Institute for Academic Development
Institute for Academic Development

Career case studies

Understanding how other researchers have developed their careers may inform the planning of your own career goals.

Academic career journeys at Edinburgh

Video and text case studies from PhD students, research staff, lecturers and Heads of School across all three Colleges at the University of Edinburgh showing the challenges and rewards of an academic career, and what can aid career progression.

Academic career journeys at Edinburgh - find out more

Career Conversations

A series of short interviews providing guidance on how to advance your career and move into other sectors:

Career Conversations: Dr Sara Shinton Part 1

Dr Sara Shinton discusses how she moved from a physical chemistry postdoc into career services.

Video: Sara Shinton Career Conversations Part 1
Video on career changes aimed at UoE research staff with Dr Sara Shinton, IAD

Career Conversations: Dr Sara Shinton Part 2

Dr Sara Shinton discusses how she moved from running her own consultancy into researcher development.

Video: Sara Shinton Career Conversations Part 2
Short video aimed at UoE research staff - Dr Sara Shinton discusses moving into the field of researcher development.

Career Conversations: Dr Emily Woollen

Dr Emily Woollen discusses how she moved from a fixed-term research contract to academic development.

Video: Dr Emily Woollen Career Conversations
Dr Emily Woollen short video aimed at UoE researchers - moving from a fixed term research post to academic development.

Career Conversations: Dr Caroline Proctor

Dr Caroline Proctor discusses how she moved from research in medical history to managing the administration of the School of Biological Sciences' Postgraduate Research Programmes.

Video: Dr Caroline Proctor Career Conversations
Dr Caroline Proctor short video aimed at UoE Researchers - moving from medical history research into administrative management

Informational Interviews: Advice on how to conduct Informational Interviews

Career Conversations: Dr Katrina Castle

Dr Katrina Castle discusses her move from conducting research in agricultural microbiology to becoming Head of Strategic Partnerships and Transitions

Video: Dr Katrina Castle Career Conversations
Dr Katrina Castle short video aimed at UoE researchers - career change advice

Career Conversations: Dr Fran Baseby

Dr Francesca Baseby discusses moving from a PhD in Art History to become Service Manager in the Centre for Research Collections.

Video: Dr Fran Baseby Career Conversations
Dr Francesca Baseby short video aimed at UoE researcher - career change advice

Career inspiration

Many universities, professional bodies and networks have developed banks of case studies to help researchers see the wide range of career paths they can move into and to share insights from people who have made successful transitions.

Though your own career path will be unique, hopefully you will find ideas and inspiration from reading about others.

It can be useful to understand the barriers others have faced, how they have approached and overcome potential problems, and the sources of support they drew upon.

Case study bank

College of Medicine of Veterinayr Medicine - career conversations in CMVM

Vitae: What do research staff do next? - career stories

Vitae: Database of careers stories

Beyond the PhD - Career case studies for arts, humanities and social scientists

Manchester University:  Is an academic career for you

University of Dundee: Stories in Science - postdoctoral life science career pathways

Institute of Physics: New Directions - advice on career change