The Postdoc Academy liaises closely with internal and external partners to support personal and professional development opportunities for postdocs.
Activities include workshops, seminars and talks to help postdocs navigate the ‘postdoc lifecycle’ alongside leadership, industry collaboration, and Fellowship opportunities for those wishing to make the most of their time in Cambridge.
Researcher Development Programme
The Researcher Development Programme (RDP) provides development opportunities tailored specifically to postdoctoral researchers and research staff.
They offer a programme of workshops centred around personal effectiveness, leadership and communication, teaching and learning, and research and career progression.
Most of the courses in their training calendar take place in one of the Postdoc Centres.
RDP has also collated the wealth of personal development opportunities available to researchers into a user-friendly Researcher Development Hub – where you can find courses organised by application.
Personal and Professional Development
Other training and development opportunities that are open to all staff can be found through the Personal and Professional Development training programme.
Careers Service
The Careers Service offers a specialist service to research staff interested in academic careers as well as a wide range of careers beyond academia. This includes individual appointments, workshops, events, and resources on their website.
Postdocs, JRFs, and holders of research fellowships can use this service – including those employed by the University Partner Institutes.
You can also continue to access their online resources after you have finished your postdoc at Cambridge.
Strategic Research Initiatives and Networks
The Research Strategy Office manages the University’s cross-School Strategic Research Initiatives and Networks and Interdisciplinary Research Centres.
These programmes build on areas of existing research strength by bringing together a critical mass of expertise from across the Schools, with four key aims:
- to address large-scale multi-disciplinary research challenges
- to strengthen research collaborations and knowledge transfer across disciplines
- to increase research capacity and profile by providing a platform for large-scale funding applications, recruitments and international research partnerships
- and to enhance our ability to influence national and international research, policy and funding agendas.
You can find out more about these programmes and how you can get involved on the Research Strategy Office website.
Other Support
In addition to the career management support that you can get from RDP and the Careers Service, postdocs working in biomedical research may find the Medical Research Council’s online tool useful.
Their interactive career framework provides information on possible career and funding pathways in biomedical research within academia and/or industry.