Post-doctoral Development Planning…

Every post-doctoral fellow should have a development plan. To be honest, everyone should have a development plan. Your plan should consider where you are and where you want to go. This is particularly important if you’re on a fixed term contract.

Key questions include:

• What could you learn that would help you do your job better?
• What are you going to do when this contract is finished?
• What do you want to achieve over the duration of this contract?
• How are you going to achieve those things?

Your development plan doesn’t have to be written down but it would be better if it was.
You don’t have to share your development plan with anyone but it would be more useful if you did.

There has never been a better time for learning and developing:

• The new Cardiff Researcher Programme has been launched. All the courses are free.
• There are online courses – I like the look of this Introduction to Statistics. There are LOTS of others.
• There are conferences and workshops organised by scientific societies. I’m a member of the Biochemical Society and the British Society for Immunology (other societies are available).

Why not write a development plan for yourself?

Here’s an easy way to start:

Get a blank page and think about these questions.

• What could you learn that would help you do your job better?
• How will you use this skill?
• Think about the next three months
• Think about the one year.

If you have written a list – great.

Which thing on the list excites you the most?

Do that first. Be inspired about your development and learning. There’s never been a better time.