This workshop will provide participants with the means to plan their careers beyond the PhD. The PhD degree is usually seen as a highly academic qualification providing the graduate with the key skills to become a researcher in academia and the public research sector. However, the opportunities for employment in these sectors have steadily declined and now a PhD graduate would have less than a 10% possibility of finding such a job. The fact is that PhD graduates are highly skilled with advanced capabilities to analyze and solve complex problems. As part of their studies, they learn skills in project management, teamwork, and communication. They develop independence and self-motivation combined with a high level of determination. These are highly valuable skills for all employment sectors and yet there exist barriers put up by many PhD candidates and employers in believing that there is only one employment track possibility - academia.
The key aspects of career planning are:
• Developing a clear plan for a post-career and identifying the means to attain that goal.
• Realism in assessing the career options especially those in academia using existing datasets on career trends for researchers.
• Identifying the key transferable skills that the PhD candidate develops as part of the research process and through taught courses.
• Understanding the drivers governing research careers in Europe (new EU policy on a Research Career Framework and EU Researchers Charter1).
Doctoral candidates themselves must take responsibility for their career development. This is well expressed in the European Charter for Researchers, which states that “Researchers at all career stages should seek to continually improve themselves by regularly updating and expanding their skills and competencies”. They do need support through training and mentorship but ultimately it is their responsibility. They are now in the initial phases of their career and should take a proactive approach to their career development.
There will be three phases to this workshop:
1. Participants providing input that will determine the detailed topics addressed in the workshop.
2. Delivery of the on-site workshop which will be interactive.
3. After the workshop, the option of one-to-one meetings to discuss individual cases.
To whom is the course addressed?
This workshop is targeted at PhD candidates (R1) across all disciplines. It could also be of interest to postdoctoral researchers (R2). The workshop will be a combination of presentation and interaction with participants.