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Former postdocs case studies
Former postdocs from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds share their experiences of moving beyond academia by detailing their career stories.
Take inspiration from different experiences: you will hear about navigating the job search, but also about the skills and attributes they developed in academia and used to thrive in their new roles. These short videos or written interviews will take you on a journey to discover more about your own transferable skills. By exploring these case studies you’ll hear career advice directly from those who have continued their career path beyond academia.
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Landscape Architecture
Veterinary Pathology
Industrial Engineering and Production
Pharmacology
Medieval Studies
Cell Biology
Environment and Sustainable Technologies
Environmental Policy
Physical & Theoretical Chemistry
History and Philosophy of Science
Agroecology
Chemistry
Systems biology
English
Neuroscience
Engineering
Computational Biology & Genomics
Mathematics
Pharmacy in advanced drug delivery
Pharmacology
Other useful resources
Research Careers - a collection of profiles of people who have made the transition from academia to industry, from the University of Oxford.
Researcher case studies from University College London.
The Auditorium blog, specifically the pathfinder career narratives, from the Research Culture and Researcher Development Team at the University of Glasgow.
Where can you research take you? Case studies from the Royal Society.
Case studies: the career pathways of doctoral graduates from the British Academy
Post-academic careers database from the Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance (SULSA)
UKRI's 101 jobs that change the world campaign highlights some of the many roles that contribute to the success of the research and innovation system (not all of these are former postdocs but may serve as inspiration).
Think ahead blog from the researcher development team at the University of Sheffield.
The theory of the postdoc evolution podcast from the Postdoctoral Development Centre (PDC) at Queen's University Belfast. It features discussions and interviews with former postdocs about their career journey and the roles they have taken up after their postdocs or PhDs.
Books
Academia and the world beyond: Navigating life after PhD Edited by C R Madan (2022), contains interviews from 22 people with PhDs in both academic and non-academic careers.
Academia and the world beyond, Volume 2: A PhD is not a commitment to academia Edited by C R Madan (2024), the book contains a collection of 31 interviews with people who've completed a PhD and are now in a non-academic role.
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