Thriving in your research position

A guide for all research staff at the University of Edinburgh, highlighting the skills and awareness required to succeed in your role. 

Developed by the Institute for Academic Development, in consultation with a selection of research staff working across the University of Edinburgh, this guide has practical advice, case studies and support to help you thrive in your postdoc, with a focus on being resilient.  The guide covers:

• Resilience – information and advice to help you prevent, approach and overcome challenges.
• Development – ways for you to develop and use your skills, which will help improve your research and make you a competitive member in your field.
• Support – provision from inside and outside of the University that is available to you.

You can download it in full as a PDF:

We also provide MS Word versions of a number of the exercises mentioned in the guide:

Preventing problems activity sheet (pp16-17) - resilience

Preventing problems activity sheet (pp22-23) - resilience

Developing your research activity sheet (p27)

Developing your career activity sheet (p31)

Developing your career activity sheet (p36)

Other useful information

There are also a number of blogs that the IAD have written that focus on resilience:

iad4researchers blog - posts on resilience

A guide to support research staff starting a position at the University of Edinburgh ‘Being a researcher in Edinburgh: Beginning your Research Position in Edinburgh’ has also been developed and this can be accessed here:

Being a researcher in Edinburgh: Beginning Your Research Position in Edinburgh