All Postdoc Academy courses

In the increasingly competitive field of fellowship funding, applications need to stand out immediately to capture reviewers’ interest and to maximise the chance of being funded.

This accelerated session, aimed at early career researchers, highlights key considerations in preparing a strong fellowship application. 

The session explores:

•  desirability, feasibility and viability – planning your project
•  what’s important to the funder
• how applications are assessed
• writing style - how to get noticed
• project, person, place, partners – elements of successful fellowships
• how to plan for impact – ‘so what’ , ‘now what’

The session will have two parts:

• A talk that will last for 45-60 mins
• An opportunity for you to ask your own questions a 30 min Q&A.  

The Speaker: Richard Henning Brodersen, Research Development Manager, Research Operations Office Richard leads the pre-award team for the School of Technology at Cambridge University. He has over 10 years’ experience supporting and co-writing research funding applications including fellowships, research grants and industry collaborations for a wide range of funders across the arts, humanities and sciences. Prior to working in higher education Richard had a successful career in financial consultancy and in the further education sector.

Be sure to check out the other sessions in our Postdocs Masterclass series in the "Related Courses" section below!

This event is for postdocs near the mid-point of their current contract at Cambridge.

The session has been designed specifically for postdocs at this key career stage and the aim is help you to position yourself for the next stage of your career (in academia or otherwise). The session provides an opportunity for you to reflect on your professional development activities so far and share experiences with others at a similar stage. The session will include information, guidance and tools to support you in your next steps by focusing on future goals and how you can use the remainder of your time to work towards them.  

This interactive online session will be broken down into 3 sections: 

1. Reflecting on your professional development activities to date and identifying further development you would like to achieve during the rest of your contract.

2. Sharing ideas of how to achieve your development goals with other mid-contract postdocs whilst focusing on key professional development topics specific for postdocs and sources of information, advice and support across the university.

3. Creating an individual action plan to ensure you know when and how to take the next steps during the remaining time as a postdoc.   These 3 sections will be covered in the first hour of the session. The final half hour will be open for those who wish to ask related questions and engage in informal discussion with the facilitators and other participants.

The event will be facilitated by members of the Postdoc Academy, the Postdoc Researcher Development Team and Postdoc Careers Service. By the end of the session, you will have created your own set of actions to help guide you in your next steps.    Please complete this form: https://forms.office.com/r/dc6Fn39Q9U so that we can learn a bit about you and where you are in your career planning/professional development journey in advance of the event. This will help us to tailor the session to suit the current needs of participants. Your registration for this session will be approved upon our receipt of this form

This event is open to you if you are at the mid-point of your postdoc contract at Cambridge. The aim is help you to position yourself for the next stage of your career (in academia or otherwise) at a key point in your postdoc journey by reflecting on your professional development activities so far and giving you some guidance and tools to support you in reaching your future career goals. The event will be facilitated by members of the Postdoc Academy, the Postdoc RD Team and Careers Service. You will also meet staff members from other University services who offer resources for postdocs. At the end of the session, you will have a set of actions to help guide you in your next steps.

Please complete this form: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=RQSlSfq9eUut41R7TzmG6ZPfIemFCGBMhayWndtGTfJURTdDTEhaOU9LOFdUUFYxVEpaN0QzSFcxUC4u so that we can learn a bit about you and where you are in your career planning/professional development journey in advance of the event so that we can tailor the session accordingly. Your registration for this session will be approved upon our receipt of this form.

The postdoc RD team offer one-to-one meetings online for all postdocs. These meetings will be tailored to your individual needs and provide an opportunity to consider and discuss a variety of topics relating to learning, skills and personal development. This is not an exhaustive list but areas for discussion could include:

Managing your time whilst working from home

Collaborating effectively

Maintaining resilience and coping strategies

Reflecting on and identifying your key areas for development

Each meeting will last for up to 45 minutes and will be conducted online using MS Teams.

Please Note: If you wish to discuss your career options specifically then, in the first instance, we advise that you look at the Postdoc Careers Service website for further information: https://www.careers.cam.ac.uk/careers-support-postdocs

Have you heard of the new 'Narrative CV' structure? Funders are increasingly using it in their calls, and you may begin to notice it in job recruitment, too.

If you have not worked with this format before, or if you have but feel there is room to improve, this workshop is for you.

We will:

• discuss what to put in each section
• help you develop your writing style
• introduce various tools and approaches to deal with the block of a blank page
• work with peers to help shape a successful narrative.

Crucially, you will leave this writing retreat having started an initial draft that you can polish and use for future applications.

A must-attend virtual session with information tailored to postdocs in Cambridge, whether University-based or employed by Colleges or Research Institutions.

At this event, you will be given information about:

• Your contract
• Professional development and the Careers Service
• How to connect to the wider postdoc community at Cambridge
• You will also meet representatives from various University services who may be helpful to you while you are working in Cambridge.

The Postdoc Academy provides welcome events specific to postdocs joining the University of Cambridge - these are open to postdocs affiliated with the University, Colleges and University Partner Institutes.

These sessions include presentations from the Postdoc Academy, PdOC, Careers Service and HR, followed by a Q&A and then themed networking.

You will be given information on how to navigate life as a researcher in Cambridge and then have the opportunity to network with other new postdocs and University services.

During the session, postdocs will learn about:

• interacting with the Postdoc Academy
• attending professional development activities and accessing the Careers Service
• connecting to the wider postdoc community at Cambridge
• accessing resources available to postdocs as staff members.

Please note: it is important that when you book this course, on the booking confirmation page, select Add to Calendar to start importing the appointment to your calendar.

If you have any questions or problems with signing-up, please email welcome.pda@admin.cam.ac.uk.

Philip Guildford, Director of Research for the Department of Engineering will offer a unique perspective on the life of postdocs during this engaging interactive session.

A series of discussions with Cambridge University Press. Find out about the University’s own publisher and hear first-hand how the world of publishing has changed. Be surprised by the innovative products that are being developed here in Cambridge. Meet the people leading these developments and have your opportunity to shape their plans.

A brief overview of Cambridge University Press, top tips on getting your book or journal article published, and a chance to tell us how you would like to shape publishing in the future.

Cambridge Enterprise

Postdocs: Researcher Development & Support (one-to-one sessions)

The postdoc RD team are offering one-to-one meetings online for all postdocs. These meetings will be tailored to your individual needs and provide an opportunity to consider and discuss a variety of topics relating to learning, skills and personal development. This is not an exhaustive list but areas for discussion could include:

• Managing your time whilst working from home
• Collaborating effectively
• Maintaining resilience and coping strategies
• Reflecting on and identifying your key areas for development

Each meeting will last for up to 45 minutes and, given the present circumstances relating to Covid-19, will be conducted online using Teams.

The Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellows (DHFs), will discuss their experience with the Royal Society’s funding schemes.

This talk will be relevant to final-year PhD students and researchers from postdoctoral level upwards working in life and physical sciences (excluding clinical medicine) and engineering. The presentation will cover Early Career Fellowship schemes, Senior Fellowship schemes, Innovation schemes, Research Capacity/Infrastructure schemes, and Collaboration and Travel schemes.

Academic writing can be a challenging endeavour often carried out in isolation. Writing groups can offer a supportive environment of peers working toward similar goals, as well as structure and dedicated time and space conducive to writing productively. Regular participation in a writing group can hone your skills and keep you accountable to your goals via regular peer feedback. It can also create networking opportunities within and across subject disciplines.

The focus of this workshop is on creating and running writing groups, but it is also suitable for those who are interested in participating in writing groups and want to get the most out of their experience. We will cover the potential formats and aims a writing group might wish to pursue and provide some tips and tools for facilitating writing workshops and managing group dynamics.

During this workshop, you will also have the opportunity to network with participants from King’s College London.

Facilitators: This workshop will be delivered by Tom Rusbridge (King’s College London Centre for Research Staff Development) and Nicole Horst (University of Cambridge Postdoc Academy). They will be joined by Camice Revier (Department of Psychiatry) who will share her experiences of setting up and running the successful Cambridge Virtual Academic Writing Group.

A fun evening of networking, pizza and beer. Postdocs will quickly pitch their current research ideas to other postdocs using a “speed-dating” format, followed by networking. Express your research ideas to postdocs who might be from outside of your field and potentially forge new interdisciplinary collaborations! The Head of Office of Postdoctoral Affairs will provide information on funding for interdisciplinary research.

Would you like to make professional connections with postdocs across the University of Cambridge?

Join our facilitated speed networking event to build your own network and make interdisciplinary connections with fellow researchers around the University.

This session will include:

• advice and guidance on networking
• allocated groups to allow participants to meet each other
• ice-breaker themes and conversation-starters at each networking station
• time to talk afterwards with people you have met during the session.

There will also be the opportunity to have a tour of the Postdoc Centre and information about other Postdoc Academy events and resources.

Do you have a deadline coming up or a piece of writing that’s long overdue? Or maybe some data analysis that just keeps slipping to the bottom of your to-do list?

Alongside everything else that needs to fit in with our busy research lives, it can be hard to schedule devoted time in which to sit, think, and write. Our online retreats give you time, peace, and space to fend off procrastination and beat writer's block. Each session will provide a friendly and constructive environment in which to meet like-minded peers, discuss challenges and work in a focused way using the established Pomodoro technique.

These virtual retreats are being hosted collaboratively across a number of institutions over the summer months. You can book to attend as many or as few as you like. The table below lists the retreats that are currently planned. Additional dates and times will be added as they become available.

Most people find taking decisions and action under uncertain conditions challenging, and some find it daunting. There are practical ways to cope with uncertainty and make it less crippling, including simple techniques which can be trained and implemented in our daily lives. Once these skills have been acquired, we can even learn to have uncertainty work to our advantage, using it to fuel creativity and problem solving and to boost team work.

This workshop is an opportunity to experience uncertainty in a safe environment and learn to get comfortable with thinking on our feet. We will borrow tools from improvisation theatre and cognitive sciences to help you experiment with uncertainty and learn strategies for harnessing it to your benefit.

Feedback from postdocs who attended the training in July 2021:

• Really great experience. Mostly, I think it helps a lot with confidence and also with tuning your listening skills and your respect for what others said and do. You can't predict things and need to embrace them as they come, and this is so useful in both personal and work life.
• I found this workshop was a very fun way to spend two hours. But more than that I liked the positive messages it gave for approaching my research - e.g. sometimes it’s best not to overthink but go with the obvious, or if things go wrong (even repeatedly) just forget about them and keep trying something new.

The Speaker: Ron Jortner is a neuroscientist, entrepreneur, and professional improviser. He completed his PhD at Caltech and the Hebrew University, and held positions at the Max Planck Society and the MRC Laboratory for Molecular Biology. He lives in Cambridge, is founder and CEO of Aspire Biosciences, managing director of Masthead Biosciences, and artistic director of the Cambridge University Science Improv Society.

Most people find taking decisions and action under uncertain conditions challenging, and some find it daunting. There are practical ways to cope with uncertainty and make it less crippling, including simple techniques which can be trained and implemented in our daily lives. Once these skills have been acquired, we can even learn to have uncertainty work to our advantage, using it to fuel creativity and problem solving and to boost team work.

This workshop is an opportunity to experience uncertainty in a safe environment and learn to get comfortable with thinking on our feet. We will borrow tools from improvisation theatre and cognitive sciences to help you experiment with uncertainty and learn strategies for harnessing it to your benefit.

The Speaker: Ron Jortner is a neuroscientist, entrepreneur, and professional improviser. He completed his PhD at Caltech and the Hebrew University, and held positions at the Max Planck Society and the MRC Laboratory for Molecular Biology. He lives in Cambridge, is founder and CEO of Masthead Biosciences, and artistic director of the Cambridge University Science Improv Society.

Be sure to check out the other sessions in our Postdocs Masterclass series in the "Related Courses" section below!

If you are considering applying for an early career fellowship (postdoc fellowship and/or career development fellowship), this is the event for you. Dr Candace Hassall, Head of Researcher Affairs at the Wellcome Trust, will share insights gained from working for one of the UK’s top funders of academic research and from sitting on a range of selection panels for research funding. You will learn which questions to ask yourself both when thinking about applying and when preparing your application. Her advice is general and relevant to all disciplines.

Nicole Horst (RD/PdA) and Anne Forde (Careers Service) will co-host.

This workshop, facilitated by the Faculty of Education’s Library Team, will take you from the basics to best practice, while offering advice and support. The team will demonstrate how to navigate the conversations and interactions that are developing within and linking the academic community. These connections are not just among individuals, but also include conference and event pages, journals, institutes and research bodies.

Representatives from the Postdoc Academy, Human Resources, the Researcher Development Programme, Accommodation Services and the Careers Service are hosting another Zoom session to address your questions as the coronavirus situation continues to develop. ​We have already been fielding questions about furlough, life after lockdown, balancing working from home with parental duties, how to work effectively from home and many other topics, so please ask us anything that you would like to know.

Whether or not you are able to join us, we welcome your anonymous questions via this form https://forms.gle/vMLZGctn1AADCaS86 between now and 5th February, as these will give us valuable insight into how our postdoc community is coping during the current situation and whether we can be providing further clarity, reassurance and support.

Do you have a deadline coming up or a piece of writing that’s long overdue? Or maybe some data analysis that just keeps slipping to the bottom of your to-do list?

Alongside everything else that needs to fit in with our busy research lives, it can be hard to schedule devoted time in which to sit, think, and write. Our online retreats give you time, peace, and space to fend off procrastination and beat writer's block. Each session will provide a friendly and constructive environment in which to meet like-minded peers, discuss challenges and work in a focused way using the established Pomodoro technique.

This Academic Writing Month we invite you to bring along your virtual self and dedicate 2.5 hours to writing in a supportive setting with colleagues from institutions across the UK. There will be time to discuss your writing goals and make new connections.

There are four sessions (3rd, 10th, 17th, and 24th November). You may sign up for one or multiple sessions.

These sessions are being hosted by King's College London and will be facilitated by Dr Jessica Davidson, Research Staff Development and Engagement Officer in the KCL Centre for Research Staff Development

An introduction to REF 2021, providing an overview of the exercise and its importance to the University. Focus will be given to eligibility requirements for individual researchers and how the University aims to ensure that all eligible staff are considered during REF preparations.