05/07/2017 “Preparing for the Academic Job Market” (University of Birmingham)

Last month I hosted a half-day workshop for PhD researchers at the University of Birmingham in which I discussed the best ways to prepare for the academic job market (without losing your mind, or not finishing your PhD). You can find the full advert for this workshop below as well here. If you would like to host a similar event for your postgraduates, or if you’d like to discuss a different kind of workshop or talk you’d like me to give, please get in touch with me here.

Background

What it takes to secure an academic job post-PhD has changed drastically for early-career researchers in Britain. In a job market saturated with PhD graduates and comparatively few available posts, competition for entry-level academic jobs is fierce and PhD graduates often feel ill-prepared to face this competitive market and to effectively shape their profile and make themselves employable during their PhD.

 

This Training

The New Academic training is tailored to researchers’ needs, preparing you for and maximising your chances in the current academic job market. Most importantly, this training is based on first-hand experience and knowledge; it’s made by a researcher for researchers; it’s practical rather than idealistic, and it’s delivered by someone who knows what it’s like to juggle the pressures of PhD and early-career life. The session will include a combination of the following topics:

  • Academic job applications
  • How to make your self academically employable (including publication strategy, teaching and winning external funding)
  • The context of UK Higher Education and current key issues to address

 

The Facilitator

Dr Nadine Muller is Senior Lecturer in English Literature & Cultural History at Liverpool John Moores University. She was awarded a PhD scholarship by the University of Hull immediately after her first degree, and she took up a permanent academic post six months after having been awarded her PhD. In 2015, Nadine was selected as a BBC/ AHRC New Generation Thinkers out of 500+ applicants. She has since made programmes for BBC Radio 3, and produced a film for BBC Arts, as well as launching her new project – War Widows’ Stories – live on Woman’s Hour on Armistice Day 2016. Nadine is able to offer a unique, invaluable, realistic insight into postgraduates’ and early-career academics’ lives.

Her own experiences of academia and of PhD life led her to create The New Academic, a blog with over 6,000 visitors a month, and over sixty guest authors ranging from postgraduates to renowned professors. It offers a platform for advice, experiences, and guidance for those beginning their academic careers. The New Academic has been featured in the Times Higher Education and the Guardian. Nadine has delivered sessions and provided consultancy for Brunel University, jobs.ac.uk, Coventry University, Durham University, University of Exeter, University of Hull, University of Kent, Kings College London, University of Lincoln, University of Liverpool, and the University of Oxford.