If you have any further questions, please contact us at prosper.postdoc@liverpool.ac.uk. You can also attend one of our informal drop-in sessions taking place during the recruitment period.
Eligibility
Who is eligible to apply?
All postdocs who wish to apply must meet all of the following criteria:
- Are employed as a University of Liverpool postdoc, defined as anyone employed on an Academic Research Only contract (ARON) grade 6 to 9.
- Are able to engage for the duration of the cohort from February to July 2025.
For those unable to participate in the cohort at this time, development sessions open to all postdocs will be advertised in due course.
In addition, any postdoc can use the Prosper portal which houses a range of resources. Here, postdocs can benefit from self-reflection tools, insights and tips from our employer partners and a library of case studies from postdocs who have forged careers beyond academia. Why not jump in and get started with the career development navigator?
What if my current contract doesn't run out until the end of the cohort but I expect to get another one?
We know many postdocs have a patchwork of contracts so we don’t insist that your current contract lasts until July 2025. You can apply if you’ve a reasonable expectation that your contract will extend until the end of July 2025.
My contract doesn't start until February 2025, can I still apply?
If your contract starts at the start of February 2025 you can apply. If you’re applying in advance of your contract starting, please mention this and give us your start date in your application.
Can postdocs who travel with their research or aren't based on-campus (or even in the UK) still apply and participate?
Yes, postdocs in this position are welcome to apply. The career coaching will be delivered online. However, some sessions will be hosted in-person at the University of Liverpool.
Why is this only open to postdocs? What about those on teaching and research contracts?
Prosper has been developed specifically for and with postdocs.
For tailored PGR development, visit the PGR development hub.
For technicians, please see the Technicians hub.
For all other research and research-related staff, please check out the development opportunities here.
Other researchers are very welcome to use Prosper’s resources and attend our open sessions but are ineligible to apply to join the cohort.
"I've been a postdoc for a long time, is Prosper suitable for me?", or alternatively, "I'm a new postdoc, is this for me?"
Yes. Prosper is suitable for postdocs from all levels of postdoc experience and disciplines. Our 2024 cohort had postdocs from 2 months experience up to over 12 years postdoc experience.
Benefits of the cohort
What are the benefits of being part of the cohort?
Prosper gives postdocs the chance to expand how they view their career pathway.
In summary, the benefits of being part of the cohort are:
- Postdocs have found Prosper a useful experience. Prosper cohort 2024 postdocs have said that “setting time aside to focus on career development and making it a priority - this is intrinsically linked to career enjoyment and success” and that Prosper fostered a “great sense of community and people striving together to help each other reach the same end goal - career satisfaction and sense of fulfilment”.
- Research shows that career development as part of a cohort really works - Steen et al. 2021.
- Taking charge of your career next steps. Most postdocs will go into other careers besides academia
- Prosper works. The majority of postdocs saw an increase in their knowledge and confidence around their career next steps, see our evaluation reports and blog for more details.
- Professional career development coaching is pricey, but as a cohort member you get this for free!
In addition, by being part of a cohort, from February to July 2025 you get:
- Career coaching- 30 mins of 1:1 career coaching, 6 hours of group career coaching,
- Early-bird access to 6 career development sessions,
- 6 cohort-only sessions (including cohort induction and close),
- 6 cohort-only career sculpting activities (optional)
- Access to an optional cohort-only buddy scheme.
For further information see what’s involved.
Will there be another cohort in the future? When will the next cohort be?
We plan on running a cohort programme once every year.
What is career development?
The Career Development Institute defines career development as, “the lifelong process of managing and advancing your career over time. It involves acquiring new skills, knowledge, and experiences, as well as making strategic decisions and taking actions to enhance professional growth and achieve long-term career goals.”
For us, career development is an active and personal process. It’s about working out what success means for you, within your life and career as part of that. As an active participant at career development sessions, you’ll take away the parts that are relevant to you. You bring the specificity. You take the tool, approach or strategy presented and apply it to your situation, making it useful for you.
This will be familiar to those who’ve undertaken any teaching qualification. The teaching qualification will have covered the same materials about teaching approaches and theory regardless of the disciplines of those taking the qualification. It’s then up to the trainee teachers/lecturers to take these teaching approaches, select and blend relevant ones to adapt them for their purposes.
What is the difference between training and development?
Training is usually narrowly defined, reactive and short-term in focus. Typically, you get training opportunities to help you perform better in your current role. For example, you may get trained how to use a particular piece of equipment, or computer code. Alternatively, you could be trained in how to use a particular research method, such as data collection or qualitative methods.
Development, in contrast, is broader, proactive and more long-term.
As defined by Indeed, ‘Instead of being reactive to bring you up to speed on the information necessary for your job, development is proactive. Development aims to continually improve upon your existing skills and abilities, which may allow you to do your job better or take on more responsibilities over time.’
Training is often driven by your employer ensuring that you can effectively do your job, development is driven by you, supported with time, space and opportunities. Prosper is a career development opportunity.
For more examples of the differences between training and development, see https://unstop.com/blog/difference-between-training-and-development and https://seismic.com/enablement-explainers/the-difference-between-training-and-development/.
Application and Selection
I've submitted my application but I want to modify it - how can I do this? Or, I've made a mistake but I've submitted my application, how can I change this?
Please email us at prosper.postdoc@liverpool.ac.uk and we'll get back to you.
Can I download a copy of my application?
Yes, once you've submitted your application you'll see a green button that will allow you to download a copy of your application
What is the selection process?
Following an online application process, applications will be reviewed by a selection panel.
The selection panel members will anonymously mark the two motivation questions of all valid submitted applications against a set of marking criteria. Marks awarded for both motivation questions will be equally weighted. Depending on the numbers of applications received, the lowest scoring applications may be sifted at this stage and not go forward for discussion at the selection panels.
The remaining applications will be discussed by the selection panel and a ranked list of applications produced.
The Prosper team and Chair of the panel will then use the ranked list of applicants and the panel’s commentary in conjunction with aggregate data on participants’ discipline, gender and ethnicity to inform which applicants are invited to join the cohort.
Discipline, ethnicity and gender information will be used as a deciding factor in order to break any ties if the panel has marked any applications identically at our cut-off point for selection to the cohort.
In the unlikely event of applications still being tied at this point, the applicant with the shorter current contract will be favoured (on the basis that they may be less likely to have a chance to apply in future cohorts). If still tied, the applicant who applied first (submitted their application earlier) will be favoured, on a first-come-first-served basis. In the extremely unlikely event that we have a tie after this point, then a tie will be settled with a coin flip or name drawn out of hat.
How many places are available on the cohort?
Up to 30 places are available in total on the cohort.
How will you ensure that you recruit a diverse cohort?
Democratisation of access is central to Prosper and as part of this commitment, we want to be proactive in providing postdoc career development that is both accessible and valuable to our diverse postdoc community - addressing traditional barriers to engagement.
You can read more about the make-up of our first and second pilot cohorts, and our first business-as-usual cohort including the lessons we learnt presented in our blogs.
Based on our learnings from recruiting our pilot cohorts we will:
- Build on previous engagement with our target populations (for example, through continuing to engage with relevant staff networks) throughout the recruitment process to make sure that we are active in reaching out to the widest postdoc community.
- Include in the application process a motivation statement that asks all applicants to provide a commentary on how they plan to use being part of the cohort to maximise their own career development. Applicants can include information on their own circumstances and experiences that would contribute to the Prosper cohort.
- Aim to meet our minimum thresholds for representation in relation to gender and ethnicity as these are two equality and diversity characteristics that have historically related to unequal access to career development and progression.
- Aim to meet a minimum target for participation by broad disciplinary areas.
Our minimum targets have remained the same as for our pilot cohorts.
Minimum targets:
- At least 20% representation from each of the three broad disciplinary areas below
- Overall 50/50 gender representation, with further gender by disciplinary area targets:
o Biomedical and Biological Sciences - 50% female / 50% male
o Physical and Environmental Sciences and Engineering - 30% female / 70% male
o Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences - 60% female/ 40% male - Minimum 25% representation of postdocs from ethnically minoritised groups, including:
o Postdocs from Black, Asian, or other minority ethnic groups
o Postdocs with dual heritage/mixed ethnic backgrounds.
As well as the threshold targets, we are also keen to ensure that the group of postdocs joining the cohort represent the broadest possible range of experiences and backgrounds. We strongly encourage applications from all postdocs, and especially those who may have previously found accessing career development challenging. This includes, but isn’t limited to, those with caring responsibilities, disabilities, and part-time postdocs.
Operational considerations
Do postdocs need line manager/PI approval to take part?
Yes, in line with other professional career development opportunities available at the University of Liverpool, postdocs need the agreement of their line manager/PI to participate in the cohort.
Why is line manager/PI approval for participation needed?
Participation in the Prosper cohort occurs simultaneously alongside existing research projects. There is flexibility (as not all sessions are compulsory), but this will require postdocs and PIs to determine together how postdocs’ participation will work alongside their research role. Prosper’s cohort fits within the minimum of 10 days pro rata per year of Liverpool’s commitment to supporting researchers’ career development.
Participating in the cohort
What does participating in the cohort involve?
The cohort is an opportunity for postdocs to benefit from dedicated time for personal career development, considering multiple career pathways.
We ask that you engage with your career development. This means that you pick sessions that are pertinent for you. You then take the tool, approach or strategy presented and apply it to your situation, making it useful for you. Ultimately, we provide the tools, you provide the specificity and personal context. We expect that you engage in cohort activities, as this will support your own and your peers career development experience.
Engaging with you career development in practice is a mixture of self-reflection, participating in career development sessions, regular professional career coaching sessions, and peer-support via the cohort. Throughout the programme there will be opportunities to interact with fellow postdocs and share learnings around career development and career aspirations.
We ask that you commit to:
- Attending all career coaching sessions,
- Attending the majority (70%) of the career development sessions on offer,
- Giving us feedback, particularly in the start and end surveys.
Is the cohort aimed only at exploring careers beyond academia?
No. The emphasis in the cohort is on participating postdocs exploring their skills, values, attributes and ambitions in the broadest possible sense and using these insights to guide the direction in which their career develops, be that within or beyond academia. However, we do not expressly focus on an academic path.
Prosper was conceptualised with an understanding that whilst there are many existing resources and development opportunities aimed at postdocs who wish to continue pursuing an academic career, there was a need for an approach that could enable postdocs to explore the broad range of opportunities available to them beyond academia too. For this reason, much of the employer-based content comes from sectors beyond academia.
What is the weekly/monthly time commitment to the cohort?
We anticipate cohort members spending around 6 to 7 hours (approximately one working day) per month, for six months focusing on their Prosper cohort career development.
This is well within the University’s commitment for all research staff to spend a minimum of 10 days per year pro rata on their career development.
Is the cohort suitable for postdocs from all disciplinary backgrounds?
Yes. Participants are encouraged to explore different careers options, such as those showcased in our 12 career clusters, relevant to all disciplines, as well as their own explorations. The career clusters are:
Advanced Manufacturing and Materials, Creative and Cultural Industries, Higher Education and Publishing, Environment and Energy, Financial, Business and Professional Services, Food and Agriculture, Government and Non-profit, Health and Care, ICT and Digital Technology, Life Sciences and Pharmaceuticals, Start-ups and Entrepreneurship and Transport Systems.
If you have any further questions, come along to a drop-in session or contact us at prosper.postdoc@liverpool.ac.uk.
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