What Every Postdoc Needs to Know

Thinking of starting a postdoc? Want to know how to move on from a postdoc? Or simply want to make the best of your postdoc years? Being a postdoc is not a career ... but it can be the pivotal point in the making of one. This friendly, practical, and occasionally humorous guide to all things postdoc combines the three authors’ vast experience of postdoc careers and personal development.

This is a guide to developing, advancing and furthering yourself and your career. In working through exercises, learning from the experience of others (including the trials and tribulations of the authors), and seeking out information, we hope you will consider what success means on your own terms. In its pages you will find advice on:

• Choosing the right postdoc for you
• Maximising your postdoc contract for personal and professional goals
• Selecting and attaining your next career step (academic or otherwise)

Your postdoc is part of the journey towards a range of career destinations; from an industrial R&D specialist to politician, from lecturer to spin-out Chief Executive, and this book is designed to help you get there. Providing indispensable advice on UK-based postdocs for national and international students, it is perfect for those making exciting transitions (student to postdoc, postdoc to the wide world of careers beyond) or for those who simply want to take their postdoc up a gear.

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Contents:

• Introduction
• Choosing a Postdoc
• The UK Higher Education Scene
• Coming to the UK as a Researcher — With Lessons for Those Going Overseas
• How to Get the Most Out of Your Postdoc
• The Relationship with Your Principal Investigator
• Publish and Prosper
• Teaching and Supervising
• Transferable Skills Development and Taking Opportunities
• Essentials of Effective Networking
• Unpredictable Research — Balancing Risk and Reward
• More Productivity, Less Stress: Relieving the Pressure
• Diversity in Research
• Research Integrity and Ethics
• Taking Responsibility for Your Career and Decision Making
• Careers Beyond Academia
• Fellowships
• The "Lectureship Leap" (Lectureships: What are They and How to Apply)
• How to Write a Winning Curriculum Vitae (CV)
• Interviews and Questions
• Conclusions: What Do We Hope You Know Now?
• Over to You

Readership: National and international postdocs, student to postdoc, postdoc to a career, or for those who simply want to take their postdoc up a gear.
Key Features:

• The author's have a collective wealth of experience working at major research intensive Universities and Institutes
• The material is presented as a workbook building in personal reflection and practical exercises
• It is the book about the UK academic world that everyone expects should have already been written, but never has
• It is down to earth and tells it like it really is — no fancy "development/trainer" language has knowingly been included