Postdoctoral researcher forum
10 February 2015
Summary of group discussion
The table below captures areas identified for future discussion by the Postdoctoral
representative forum. The Careers in Research Online Survey (CROS 2015) is likely to
provide information and evidence to inform these discussions and relevant questions have
been highlighted. In some cases, new (institutional) questions are proposed for CROS 2015.
Topic
How to raise the visibility of researchers and their contribution to
the research environment / university
CROS questions
Teaching- ensuring researchers have opportunities to gain
teaching experience that will help them get a job in future – and
that they are getting advice from Schools or mentors on what the
right type of experience is / how much is too much etc.
Q9i & 23m ask about recognition of
teaching and training for teaching. An
additional q could be added:
I have been able to gain teaching
experience that will support me in my
future career (1 to 5 scale and n/a)
Opportunity to add additional questions –
there is already a question on satisfaction
with induction.
Support for international researchers moving to UK (see
Cambridge Office of Postdoctoral Affairs volunteer scheme:
http://www.opda.cam.ac.uk/postdoccentre/volunteer)
Provision of information on variety of career paths open to
postdocs – including which types of funding postdocs are eligible
to apply for (including as Co-I); whether you can apply for
Lectureships without a Fellowship; careers in industry or in
research-related posts (e.g. research management,
communication or policy).
Funding to support skills development (e.g. learning new
programming languages) for employment in other sectors and
opportunities to attend UG / PGT courses in other parts of the
university.
Opportunities for career development more senior postdocs
Peer support and advice from panel members for people writing
grant applications
Usefulness of P&DR process
Q14c, 22b,c, 23a - will consult with RDC /
careers service on potential additional
questions
CROS survey can be sorted by length of
service
Covered in questions 12 to 14 of the
survey
Advice on promotion of CROS survey


Email should outline who will look at results, a timeline for this and subsequent action
(bearing in mind that researchers may only be at the University for another one to three
years and will therefore be more interested in immediate action).
Results and comparison with national results should be communicated to research staff
population by email and on the website