BOOST: Career Development for Researchers

BOOST has a range of opportunities. Some are targeted to particular audiences or career stages, for example PGRs and research staff, and other sessions are available to all staff at Leeds.

Our programme contains workshops such as:

• Writing Your CV
• Narrative CV Drop-In
• Career Options
• Preparing for a Job Interview
• Using LinkedIn to Increase Your Visibility
• Sharing Your Achievements with CAR Stories
• Imposter Mindset
• Job Hunting Beyond Academia

Scroll further down this page to find out about upcoming workshops.

No - BOOST is a 'pick and mix' programme, meaning you can attend as many or as few sessions as you like.

You may wish to attend just one, or you may want to schedule in multiple sessions over the year. It's up to you!

That’s not a problem! Our sessions enable you to develop your skills, confidence and preparedness for any career, academic or otherwise.

17 September | 2-3pm | In-person

What do you want your career to look like, and how can you get there? In this workshop, we'll consider where you are now, and what you're working towards, using collaging as a way for you to think creatively about your career.

By 'thinking through making', you'll have the opportunity to reflect on what you want to achieve, and how you can get there, in a creative and supportive atmosphere.

Please note: you don't need to bring anything with you to this workshop, as all materials will be provided. You also don't need to have any artistic skills at all!

Sign up for the 17 September workshop

24 September | 10am-12noon | Online

Thinking about your next career steps, but not sure where to begin? This 90-minute session will offer you an opportunity to kickstart your job search, by helping you to consider the options available to you.

In this workshop, you will:

• Recognise the diversity of career pathways available to ECRs within and beyond academia, including roles, sectors, and potential trajectories.
• Develop strategies for exploring and researching career options, including how to gather meaningful information about unfamiliar sectors and roles.
• Use tools and frameworks (including AI-assisted methods) to structure career exploration and support informed decision-making.

Sign up for the 24 September workshop

12 October | 1.30pm-3.30pm | In-person

Unlock your potential by disarming your "saboteurs" – those inner voices that undermine your productivity and well-being. Join our workshop based on the Positive Intelligence framework, tailored to address the unique challenges faced in academia.

Delve into the core principles of Positive Intelligence to uncover how these critical voices create unhelpful narratives about you, others, and academic life. Learn strategies to diminish their power. Participate in creative group discussions and interactive exercises to identify your top saboteur, recognise its patterns, and develop effective methods to overcome it.

Join us to enhance your resilience and gain insights into the impact of saboteurs on yourself and the broader research culture.

About the facilitator: 

Dr Anne Marie Sowerbutts worked as a health service researcher at the University of Manchester for over a decade before becoming a researcher developer, so knows the joys and challenges of research life. Anne Marie is dedicated to helping researchers unleash their full potential and flourish in their careers. Her true passion lies in seeing stressed out researchers transform into calm and creative thinkers. She is a certified coach and trained in Positive Intelligence methodology. She applies her knowledge and skills internally at the University and running workshops in her own external practice.

Sign up for the 12 October workshop

20 October | 1pm-3pm | In-person

Are you considering applying for jobs outside of academia? Not sure how to communicate your academic experience in a way that will appeal to non-academic recruiters and employers? Then this is the workshop for you!

We'll explore how non-academic CVs differ from those in academia, how recruiters and employers review CVs, and provide you with practical guide on how to develop a CV that grabs the reader's attention.

In this workshop, you'll learn how to:

• Structure and format a non-academic CV
• Effectively communicate your academic skills and experiences to a non-academic audience
• Tailor your CV to specific opportunities

Sign up for the 20 October workshop

12 November | 10am-12noon | In-person

As the old saying goes – "It’s not what you know that counts, it’s who you know", which, in the modern professional environment, means building a net that works.

Once upon a time this network was built upon the face-to-face connections that academics made – especially at conferences. The current climate means that these opportunities may be harder to come by.

We do, however, live in a very connected world. Having an online profile and presence, using Social Media, LinkedIn, ResearchGate etc. is, for most people, part and parcel of academic or industrial success. Yet, for many in the research community, ‘networking’ is still not an easy or natural thing to do. This focused webinar will help you to explore how to do this in the right way for you and your work.

"Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much"
Helen Keller

Sign up for the 12 November workshop

25 November | 10am-12noon | Online

If you're applying for jobs in academia, or applying for research funding, you'll need a strong CV. However, academic CVs have very particular formats, completely different from non-academic CVs. If you've never written one, it can be hard to know where to begin.

In this interactive workshop, we'll consider two types of academic CV: the traditional academic CV, and the new narrative CV. We’ll look at both formats, compare their similarities and differences, and give you the chance to identify the areas of your CV which need development.

You'll learn how to:

• Structure and format academic CVs (both traditional and narrative
  styles)
• Effectively communicate your skills and experiences to an academic
  audience
• Tailor your CV to specific opportunities.

Sign up for the 25 November workshop

1 December | 10am-12noon | In-person

10 December | 9.30am-12.30pm | Online

Doctoral researchers need to juggle a whole host of complex tasks directly related to their PhD, from reviewing literature to data analysis, and writing. All this while perhaps teaching, building relationships, and maintaining collaborations, and having a life.

Being strategic with time allocation gives doctoral researchers the confidence that they can set and meet deadlines, create quality written material. It also promotes a health approach to work/life balance to improve wellbeing. When time is used carefully, space can be created for creativity and critical thinking, essential for creating that unique contribution to knowledge that a PhD requires.

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Identify where their greatest personal challenges lie in managing time.
• Set goals that are motivational and achievable and be able to flexibly prioritise these as they progress through their PhD.
• Time block in a way that works for them personally, using supporting strategies that help to maintain their strategic time planning.
• Address procrastination with a range of different tactics to maintain momentum and minimise self-induced frustration.
• Recognise the impact of neurodiversity time management and the maintenance of time management methods.
• Recognise the importance of self-care in maintaining wellbeing to ensure the sustainability of the time management techniques they are using.

Sign up for the 10 December workshop