Fiona Fisher & Katie Reynolds Case Study
Creating Sustainable High Quality Postdoctoral Training
Dr Fiona Fisher & Dr Katie Reynolds, Institute of Advanced Study
The Institute of Advanced Study (IAS) runs an advanced training programme (Accolade) for postdoctoral researchers (PDR) to help them advance their research careers. Previous ERCF projects have established that Accolade is highly valued by participants and enhances career outcomes.
We set out to look beyond postdoctoral training, taking a broader view of the research culture and support for postdoctoral researchers, with the goal of making Warwick one of the world’s leading institutions for postdoctoral research.
The challenge
We benchmarked the IAS and the wider Warwick postdoctoral provision against leading global institutions. This helped us to develop more internationally competitive postdoctoral support to aid in the development of research careers across the world. This ensures that Warwick postdocs are global postdocs and are equipped to use their research skills to build careers and connections around the world.
This project evaluated the content and delivery of our Accolade postdoctoral training program while exploring models for implementing this IAS training across the entire Warwick postdoctoral community. The work helped address issues identified in our previous Research Culture project, “Enhancing the Postdoc Research Culture with a User-Centred Design ApproachLink opens in a new window.”
Our approach
Using our membership of the University-Based Institutes for Advanced Study (UBIAS) network, along with our connections with other institutions, we conducted an online survey of postdoctoral training and support for postdocs and early career academics.
This was followed by visits and in-depth interviews with institutions who had strong postdoctoral provision. Through UBIAS we had access to 46 institutes around the globe and a network that strives to advance ethnic diversity, gender equality and intercultural awareness, whilst respecting differences. Working with the best institutions globally allowed Warwick to formulate research culture policies incorporating the best available practices.
The in-person visits enabled us to build stronger connections with institutes and to discuss the development of joint postdoctoral development initiatives such as researcher exchanges and joint training events.
Impact
Three key areas were identified for an effective support programme for postdoctoral researchers (and, we would suggest, PGR students too):
-
Improving career progression and appreciation of non-academic pathways
-
Making personal and professional connections
-
Improving work through feedback and collaboration
We plan to create a “Postdoc Hub” to provide a central place for training resources and serve as a community space to network and develop their careers.
This broad view of postdoctoral support beyond Warwick allows academics to become “Global Researchers”, prepared for employment beyond the Warwick/UK research environment. We have developed a Postdoctoral Fellow Exchange programme with Luxembourg IAS, which will run as a pilot exchange project to improve cross-institutional knowledge exchange and collaborative projects.
The main goal of this exchange is to give postdoctoral researchers the opportunity to explore potential funding applications between the two institutions (e.g. Marie Curie or ECR grants). If the pilot goes well, we will look to expand the programme to incorporate other IASs we visited as part of this project.
Links to further information
-
Related project website: Building Wellbeing LiteracyLink opens in a new window