Postdoc Academy: Weaving a Professional Development Community into your Pathway to Success

Session Description: Engaging with the postdoctoral community within their institution can be a struggle for postdocs. Many find it difficult to take time away from their professional and personal responsibilities to attend in-person professional development events or other opportunities that extend beyond their role. The Postdoc Academy addresses this gap by bringing community right to the postdocs’ desktops and smartphones, through massive open online courses (MOOCs) and open educational materials focused on the National Postdoctoral Association (NPA) core competencies. The content within the Postdoc Academy is complementary to existing professional development resources at local institutions and will provide institutions with the opportunity to develop their own local learning communities.

This short performance will depict two postdocs working late in the lab, again. A fellow postdoc returns from a workshop and asks why their labmates never go. One of the two postdocs at the bench reply, “we have so much on our plate….” The other postdoc at the bench says, “Well, I heard you can do professional development online. Let’s check it out.” Fast forward a couple weeks, and the postdocs are again working late in the lab. This time, while doing their experiments, they’re discussing peer feedback around career planning they received from a national community of colleagues in the Postdoc Academy.