian research opportunites to be found on the  ‘International Academic Careers’ page of the Research Staff Careers website (www.ucl.ac.uk/researchcareers).

Posted by Calum Leckie, UCL Careers Service

Top Tips for completing a PhD and getting a job after

Amongst a wealth of online careers information specifically for researchers to be found on the Vitae website (Vitae is the national organisation for researcher development)  is a monthly bulletin, called ‘PGR Tips’  on key topics ranging from ‘how to prepare for a Viva’ to ‘effective networking’ and ‘where to find a job’. You can subscribe to these monthly bulletins by visiting the ‘Publications‘ section of the site at www.vitae.ac.uk

Posted by: Calum Leckie, UCL Careers Service

Build your Research Networks Online

Graduate Junction (www.graduatejunction.net) is an established online peer support network  for both postgraduate students and research staff that contains an interesting mix of forum posts, articles on specific research careers and development – related topics and blogs. Recently created are two further, very useful, forums; ‘Careers’ and ‘Enterprise’ that have postings from careers and training professionals with comments from researchers. The site also provides you with networking opportunities: you can up-load you own research profile to the site and join groups who share common research interests.

Posted by Calum Leckie, UCL Careers Service

Top Tips for Gaining a Lectureship

Last summer I attended an event for careers advisers working with University researchers, organised by the Assocation of Graduate Careers Advisery Services (AGCAS) that involved a question and answer session with senior academics who had all been involved in recruiting for new lecturers. Valuable insights were gained on what postdoctoral researchers should be doing to enhance their chances of securing a lectureship with a focus on applications and interviews. There was also discussion on the possibility of career breaks and part time work and issues of when, and even if, you should aim for an academic position. A summary document of this event has now been written (Academic Career Planning from AGCAS). You can also access further resources on academic career planning on our Research Staff careers website.

Calum Leckie

UCL Careers Adviser

Beyond the PhD: A Career Resource for Arts and Humanities PhD Researchers

This excellent online resource allows you to listen to the experiences of those who have been through the PhD in an arts and humanities discipline and made the transition into a variety of work both in academia and beyond. The candid personal reflections of the interviewees on facing challenges, responding to opportunities and reaching decisions are captured in segments of audio-interview. ‘Beyond the PhD’ was shortlisted for the 2009 Times Higher Education ICT Initiative of the Year Award.  Click logo above to access site.

Workshops for PhD Students

A few workshops and sessions coming up over April & May for PhD Students looking develop their Career Related Skills

• 10:00am – 12:00pm on Tue 20 Apr 2010 – Academic Career Planning
• 10:00am – 12:00pm on Wed 5 May 2010 – CV & Application Forms
• 10:00am – 1:00pm on Wed 19 May 2010 -  Interviews and Other Selection Methods

There are only a few places remaining at each.

Sign Up via The Graduate School at http://courses.grad.ucl.ac.uk/course-details.pht?course_ID=940