Careers Beyond Academia: Options and Pathways for Researchers

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.

• 2024 conference brochure
• 2023 conference brochure
• 2022 conference brochure
• 2021 conference brochure
• 2020 conference brochure
• 2019 conference brochure
• 2018 conference brochure

2024 Conference Schedule

Time	Monday 18 March	Tuesday 19 March	Wednesday 20 March		Thursday 21 March
09:00			Things to Know about AI for Your Career  Online		The Path from PhD to Publishing  Online
09:15	KEYNOTE: Weaving Your Career with the Three Most Important Threads: A Guide to Happily Leaving Academia  Online
09:30		Mental Health and Resilience: Finding Supportive Employers and Maintaining Wellbeing  Online
10:00
10:15	From Academic Research to a Career in Arts, Culture and Heritage  Online		CVs and Cover Letters for Roles Beyond Academia  Online		Networking: How to Unlock Career Insights and Opportunities Beyond Academia  In Person
10:30
11:00
11:15		Translating Research Skills for Non-academic Employers  Online	From Research to Careers in Sustainability and Environmental Policy  Online
11:30	Research and Development in STEM  Online
12:15					"How Do I Get Hired Outside of Academia?!" Ask the Panel of Recruiters   In Person
12:30		Careers in International Organisations, Diplomacy & Think Tanks  Online	Securing Internships and Work Experience as a DPhil Student  Online	Consulting Alongside Your Research Contract - for Research Staff  Online
12:45
13:00	Working While Having a Family  Online
13:15
13:30
13:45
14:00		Medical and Health Communications  Online	Converting to a Legal Career after a PhD  Online		Careers Fair for Researchers  In Person
14:30	Careers in Consulting for Researchers  Online
14:45
15:00		Professional Services and Research Support Roles in HEIs  Online	Patents and Intellectual Property Law  Online
15:30
15:45
16:00	Careers in Science Communication for Researchers  Online	Impact Through Tech: Coding, Programming, and Consulting  Online	From Academic Research to Finance: Quantitative Researchers, Analysts, Traders, and Consultants  Online
16:30
17:00		Choosing the (Not So) Obvious: Careers Outside the Box  Online
18:00

About our 2024 sponsors 

 d-fine

... imagine the power of more than 1,500 physicists, mathematicians and computer scientists working as part of a European company with over 20 years of service excellence focused on data science, technology and mathematical modelling. That’s d-fine. 

G-Research

We are a leading quantitative research and technology firm We hire the brightest minds in the world to tackle some of the biggest questions in finance. We pair this expertise with machine learning, big data, and some of the most advanced technology available to predict movements in financial markets. 

SIG Susquehanna

SIG is a global quantitative trading firm founded with an entrepreneurial mind-set and a rigorous analytical approach to decision making. We commit our own capital to trade financial products around the world. Building virtually all of our own trading technology from scratch, we are leaders and innovators in high performance, low latency trading. Our traders, quants, developers, and systems engineers work side-by-side to develop and implement our trading strategies. Each individual brings their unique expertise every day to help us make optimal decisions in the global financial markets.

Smith Institute

 Smith Institute uses our expertise in mathematics and data science to help our clients solve their most complex challenges, elevate decision-making and accelerate innovation. Our work creates a positive impact on the economy, society and the environment. Where others see data, we see the underlying mathematical patterns and structures, allowing us to approach problems with a unique clarity and precision for clients in energy, transport, consumer goods, security and government.

 TNG Technology Consulting

 TNG Technology Consulting is an originally German value-based consulting partnership focused on solving hard IT problems with high end technology – from setting IT strategy to implementing practical solutions. Last year, we expanded into the United Kingdom by founding an subsidiary based at the Oxford Centre for Innovation. 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 our employment opportunities and different locations.