Stored Case Studies

Encouraging “Active Career Management” for PhD Students

Submitted by: Alison Tyson-Capper (alison.tyson-capper@ncl.ac.uk)
Faculty of Medical Sciences (not a School), Institute of Cellular Medicine

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What did you do?

The Institute of Cellular Medicine encourages PhD students to assume active management of their academic careers through a first-year careers event and weekly Institute-wide seminars.

Who is involved?

The ICM Postgraduate Coordinator and the Scientific Director organise the career event annually for first year students and any late starters. Weekly seminars are attended by students and staff from across the Institute.

How do you do it?

The first time that it was held, in June, the careers workshop aimed to encourage students at all stages to be more proactive in the management of their PhDs (e.g., in submitting papers for publication and to conferences). Careers Service also presented during this event. Student feedback was initially mixed; while students appreciated the advice, third year students wished that the event had been held in an earlier stage when they might have done more to manage their academic careers throughout their studies. For example, students would have liked to have known that they could submit their first year literary review for publication. Students also suggested that the advice given by Careers Service was a bit too negative, since it emphasised the challenges of getting an academic position after graduation rather than strategies for working toward that goal. When the event was repeated, therefore, several changes were made. The event is now offered in December for first year students and late starters (those students who were inducted after the previous year’s event). Students are encouraged to take personal leadership roles from the very start of their PhD and to consider themselves “researchers in training.” The event includes a PowerPoint presentation from the Postgraduate Coordinator, which encourages students to think about their methodologies, to contact and visit other institutions working in similar fields, to become members of societies early on, and to attend cross-institution seminars. The presentation also suggests that students should present their work at weekly seminars—whether or not the work is data driven or speculative—and submit papers to prestigious international conferences. Students are, in this way, encouraged to think about their role as a researcher throughout their PhD and not just at the conclusion of their experimental research. The careers event also includes presentations from alumni who tell their stories and explain what it means to take active ownership of one’s academic success. After the presentations, students are encouraged to gather, ask questions, and talk about the suggestions made throughout the event.

Why do you do it?

The Institute wanted to encourage students to perceive their PhD studies as a series of training steps rather than as a single final culminating project. This approach not only puts more emphasis on the process of training and on potential personal and career development along the way, but also helps students not to feel despondent in the case of experimental failure.

Does it work?

Overwhelmingly, the Institute feels that it has been successful in encouraging students to think of themselves as “researchers in training.” Attendance at the first-year careers event is nearly 100%, and weekly seminars are well attended. Students have also been successful in managing their academic careers: numerous students have published first author reviews (including in such publications as Nature and PNAS) and presented at major international conferences, and several students have visited internationally prominent labs to enhance their specific expertise and develop connections with those researchers.

Your title

Encouraging “Active Career Management” for PhD Students

Coherent Curriculum themes

Research-Informed Teaching, Skills and Employability, Student Engagement

Students\' Stage

Postgraduate research

Academic unit

Faculty of Medical Sciences (not a School)

Learning technologies

-

Type of interaction

Up to 50 students in a group

Main trigger for your practice

To try something new

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