About the Postdoc Academy

The Postdoc Academy is the lead organisation within the University of Cambridge with a focus on the postdoc community. Our mission is to enable Cambridge postdocs to realise their potential.

We work towards this aim through four pillars of activity:

  • Information - bringing postdocs the information they need, when they need it.
  • Community - fostering a sense of belonging for all postdocs.
  • Advocacy - working with the community to solve issues.
  • Professional Development - helping postdocs develop for their current role and beyond.

Find out more about the work we do in each of these areas:

We aim to deliver the most relevant information to postdocs in an accessible way through a range of events and communications.

This primarily includes:

  • the Postdoc Bulletin - a weekly newsletter with links to upcoming events, opportunities and updates for postdocs
  • the Postdoc Calendar - which gathers all postdoc-oriented events around the University into one place so that you can search and filter to find what you're interested in
  • Postdoc Welcome Events - for new postdocs to help you find all the services and resources around the University that are here to help you as a postdoc
  • Information Events - where you'll get postdoc-specific information from experts on visas and immigration, pensions, and the Researcher Development Concordat
  • Podcasts - talking to fellow postdocs and other members of the University about topics and issues relevant to you
  • LinkedIn - sharing updates for and from the postdoc community, including professional development content, postdoc spotlights, job adverts, college affiliations, and more.

 

We provide opportunities and spaces for postdocs to create meaningful connections:

We work in close partnership with postdoc groups, research networks, and other University services.

Our current priorities for this area of work are:

  • identifying the whole community to make sure as many postdocs as possible have the information they need
  • finding new ways to work with our colleagues in other University services to improve the services provided for you
  • forming networks to amplify the postdoc voice in University decision-making
  • improving your postdoc spaces and creating more ways for you to interact with us and each other.

 

We work closely with key postdoc groups, as well as with individuals and through surveys and focus groups, to understand the lived experience of Cambridge postdocs.

When opportunities arise for postdocs to serve on committees and working groups, we advertise them on our Postdoc Representation webpage.

 

We create and deliver resources and programmes to support the development of researchers beyond their current research project.

This primarily includes:

 

In 2013, the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs was established to better support the then 2,800 postdocs in Cambridge. A year later, the first Postdoc Centre was opened at 16 Mill Lane.

This was a recognition of the vital and growing significance of postdoctoral staff to the University’s success – and part of major commitments that the University has made to postdoc support.

Since then, we have opened two further centres and our flagship Postdoc Centre at Eddington is fully embedded in the local community, which houses over 750 University staff and their families.

We have seen our population of postdocs grow to around 4,200, a reflection of a trend across the UK, where there are now estimated to be 75-80,000 postdocs nationwide.

In 2020, the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs changed its name to the Postdoc Academy.

This signifies not only the ever-expanding offerings of the Academy and its importance in the development and shaping of policy, but also the ways in which we support, alongside our national and international partners, the next generation of researchers to adapt to the challenges facing the planet today.

Find out more in our 2021 report on the first seven years of postdoc support at Cambridge.