Careers Beyond Academia: Options and Pathways for Researchers

Save the date

The next careers conference for researchers will take place from Monday 18 March - Thursday 21 March 2024, online and in-person at the Careers Service buildingMore details will be released in Michaelmas term 2023.

 

The 2024 careers conference for researchers

Run by the Careers Service's expert careers advisers, Careers Beyond Academia: Options and Pathways for Researchers is a FREE conference that offers Oxford University researchers the chance to join online panel talks with PhD holders and former academic researchers speaking frankly about their daily working lives in a variety of sectors, attend an in-person networking event, and take part in interactive workshops to help you identify skills and strategies for optimising your career preparedness. 

Whether you are curious about or actively pursuing a career beyond academia, you will benefit from joining the conference.

Who can attend

The events are open to all current Oxford University DPhil students and research staff and are free to attend.

  • Oxford University research staff and students who have a CareerConnect account should sign up to all the sessions that they want to attend on the event pages in CareerConnect
  • Oxford University research staff who DO NOT have a CareerConnect account can gain access on the CareerConnect registration pageNOTE: Once you have requested a CareerConnect account, it can take a few hours for it to be approved. Once the account is approved, you will receive a confirmation email that you can login to CareerConnect and register for events.  
  • NIHR researchers, and other University research staff who are NOT ELIGIBLE for a CareerConnect account should email hello@careers.ox.ac.uk to register their interest in attending.

For any problems with registration, please contact hello@careers.ox.ac.uk 


2024 Sponsors

Get involved!

There are three ways to get involved in the conference as an employer: Sponsor the event, attend the Careers Fair, or take part in Panel Sessions

For more information or to discuss your participation, please email chris.jeffs@careers.ox.ac.uk

Schedule - Coming Soon

Events on Monday 18 March 2024

Event title Time Location
Sessions TBC   Online or in person

Events on Tuesday 19 March 2024

Event title Time Location
Sessions TBC   Online or In Person

Events on Wednesday 20 March 2024

Event title Time Location
Sessions TBC   Online or In Person

Events on Thursday 21 March 2024

Event title Time Location
Sessions TBC   Online or In Person

Expand All

The main purpose of Careers Beyond Academia: Options and Pathways for Researchers is to give the Oxford researcher community (research staff including postdocs, research assistants and research technicians and DPhil students) an opportunity to discover and explore as broad a range of career alternatives beyond research within academia as possible.

We are always looking for employers who recruit staff with the technical and transferrable skills that our researchers offer to take part in these events, and for former researchers to share their knowledge and experience of moving beyond the academic sphere.

Employers

There are three ways to get involved in the conference as an employer:

  1. Sponsorship: Sponsors benefit from a range of promotional opportunities, and directly meeting talented researchers through headline attendance at our Careers Fair for Researchers and options to participate in the event programme of panel sessions.
  2. Careers Fair: exhibit your organisation at our Careers Fair for Researchers, your opportunity to meet highly skilled researchers from all disciplines.
  3. Panel sessions: If you already have members of staff who left academic research (PhD or a postdoc/research assistant/technician role) within the last seven years, we may be able to include them as speakers for one of the conference panel sessions. Panel speakers typically give a short, informal talk (no slides needed) about their current role, experience of leaving academia/entering their current sector, tips on how to prepare for career transition etc., and take part in a Q&A session at the end of the panel. Do you have a staff member who could take part in this way? Our researchers really appreciate being able to hear from others who have taken the steps that they are contemplating.

For more information or to discuss your participation, please email chris.jeffs@careers.ox.ac.uk

Former researchers

If you have moved out of academia within the last seven years or so, enjoy sharing your experience of making that move with others and are willing to do so in a conference session, please get in touch with us. We’re always looking for panel speakers and are grateful to everyone who finds the time to share their knowledge in this way.

Please contact chris.jeffs@careers.ox.ac.uk to find out how you can be part of our next conference.

Conference brochures

The conference brochures contain details of all of the sessions taking place at each event. These include bios for speakers and workshop facilitators and an overview of employers who took part in the employer networking lunches.

We are proud to have worked with speakers with fantastically varied research backgrounds and from a wide range of sectors and companies to take part in the panel sessions at each of our previous conferences. Browsing through their bios is a great way to start thinking about potential routes beyond academia. Be open-minded as you look, and don’t read only the panels most closely aligned to your research area; many of these bios give evidence of inspiring degrees of career flexibility.


2023 Conference Schedule

Time Monday 20 March  Tuesday 21 March  Wednesday 22 March  Thursday 23 March 
10:00 Ivory Tower or Satanic Mill: Is There Really Such a Difference Between Academia and Other Sectors? 
 Online 
Having Impact Alongside Research: Gaining Experience Employers Want  Online  Creative Industries as a Career Transition, Whatever Your PhD Specialism 
 Online 
Research Related Roles in Higher Education 
 Online 
11:00
11:15 Careers in Tech: Technical and Non-technical Roles 
 Online 
Consulting: Using Your Research and Critical Thinking Skills
 Online 
How to Take Action and Enhance Your Employability Skills at Oxford
 Online 
Careers at the Forefront of Innovation – Making Your and Others' Ideas a Reality 
 Online 
12:15
12:30 Data Careers: Big Data, Quantitative Research, and Data Science  Online  STEM Research and Development in Industry and Beyond  Online  Using Research Skills for Policy Development: From Government to Charities and Business  Online   
12:45

 Wait list only 

How to Transition Successfully Beyond Academia: Top Tips from the People Who Hire You 
 In person 

13:15
13:30  Wait list only 
Starting a Career Transition: Understanding Your Motivators, Strengths, and Values 
 In person 
   
13:45      
14:00

 Wait list only 
Identifying and Translating Your Research Skills to Impress Your Future Employer 
 In person 

 

Careers Fair for Researchers
 In person 

14:30 “It’s OK to Leave" - Keynote talk with Dr Emma Williams
 In person 
 Online 
15:00  
15:30

Science and Medical Communications 
 Online 

   Wait list only 
Networking with Successful Career Transitioners and Organisations Who Can Support You 
 In person 
16:00  
16:30    
17:00      

 

2023 Sponsors

Ab Initio’s customers use their enterprise software platform to build applications that tackle the largest and most complex data processing challenges. These applications are some of the most complex operational and analytical systems in the world - mission critical applications with demanding performance requirements. Ab Initio are looking for Computer Science and STEM students who love to solve problems by really getting into detail, as well as having a desire for continual personal learning and development.

 

d-fine is a European consultancy firm with 1000 employees, distributed across ten offices in seven countries. Our London office in the heart of the City was established in 2005 and is focused on analytically challenging and quantitative projects, with the aim of designing and developing future-proof solutions for business problems. These solutions are based on extensive practical experience and highly qualified employees with a quantitative and technological background.

 

Jane Street is a global trading firm with offices in New York, London, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Amsterdam. Their approach is rooted in technology and rigorous quantitative analysis, but their success is driven by their people. 

Jane Street is looking for smart people with curious minds to fill a number of roles across its five offices. Think you might be the right fit? Explore Jane Street's open opportunities.

 

TNG Technology Consulting is a German value-based consulting partnership focused on solving hard IT problems with high end technology – from setting IT strategy to implementing practical solutions. We offer the right place for everybody who has an analytical mindset, already possesses some coding experience and wants to develop their skills. Find out about TNG’s employment opportunities and different locations.  


We are also grateful for support from the Oxford University Researcher Hub.

Researcher Hub

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