Career guidance for early career researchers in the life sciences and related fields
In addition to positions focused on research or scientific services, it is possible in many countries to have an academic career focused on teaching.
Each country has a unique higher education system and different way of organizing research and teaching within universities, technical universities and other higher education institutions. We recommend resources in the ‘want to learn more’ section below that can help you learn more about teaching-focussed roles in different countries.
Career entry and career progression is highly country-specific and dependent on the relevant national system; in many cases a large proportion of teaching is done by staff on precarious and/or part-time contracts, but some career tracks provide stable positions. There are different national prerequisites for teaching at the university level – in some countries accreditation is required. The application process for positions often requires a dossier of evidence documenting your relevant teaching experience.
In our careers and skills survey, 4 people with academic teaching careers told us the competencies they use most in their daily work The most frequently selected competencies were:
In our careers and skills survey, scientists in academic teaching careers told us that their work:
We highly recommend learning more about the careers using the resources above, then conducting informational interviews to gain further insights directly from former PhDs working in career areas that interest you.
Further internal resources (e.g. library of recorded career talks) can be found on our intranet pages.