Careers Beyond Academia

• Tutor: Dr Ines Perpetuo & Dr Anna Seabourne - Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: May
• Visit our online calendar or course webpage to find out about scheduled courses

Overview

This course is designed to equip you with the skills and resources you need to achieve success as a postdoc and launch your career as a researcher. It is a three-day online course for postdocs in their first two years.

In a structured and supportive environment facilitated by experienced trainers, you will gain a thorough understanding of your career options and develop tools and techniques to help you set and reach a series of short, medium, and long-term goals to maximise your success as a postdoc and plan for your next step.

Key areas

• Examine what makes a successful postdoc
• Develop strategies to move toward research independence
• Learn techniques for working successfully with your PI
• Research your career options
• Build a toolkit to plan your career
• Set clear and robust goals to ensure success for you and your work

• Tutor: Caroline Broad - Independent Consultant
• Usually scheduled: February
• Visit our online calendar or course webpage to find out about scheduled courses

Overview

Are you working on projects in collaboration with industry? Would you like to improve your creative thinking skills and the tools to manage the projects they create?

This workshop is for you if you are looking to develop your understanding of the priorities of industry when working in a collaboration with academia, if you are looking for a move into industry (including not for profit) or you want to improve your basic project management skills. The aim is to develop project management skills in the context of industry academia collaborations (IAC).

In this workshop we explore a formal project development process from idea inception through to project implementation.  You will practice project management tools and techniques and discuss cognitive and behavioural skills needed to implement them. We will discuss current UK industry, government (BIS) and research council expectations of IAC and the existing funding opportunities. The skills learned will support your effective interactions and well-managed projects with industry.

Key areas

• Industry expectations of academia in collaborations
• An introduction to creative thinking and problem solving
• Effective project planning and implementation – team, task, individual
• Core project management tools

What have past participants found most useful?

"I liked the way the trainer made you think deeply about a few of the topics (Postdoc, Materials)"

"Combination of innovation, project management, people - great focus! (Postdoc, Public Health)"

"The application of business theory to academic research (Postdoc, Health, Social Care and Education)"

• Tutor: Dr Madelaine Chapman, Careers Service
• Usually scheduled: November, May
• Visit our online calendar or course webpage to find out about scheduled courses

Overview

Interviews outside academia are often quite different to academic job interviews. In this session, you will learn what to expect and how to prepare for these types of interview. Whatever job you are applying for, this session will give you the tools to prepare well and go into the interview confidently to perform at your best.

• Tutor: Caroline Broad - Independent Consultant
• Usually scheduled: December
• Visit our online calendar or course webpage to find out about scheduled courses

Overview

Meetings are so often unproductive, with unclear objectives.  In this interactive workshop, you will develop a more effective approach to meetings.

Key Areas

We will explore best practice on how to:

• Not have meetings!
• Develop buy-in of key meeting stakeholders
• Create positive communication pre and post-meeting
• Facilitate the engagement of all attendees

We will develop your key skills in:

• Meeting facilitation
• Decision making
• Listening
• Questioning

• Tutor: Dr Madelaine Chapman, Careers Service
• Usually scheduled: February, June
• Visit our online calendar or course webpage to find out about scheduled courses

Overview

Are you interested in moving out of academia and into a different career? In this course, you will learn how to approach a career change in a positive way.

This includes how to research your options, network, and approach making decisions.

The course will cover some of the typical careers that postdocs move into and give information on how to work out what would suit you best.

• Tutor: Dr Anna Seabourne - Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: June
• Visit our online calendar or course webpage to find out about scheduled courses

Overview

Planning for success beyond your postdoc is designed to help experienced postdocs (usually with two to four years of postdoc experience) to take their next career step, academic or otherwise.

During the course, you will be encouraged to explore your career options and develop an action plan to achieve the next step whilst enhancing your job application and interview skills.

Key areas

• Reflect on the career choices you have made to date
• Review the skills and expertise you have acquired as a postdoc and identify gaps
• Develop strategies to move towards research independence
• Set clear and robust goals to achieve career progression
• Build a toolkit to search for jobs
• Prepare your CV for academic and non-academic jobs
• Construct an effective job application
• Refine your interview skills

• Tutor: Caroline Broad – Independent Consultant
• Usually scheduled: November, January
• Visit our online calendar or course webpage to find out about scheduled courses

Overview

Effective project management (PM) is about creating a balance between task, team and individual.  In this course, we will complete a project initiation document, which will introduce you to the PM language and concepts.  We will practice core project management tools, including SWOT analysis and work breakdown schedules and discuss stakeholder communication and people management skills.

It is a practical rather than theoretical course and you will be encouraged to apply the skills and knowledge developed. The course is delivered by a professional skills trainer and project manager who continues to deliver projects in both a commercial and academic setting.

Key areas

• Develop your organisational skills
• Gain insight into commercial project management techniques and applications
   

• Tutor: Dr Tracy Bussoli and Stefanie Edler-Wollstein – Imperial College London
• Visit our online calendar or course webpage to find out about scheduled courses

Overview

Making the move from working with others on research projects to managing and directing your own independently funded programme requires more than an excellent research record. Our research has shown that new Principal Investigators are concerned with management issues: time, staff and funding being the major hurdles.

This one-day course for aspiring Principal Investigators will enable you to explore some of these issues by working through a series of real-life examples to develop a personal plan for managing your first research group. At the end of the course day, participants are invited to a drinks reception followed by a celebratory dinner (finish time 20.30).

Key areas

• Identify your personal strengths, weaknesses, values, and motivations
• Examine a variety of leadership and management approaches
• Explore recruitment methods to attract and recruit the right people
• Learn practical techniques to prioritise and manage your time successfully
• Define and create a research profile for your laboratory or group

• Tutor: Caroline Hargreaves, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: April, October
• Visit our online calendar or course webpage to find out about scheduled workshops

The aim of this course is to give you a better understanding of what assertiveness is and identify those situations where assertiveness skills are required. We will also explore how to behave assertively in appropriate situations.

You will get to try out being assertive using case studies as examples.

• Tutor: former Researchers from Imperial
• Usually scheduled: monthly
• Keep an eye out for talks advertised through our communication channels and events feed.

ECRI invites former Imperial Postdocs and Fellows to talk about their new roles, their motivations and transition period and to share their experience of applying and interviewing for a role other than research in academia.

• Tutor: Dr Inês Perpétuo, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: April, October
• Visit our online calendar or course webpage to find out about scheduled workshops

You know who you are and what are your achievements and successes, but how do you communicate them to others?

This workshop aims to strengthen your ability to promote yourself and your research in interviews and funding applications, for jobs through the CV, as well as on social media.

There will be time to cover interview pitches and the use of social media beyond science communication. We are going to cover the why and how to increase your visibility and some strategies to overcome perceived or real barriers, both online and offline.

This workshop will have some interactive aspects as we will work on short pitches with the aim of getting people to the stage of wanting to know more about you.

• Tutor: Careers Service Consultants, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: June, December
• Visit our online calendar or course webpage to find out about scheduled workshops

CVs for jobs beyond academia are different to typical academic CVs. In this course you will learn how to create a CV that will stand out to recruiters when applying beyond academia. Whatever direction you are pursuing, we have lots of tips and techniques to help you to be successful on the job market.

• Tutor: Robert Scott, Data Protection Officer, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: October
• Visit our online calendar or course webpage to find out about scheduled workshops

This session will be an introduction to GDPR and how Imperial has been implementing the required changes with a particular focus on research activities. It will explain the law in brief, the relevance to postdocs and fellows, and what the College is doing to assist staff to ensure their compliance. 

• Tutor: Dr Inês Perpétuo, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: May, November
• Visit our online calendar or course webpage to find out about scheduled workshops

LinkedIn is a professional networking platform that can be used to increase your online visibility. A professional online presence is important as 64% of employers check future employees' LinkedIn profile during the recruitment process. 

During this workshop we will: 

• discuss the sections of a LinkedIn profile, top tips on creating an effective profile, and what makes LinkedIn a great platform to showcase your career goals and achievements. 
• practise writing some sections of your own profile and thinking about what to include in others. 
• receive hints and tips on how to network with potential employers and how to take advantage of job adverts that you can find on LinkedIn. 

You don’t need to have a LinkedIn profile already, but it would be helpful if you set up an account in advance.

• Tutor: Emma Francis, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: January, May, September
• Visit our online calendar or course webpage to find out about scheduled workshops

This interactive workshop is designed to help researchers take control of their career development—whether within academia or beyond. Through guided reflection, practical exercises, and peer discussion, you will:

• Develop your individual career plan
• Explore strategies for career progression
• Identify opportunities to make the most of your 10 Development Days

Whether you're just starting out or considering your next steps, this session will support you in making intentional, informed choices about your career path.

• Tutor: Dr Caroline Hargreaves, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: March, September
• Visit our online calendar or course webpage to find out about scheduled workshops

• How do I start networking?
• How can I get some tips and practice to network better?

This course with preparatory activities considers good practice and tips to develop techniques for effective networking.

• Tutor: Societal Engagement Team, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: January
• Visit our online calendar or course webpage to find out about scheduled workshops

In this masterclass run by Imperial’s Public and Community Engagement team (open to both Imperial doctoral students and staff), participants gain an understanding of the value of public engagement activities as a pathway to research impact and how embedding these in applications for funding can strengthen their chances of success. It is particularly relevant for anyone involved in developing funding proposals involving public engagement with research.

• Tutor: Dr Inês Perpétuo, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: February, August
• Visit our online calendar or course webpage to find out about scheduled workshops

This foundational workshop provides an insight into understanding research impact and the practical steps you can take to make an impact through your research. This will help you to get the most out of your time at Imperial for your research and your future career – be that inside or outside academia. During this course you will follow a case study to guide you through planning your own pathway to impact, whilst learning about the training and events available to help you develop the skills and knowledge you need to meet your impact goals.