In this episode, specialist careers consultants, Laura and Anna answer a common question: How can I talk to my supervisor about my career goals when their only experience is academia and I'm worried that they won't want to discuss anything else.
We explore:
Resources on KEATS: Support for Researchers: Talking to your Group Leader about trying out career options | KEATSJoin us on LinkedIn
“It was instrumental in me getting a job – this little boost of support.”
How often do we ask for help? So many of us are afraid to saywhen something is difficult, to try out new things or tell people about our ambitions – it can make us feel vulnerable and fear of failure can get in the way. But what our guest, Dr Tatjana Zoller, has realised is that when we ask for help, people are often keen to support and enable us to perform at our best, they can help us explore possibilities,diversify our skills and - we concludedin our conversation – “people are generally kind aren’t they?”
Who could you reach out to?
Tatjana was awarded a PhD in Molecular Biology from theSchool of Neuroscience at King's College in November 2024 and she then left science to follow her passion for creating and (science) communications. She now works two-part time communications jobs within King's. Namely she workswith the King's Doctoral College and also serves as a producer for the "Between the Signals" podcast from the UK Dementia Research Institute at King's. She spends her free time documenting life through photography and video.
Between the Signals - UK Dementia Research podcast
Resources to support you in asking for ‘reasonable adjustments’
https://www.acas.org.uk/reasonable-adjustments
https://employmentautism.org.uk/reasonable-adjustments-for-interviews-and-assessments/
https://dyslexiascotland.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/JobInterviews.pdf
https://www.scope.org.uk/advice-and-support/ask-for-adjustments-at-interview
Got a question about your career? Ask us! We're launching special Q&A episodes to give you the opportunity to ask a specialist careers consultant your career conundrums - whether it's about careers in academia or beyond, or more general Qs about networking, CVs and more.
Send your Qs in a message to our LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/kings-careers-network-for-researchers
Looking forward to receiving your questions.
“The main thing I realised is that we all have something to add.”Join us on this episode of "Careers in Your Ears" as we delve into the inspiring journey of Mariam Asaad, a fourth-year doctoral researcher at King's College London's Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery, and Palliative Care. Mariam shares her unique ‘squiggly’ career path, from her beginnings as a nurse in Saudi Arabia to her transition into academia and research. She discusses the personal challenges and triumphs that shaped her PhD project, which focuses on developing a tool to support parents of children with type 1 diabetes. Mariam also discusses her approach to, and the importance of, building a professional network by getting involved in different projects including the King’s Insights Programme* where she gained valuable consulting skills and explored the commercial side of research.
*The King’s Insights Programme is a 3 week virtual consultancy project with a live brief, working in a small group of PhD students. More information on our KEATS pages at www.kcl.ac.uk/careers
If you feel like you need a special dictionary to understand job descriptions or a thesaurus for talking about your skills: this is the episode for you!
Dr Holly Prescott gives us a masterclass in telling your story in a way that will help the sector you are trying to enter understand how valuable your skills, knowledge and experience are - to them.
We also discuss how to navigate the challenge of not knowing all the job titles, how to curate your LinkedIn experience to work for you and an avocado metaphor that is worth the listen alone!
Online careers support for researchers at King's
Holly is a qualified career guidance practitioner who specialises in working with postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers. She is the Careers Adviser for Postgraduate Researchers at the University of Birmingham (where she also gained her own PhD in English Literature in 2011), and also works as a freelance trainer running career development workshops for PGRs and ECRs for a range of universities, institutes and DTPs across the UK and Europe. In 2021 she started the post-PhD careers blog ‘Postgradual’ which has since attracted over 66,000 unique readers, and her book Navigating Careers Beyond Academia: A Practical Handbook for Doctoral and Postdoctoral Researchers is due for publication by Routledge in 2026.
Job Hunting for the 21st Century: A Comprehensive Guide for the Modern PhD Available now
Subscribe to Holly's blog 'PostGradual' HERE
“You need to have input from other people. It's not something you can do by yourself.” Dr Ilyas Alav, recent recipient of the Wellcome Trust Early Career Award and Teaching Fellow at the University of Birmingham, shares his advice for progressing as an Early Career Researcher.
We discuss the importance of being open to opportunities, developing a researcher identity and the value of collaboration as well as strategies for coping with rejection in academia. Ilyas gives insights into the fellowship application process as well as practical tips for developing collaborations, avoiding burn out and managing priorities strategically.
Early-Career Awards – Funding for Early-Career Researchers | Wellcome
“All it takes is time, collaborative spirit and that connective tissue.” When navigating the transition between industry and academia, Dr Renasha Khan, Lecturer of Religion and Social Science at Kings, found that reaching out to others allowed her to both explore career options and build a support network.
She shares how her love of storytelling led her from working as a TV producer to researching British Bangladeshi women and their digital experiences. She speaks openly about the challenges of undertaking a PhD, feeling like a fraud and how she found connection and community in academia. Renasha also highlights the importance of networking, taking opportunities, even if at first they seem outside of your comfort zone, and backing yourself!
Careers support for King’s students and researchers
How different is 'industry' to academia and what can we do to adapt to those changes and survive the learning curves?
Dr Sam Keightley, Senior Behavioural Science Researcher at BeHive Consulting answers those questions and gives us plenty more fascinating insights into his first role since completing his PhD.
Join us as we discuss change, uncertainty, communication styles, the dreaded perfectionism, and self-advocacy.
Check out our KEATS page on Careers Beyond Academia for Researchers
"I can do this and be successful, but does it bring me joy?" Offering valuable insights for PhDs and research staff interested in ‘academic adjacent’ roles, Dr Eleanor Gurney, Senior PGR Manager at King’s, shares her journey from academic research to a fulfilling role in professional services.
Dr. Gurney reflects on her diverse career path, including her work in international development and her PhD research on low-fee private schooling in India. She candidly talks about the challenges and isolation she faced during her PhD and how she realised that the traditional academic track wasn't the right fit for her.
We discuss the rewarding aspects of Eleanor’s current role, which involves overseeing faculty support for postgraduate research programs, using her knowledge of the academic landscape and many transferable skills, to improve PGR student experience.
Dr Harold Moody Studentships for Black UK residents to undertake a PhD at King’s
In this episode we are delighted to be joined by Teresa Bautista Solans who shares her transition from a research career in theoretical physics to quantitative finance. It's a fantastic testament to the transferability of the skills developed in research such as critical thinking, analytical skills, and research communication which are so valuable in her role as a Senior Analyst and Model Validator at ICE Clear Europe. It is also a brave and honest account of finding a way through a mid-career change balancing researcher identity, home life, and practicalities with finding a rewarding career.
Useful resources:
King's Careers & Employability
In this episode, we delve into the intersection of research and entrepreneurship with Dr. Mercy Ofoya, founder of the Mami app, and Dr. Ema Talam, Entrepreneurial Skills Manager. Our discussion explores how Mercy, with support from the King’s Entrepreneurship Institute, took an idea for a life-saving health app and made it a reality. Ema tells us about the entrepreneurial mindset and how developing 7 key skills can help researchers succeed both in and beyond academia. Together, they challenge perceptions of commercialisation, outline practical steps for validating ideas, and emphasise the value of articulating the ‘threads’ that run through your work.
Useful links:
Dr Mercy Ofuya: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mercy-ofuya-phd-02053380/
Mami App: https://mymamiapp.com/
CupArise: https://cuparise.org/
King’s Entrepreneurship Institute: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/entrepreneurship
King’s Careers & Employability: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/careers
This week's guest is Pippa Sterk, a postdoctoral teaching fellow at King's who was curious about where their research could take them. Seizing an opportunity, they successfully applied for a place on the King's Parliamentary Research Internship (for doctoral and postdoctoral researchers). Pippa tells us the valuable lessons they learned through this work experience and how it has shaped their future career plans.
In this episode we meet Dr. Lienkie Diedericks, a King's PhD graduate. After completing her PhD Lienkie worked for the Royal Institute of British Architects on their equality and diversity initiatives. She has now returned to work at King's on research culture in our Faculy of Dentistry, Oral and Craniofacial Sciences. In this episode we discuss the unexpected turns researchers careers can take, being an international student and professional in the UK, what higher education institutions need to do to be more equitable and what research culture means in practice.
We're back with Series 11! We are delighted to be joined by King's PhD alumnus, Adrian Signell, Senior Associate at Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Adrian completed a PhD in Biology and Genomics in 2023 and started it 'with the full intention to ride the academic wave until, you know, being a professor into my late 70s'. Find out what happened next including tips for building relevant experience and what the biggest differences were between academia and consultancy.
Useful links include:
www.kcl.ac.uk/careers for King's students and research staff
https://www.savitas.co.uk/newsletters for sector updates
www.bcg.com - Boston Consulting Group
In this episode we meet Joe Shute, a humanities PhD researcher at Manchester Metropolitan University. Joe is also a journalist and is about to publish his third book. In this podcast he talks about combining his three careers and offers us his insights on how they compliment each other. He also provides us with tips on getting started in writing and how he manages the multiple demands on his time. We also get to find out more about creative non-fiction.
We'd like to thank the Leverhulme Trust for their introduction to Joe and their generosity with their time and support to make this episode possible.
“Narrative CVs are an attempt to be able to surface all of the things which academics do in a structured way.”
We would like to invite all researchers and their supporters, developers and enablers to build their awareness of Narrative CVs (NCV) with this podcast episode. They are increasingly used for funding applications, in recruitment or promotion processes, and as such are also a useful framework for academic career planning.
We are delighted to be joined by narrative CV researchers, Becky Ioppolo and Kate Murray from the University of Cambridge who are doing fascinating research into the use of narrative CVs to uncover more about them and answer the big questions about whether or not they meet their purpose of being more inclusive, how to write a good one and where you can go to find out more.
Resources below mentioned in the episode:
Jargon:
NCV - narrative CV
R4RI - Resume for Research Innovation (same as a narrative CV)
UKRI - UK Research and Innovation - UK government research funding
ARRC Project - Action Research on Research Culture
'It's really an art' - join us for an enjoyable and informative conversation with Antonio Forte about the ups and downs of applying for fellowships, the importance of resilience and building a supportive network and the joy of thinking outside the box (and how this helps with applications). There is also a fascinating glimpse into the future in the form of shape shifting meta materials.
For King's researchers applying to fellowships you can also find recordings from fellowship funders on the CRSD webpages and get support and advice from the King's funding teams in addition to speaking to careers consultants about CVs and applications.
In this episode, Dr. Sarah Burton, writer and researcher tells us about her career in education and about her experience of gaining funding from the Leverhulme Trust, what that meant to her and gives some tips on making an application. Many thanks to the Trust for introducing us and making this episode possible.
In this episode we are joined by Dr. Dmitry Kishkinev who is a lecturer in animal behaviour and behavioural neuroscience at Keele University. He tells us all about his career history, moving countries, the need to think strategically about your career and the support he has received from the Leverhulme Trust. We'd like to thank the Leverhulme Trust for their generosity in helping us record this episode.
“I wanted to see what it was like in a different environment.”
For this episode, we’ve passed the mic to Lingxing Kong, a King's PhD student in his third year of research in Robotics, and an Inclusive Careers Education Ambassador (ICEA). Lingxing is joined by Dr Emmanouil Spyrakos Papastavridis, Lecturer in Engineering, who shares his fascinating career journey. Emmanouil's career has taken him from academia, into a startup lab, and back again – he shares his thoughts on the benefits and drawbacks of working in both contexts, tells us about the skills he acquired along the way and provides plenty of inspiration for those exploring career options.
For more info on the ICEA programme:
https://keats.kcl.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=61839§ion=7 for King's students and staff
Public links:
Phoenix Issue 164 February 2022 (agcas.org.uk) https://www.agcas.org.uk/write/MediaUploads/Phoenix/Phoenix_Issue_164_February_2022_-_Students_as_co-creators.pdf
Emerging insights from a peer-to-peer social justice careers education programme | Journal of the National Institute for Career Education and Counselling (nicecjournal.co.uk) https://www.nicecjournal.co.uk/index.php/nc/article/view/464
