Between Monday 21st and Friday 25th September, we celebrated Postdoc Appreciation Week at Cambridge.
A fantastic array of events and activities highlighted the diverse postdoc community at Cambridge, showcased the fantastic research that you work on, and recognised the huge contributions that you make to the life and culture of our university.
Here are some highlights!
A Thank You From the Vice-Chancellor
Meet the Postdocs!
Throughout the week we showcased profiles of some of the 4,000 postdocs who make up our community at Cambridge.
We've collected them all here.
Postdoc Academy Podcasts - How can we improve the research culture at Cambridge?
We sat down with Dr Liz Simmonds, Dr Eoin O'Sullivan, and Dr Yi-Ting Chua to discuss research culture - what it is, why there's a problem with it, and what we can all do to make it better - for a special Postdoc Appreciation Week Podcast.
Listen here, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Researcher Development Podcast
Continuing the podcast theme, the Researcher Development team started a new series in conversation with former Cambridge postdocs.
They shed light on how they maximised their time to learn and develop, and share their stories and tips on preparing to transition onto new roles and opportunities.
In this first episode, Dr Pahini Pandya, founder and CEO of Panakeia Technologies, discusses how she continued her research as a postdoc at the University of Cambridge whilst immersing herself in the entrepreneurship community.
Postdoc Research Communications Competition
From a wonderful array of creative entries from postdocs answering the one question they'd love someone to ask about their research, our judging panel had the difficult task of selecting three finalists.
Our warmest congratulations go to the winner Dr Tamsin Spelman, and runners up Dr Clarissa Rios Rojas and Dr Helen Zenner! And a big thank you to everyone who entered, and to our wonderful judging panel.
IfM Postdoctoral Awards
Professor Tim Minshall, Head of the Institute for Manufacturing, announced the winners of the 2020 IfM Postdoctoral Awards.
Congratulations to Dr Georgios Hadjidemetriou, Dr Tariq Masood, and Dr Niamh Fox!
Final Thoughts from Professor Eilís Ferran
Professor Eilís Ferran, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Institutional and International Relations, closed the week with some reflections on research culture and the work that will be done this year at Cambridge and beyond.
And on top of all that we had some great events: PdOC's Big Social Lunch, the Postdocs' Wellbeing Series - Failure Stories, and a Mid-Contract Check-in for postdocs.
Thank you to everyone who got involved in Postdoc Appreciation Week 2020, we hope you enjoyed it!