FAQ

The Postdoc Academy is a flexible professional development program, built specifically for postdocs. This new program is funded by the National Institutes of Health and is a collaboration between Boston University, Northwestern University, Michigan State University, and the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Read more about our team.

The Postdoc Academy is creating two online courses with supplemental in-person learning communities. The first online course, titled Succeeding as a Postdoc, launched in January 2020. This course supports skills that are critical for postdocs of all stages and disciplines.

The second course is expected to launch in spring 2021. This advanced course will focus on building skills that are important for your next career step – whatever that might be.

The course lasts 5 weeks. Each week has approximately 2-4 hours of activities, videos, and discussion forums. You are able to complete the course at any time while it’s running!

The first course will help you build skills to (1) find success as a postdoc, (2) draft an actionable career plan, (3) work effectively in an intercultural environment, and (4) develop resilience.

All of the Postdoc Academy programming is available for free! There is an option to purchase a Verified Certificate from edX, but the content of the online course is the same either way.

First and foremost, the content in the course is identical – whether you are in the free track or the Verified track.

If you complete the course in the Verified track, you will receive a Verified Certificate from edX. If you complete the course in the free track, you’ll receive a Certificate of Completion from the Postdoc Academy directly.

There is one difference between the two tracks – the availability of the course content once the course is over. Verified learners can access the content at any point after the course is completed. Learners in the free track will no longer be able to access the course once it’s completed. All learners will be able to download their work in an ePortfolio to save and print. You can also re-watch the videos and explore the activities on this website!

If you are accessing the course on the Safari browser, you might see an error message saying “authentication failed – please report this issue to your administrator”. Please try to access the course using Google Chrome!

For all other technical questions, please email postdocacademy@gmail.com.

Each year, the first course will be run three times. For 2020, the course will begin on:

• January 13, 2020
• June 22, 2020
• October 5, 2020

Check out the “Explore” tab on this website! All of the content is released under a Creative Commons license, so you are welcome to adopt and adapt the materials to fits the needs of your specific group.

The Postdoc Academy supports in-person learning communities, called Postdoc Academy Learning Sessions (PALS). These are small groups of postdocs who meet in-person weekly while the course is running. You can dive into the online content deeper and connect with other postdocs. Each PALS is run by a facilitator – a postdoc, faculty member, staff – anyone who supports postdocs.

You can start a PALS at your institution using this form.

First, registration will open in April! Check back to this website and the discussion forums on the online course. There could be one!

If there isn’t one near you, you have a few options. You can either start one or join a virtual PALS!

By joining our Community of Facilitators, you can: 

• Receive our detailed Facilitator Guide and marketing materials
• Learn from other facilitators and network with other practitioners 
• Access online facilitation trainings, held quarterly 
• Attend in-person facilitation trainings, held yearly at the National Postdoc Association Annual Conference
• Access evaluation tools, including pre-session and post-session surveys 
• Stay up-to-date with upcoming online and in-person events 

Interested? Sign-up today.

We have partnered with the National Postdoc Association to hold a day-long Facilitator Training ahead of the NPA Annual Conference. This year, the NPA Conference was cancelled, so we are working to translate the training to the online space. Stay tuned!

This immersive workshop will provide hands-on facilitator training, professional development resources, and introduce you to the community of PALS facilitators. Training is open to everyone, designed specifically for those interested in adapting our content to local programming, and accessible to newer facilitators. We will expand on traditional programs by working through inclusive facilitation strategies and assisting participants to develop strategies for capacity building within their own institution. We focus on developing and practicing facilitator skills, as well as creating a community of practitioners, in addition to disseminating our materials and content. 

This Facilitator Training will be held annually ahead of the NPA Annual Conference!

Starting in 2020, the Postdoc Academy will virtually travel to your institution to facilitate workshops. If you’re interested, please complete the interest form.

You can always reach us at postdocacademy@gmail.com.