Plan communications

29 minutes : 5 minutes reading | 24 minutes video

On this page:

Communicating Prosper
Comms toolkit
Branding
Video content
Terminology

Communicating Prosper

Whether you’re looking to run a workshop drawing on a specific Prosper resource, running a full-blown cohort, or simply wanting to signpost Prosper to postdocs at your institution, communication is key.

The comms toolkit is a library of ready-made, downloadable and editable materials for helping you to promote Prosper to postdocs, managers and other stakeholders within your organisation. You can also find information and artwork files relating to the Prosper brand.

Finally, you can also find various promotional videos about Prosper here, along with some details about terminology used in Prosper around postdoc career development.

Comms toolkit

Here you can find promotional materials, containing information about the Prosper model and the resources available on the portal. Designed for free use by institutional representatives to communicate Prosper to postdocs, managers of researchers, and other stakeholders within their organisation.

The comms toolkit includes non-video and video content.

Below are also 50/100/150 word descriptions of Prosper for when you need to quickly explain what Prosper is, for postdocs, managers of researchers, or staff responsible for postdoc career development at Higher Education institutions:

Non-video content

Click here to download the full non-video content comms kit as a zip file.

The graphic below gives a picture of how Prosper is being used across the sector, and can be downloaded here: Prosper UK map (.png)

Below are some key stats regarding the Prosper rollout in 2024. This can also be downloaded here: Prosper in 2024 (.png)

Branding

Information and downloadable artwork files relating to the Prosper brand. Logos, iconography artwork, branded-templates, colour schemes and brand guidance can all be found here:

Prosper branding Blue Arrow right

Video content

Prosper overview animation

Prosper Practice Exchange 2025 highlights:

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We are at the Kimpton Clock Tower Hotel in Manchester

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for the Prosper Practice Exchange event,

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which is an opportunity for colleagues from across the

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sector who are utilizing the Prosper model to come along,

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share, practice, learn from each other, and collaborate.

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We know that our postdocs are really neglected component

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part of our workforce, and so really having that emphasis on

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how we support their development,

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but how we do it in a way which removes the idea

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that a career out with academia is a failure.

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One of the main benefits for us is around that it is there

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as a resource that people can tap into in their own space

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and, and in their own time.

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Something that someone said really is that they like having

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that independence in terms of their own development,

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but also that it’s a reliable source

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of information for them to explore.

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We also know from cohorts that, um, lots

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of the learnings done by talking to peers

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and having that wide group

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of individuals from across the region brings a lots

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of different perspectives and really gives ’em a sense

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of what’s unique to their institution

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and what might be actually something

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that’s common a across the sector.

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So what’s great about it’s,

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we’re actually giving up our postdocs a regional network,

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which they may not have been exposed to before.

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The fact that we’re bringing them to each location

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and we get them to see what it’s like on each campus

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and get a sense for it, what that journey’s like,

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which can be really helpful when they think about their

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career and the locations that

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they could have that career in.

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We have a huge number of talented staff who are often on,

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uh, very short programs of work,

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and so they are expending energy on trying to think about

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where their next job is coming from.

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This one accords value to their talent,

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but also equips them with career management skills,

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which they haven’t had before.

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We’re running our second Prosper cohort program this

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spring, and I think the benefits of it is having

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that dedicated time and space

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to focus on your career development

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and also having that space

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to really think about your values, your skills,

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and how they can be further developed

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and aligned to your future career.

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What’s been really interesting is here about

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how people who’ve used the resources

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and been through the cohorts of Prosper Researchers,

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they become kind of advocates for it

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and they spread the message so that you can build it up

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and develop it even further.

Prosper Practice Exchange 2025 short clip #2:

Prosper portal animation

Prosper Practice Exchange 2025 short clip #1:

Prosper sector launch video #1

Prosper sector launch video #2

Prosper sector launch video #3

Prosper sector launch video #4

Postdoc career development with Prosper (testimonials) #1

Postdoc career development with Prosper (testimonials) #2

Terminology

Here are some principles that underpinned our approach around terminology and use of language during our pilots, and in the creation of the resources here on the portal:

Avoid binaries like ‘academia or industry’ – this binary is too reductive of the options postdocs have. There are many non-academic career pathways available to postdocs that don’t neatly fall under the label of ‘industry’ (for example, many NGOs, third sector, Government roles, academia-adjacent roles, and more). It also shows a bias towards certain predominant pathways (such as Life Sciences à the Pharmaceutical Industry). We generally use the phraseology of ‘within or beyond academia’ or just ‘beyond academia’. This aligns with the term used in the Researcher Development Concordat

Prosper is for all postdocs of any discipline – we have resources for postdocs whose field of study falls within the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, just as we have materials of relevance for postdocs in STEM fields.

Prosper is not about pushing postdocs out of academia – rather, it is about furnishing postdocs with the information, skills and resources they need to take control of their careers, and thrive wherever their career may take them. Many of our resources are about non-academic career pathways, as we’ve found this to be a common gap in career development provision – but the point is for postdocs to make more informed and proactive choices and plans about their career. Furthermore, it is increasingly common for individuals to chart career pathways that take them in and out of traditional academia at any given point, and the lines between the two are increasingly blurry given the importance of collaboration and partnership in the modern world. At its heart Prosper is about research culture change, encouraging postdocs to not narrowly define their career success as securing an academic position but value the breadth of career possibilities available to them.

Prosper is not a ‘project’ or a ‘programme’ – it is a model for postdoc career development, and set of interrelated resources for enhancing postdoc career development (which is not to say, of course, that you cannot use Prosper as part of one of your own programmes or projects!).