Many postdocs are keen to get involved with teaching at the University, and there are a number of different opportunities to do that.
Teaching students at the University of Cambridge
Finding opportunities to teach undergraduates at the University typically requires you to be proactive and make approaches to those responsible for teaching in departments and Colleges.
You may be able to contribute to teaching in departments beyond your own, where there are related topics.
Undergraduates at Cambridge are taught in two ways:
- Lectures – these are organised in departments, contact your department’s teaching office or the academic responsible for teaching in your department to ask about opportunities to deliver lectures.
- Supervisions (teaching groups of 2-6 students) – these are primarily organised by Colleges, contact Directors of Studies in Colleges or lecturers in your department to ask about opportunities to run supervisions.
Further teaching opportunities/resources
Cambridge Online Education delivers online courses in a range of professional subjects, taught by Cambridge researchers and academics.
They recruit postdocs to be paid tutors on their courses running throughout the year.
You can find information about current opportunities, time commitment and remuneration on their website.
If you have any queries regarding the application process, please contact their Tutor Coordinator on uoc.online.tutors@cambridge.org.
The Institute of Continuing Education (ICE) runs courses for those working towards a degree, mid-career professionals, international students, and later life learners.
ICE courses are taught by a panel of tutors, including academics from Cambridge and beyond, and professional experts.
Hourly-paid tutoring assignments are available for University of Cambridge postdocs with expertise in relevant fields. Applications from those new to teaching in higher education will be considered and new tutors will be offered mentoring and support in lesson planning and delivery.
Current opportunities
Ecology and Conservation - a new, open access, level-4 60-credit, fully online certificate.
To apply, please send an up-to-date professional CV and a brief expression of interest to ICE Tutor Recruitment.
Pre-Medical Studies - an open access, level-4 120-credit certificate of higher education.
Expertise in chemistry, particularly aspects relevant to medicine / biomedicine is required. Familiarity with A-level chemistry syllabuses would be advantageous.
To apply, please send an up-to-date professional CV and a brief expression of interest to ICE Tutor Recruitment.
The Bioinformatics Training Facility of the School of Biological Sciences offers a broad range of undergraduate and postgraduate hands-on training courses, focused on bioinformatics and computational biology.
These training activities aim at enabling life scientists to effectively handle and interpret biological data.
These are mainly taught by researchers from the University of Cambridge, with contributions from collaborators from bioinformatics institutes in Cambridge and further afield.
They are always looking for postdocs who are working in bioinformatics and are interested in developing training skills.
Interested postdocs can join their existing pool of trainers, and contribute to delivering existing courses, as well as propose new courses, based on their interests.
Please contact the Bioinformatics Team for more information.
The University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) is seeking postdocs for paid supervising and tutoring roles on their part-time postgraduate courses for mid-career professionals.
They are recruiting supervisors for the MSt in Sustainability Leadership for both Business and the Built Environment, and would be pleased to hear from you if your research is of relevance (or transferable) to some aspect of the sustainability agenda.
They are also recruiting tutors to lead students through the shorter assignments on the Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Business and the MSt Sustainability Leadership.
Applicants should have some experience of working in or with business, or with the built environment, and will be able to articulate the systemic nature of the sustainability challenges that we face.
Please email masters@cisl.cam.ac.uk and attach a CV if you would like to discuss upcoming opportunities at the Institute.
The Cambridge Centre for Teaching and Learning (CCTL) supports staff who teach at the University by providing training, developing networks, and funding innovation.
CCTL provides workshops on different aspects of teaching, as well as accredited educational development programmes at a range of levels for those who teach Cambridge students.
Find out more about teaching workshops and programmes