Careers and Mentoring

We host events and workshops to facilitate career progression for junior scientists, and offer a career advice surgery on an individual basis. Coupled with our mentoring program, this supports staff and students in their career progression. 

Our events are designed to give you information and skills to further your career, whether that be in academia or other areas of work. These include:

• Mentoring: We provide a dedicated mentoring scheme to all staff who feel it would help them in their day-to-day work and also to get to where they want to in their career. Anyone can benefit from one-to-one independent support to develop their career.  The Institute is committed to providing mentoring support for all individuals, especially junior scientists, and we now offer a full mentoring scheme available to all staff at all grades, and to post-graduate research students, especially in their third or fourth years. 
• Grant writing: We have an annual grant writing symposium to help young researchers begin the journey of grant writing. Different approaches to grant writing are discussed by people who have experiences good and bad. For more practical opportunities to review and improve draft applications, with input from senior staff, Grant Writing Workshops are run twice a year (typically October/November and April/May) by the Neuroscience Careers Network within the Faculty of Brain Sciences (see link)
• Career half-days: Once a year we run a series of talks themed on a topic chosen by post-docs and students to consider different career options, typically extending outside academia, for example higher education teaching.
• Engage lunch-time events: Several times a year there are informal lunch events with food provided. These include: “Speed Lunch Discussion”, where several topics are covered in group conversations moderated by a senior member of staff; “Meet the Directors”, where a panel that includes the head of department and deputy directors answers any and all questions.
• Career advice surgery: Career Advisors are senior academics who are willing to provide information on academic and career issues to any student or postdoc. They can advise on the academic ladder or alternative non-academic tracks. They can also review documents such as a curriculum vitae, and they can help direct people to other sources of assistance. 
• Career resources: We have put together a number of career resources. These will provide you with further information on career development and work-life balance.