Careers ServiceUseful resources for PhDs

These resources cover post-doc opportunities as well as general academic vacancies in the UK, Europe and worldwide. 

UK:

Europe:

  • Academic Jobs EU advertises academic and research posts across Europe
  • Academic Transfer academic jobs website from the Netherlands
  • EURAXESS is a European researchers’ portal providing career opportunities, information and assistance for researchers in all subject areas and at all levels of study/career. You can search for career as well as fellowship and grant opportunities by research field, career stage and/or country
  • Find a Post Doc searchable database of post-doctoral research vacancies (UK based, primarily European vacancies)
  • The European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers (Eurodoc) is a federation of national associations of PhD candidates and young researchers

Worldwide:

  • Higher Ed 360 is a gateway to worldwide vacancy resources for academic jobs, you can search by country, position and discipline
  • jobs.ac.uk is a specialist jobsite for Careers in Academic, Research, Science, and Related Professions (UK & International)
  • Postdoc Jobs is based in the US but advertises worldwide postdoctoral vacancies and fellowships
  • Higher Education Guardian Jobs in Higher Education
  • Association of Commonwealth Universities links to universities in the Commonwealth
  • GoinGlobal is an extensive international jobs database (login on campus and then create a personal account). It contains a wealth of information where you can find international vacancies as well as country-specific application procedures, visa regulations, CV and interview guidelines as well as cultural and business information.
  • Prospects: Work Abroad provides in-depth country information including vacancy sources

US & North America:

Science:

  • ResearchGate is a site for scientific research jobs worldwide
  • Science Careers is dedicated to careers (academic and otherwise) in science, with information and advice on issues like funding and career planning as well as vacancies and opportunities for funding, postdoctoral research opportunities and jobs
  • Nature Careers - connecting candidates to science jobs
  • The European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) promotes excellence in the life sciences in Europe and has fellowships and career development resources for early career scientists

You can find more information and tips on identifying and developing your skills as well as links to further training opportunities below.

Make sure you are familiar with and utilise the Researcher Development Programme.

  • Babraham Institute biomedical research; offers post doctoral programme
  • Institute for Historical Research (IHR) has information on fellowships
  • Leverhulme Trust makes awards for the support of research and education and encompasses all subject areas
  • Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) provides quality assurance in Higher Education by formulating academic standards and conducting reviews and audits. Benchmarks for different subject areas can be found here - these can be useful for measuring key subject-related skills
  • Social Research Association provides a comprehensive training programme to support the professional development of social researchers
  • Society for Research into Higher Education is an independent society that seeks to stimulate and co-ordinate research into all aspects of Higher Education
  • Universities UK wealth of information on HE sector issues (including politics, structure of HE sector, and nature of funding research)
  • University and College Union (UCU) is the largest trade union and professional association for academics, lecturers, trainers, researchers and academic-related staff working in further and higher education throughout the UK
  • Vitae has a wealth of information for postgraduate research students and researchers

Your career plans may include working for yourself: