Current Postdocs

Joining us?

Below, you will find some links that will help you during your first weeks in the department.

• Introductory information for New Students & Staff in the department. In addition, our health and safety officer, Barney Leeke, has designed an online introductory safety course for everyone joining the department.

• Need a place to stay? The University runs its own Accommodation Service to assist staff in finding suitable accommodation.

• The University of Cambridge Postdoc Academy offers Researcher Development training, professional opportunities such as Fellowships and College affiliations, and a range of support for the postdoc community. They run Postdoc Welcome Events throughout the year to introduce you to all the resources and support services that are available to postdocs. The Postdoc Academy also operates three Postdoc Centres across the city, which provide meeting rooms, event spaces and hot-desking that are free for postdocs to book. Subscribe to their Postdoc Bulletin for regular updates on postdoc events and opportunities.

• Postdocs Of Cambridge (PdOC) is the University society for postdoctoral research staff and Junior Research Fellows (JRFs). All Cambridge postdocs are welcome to join, and there is no membership fee. Join the mailing list to hear about social events and opportunities.

• Register with the Careers Service for regular emails about career development opportunities.

Contacts in the Department

A full list of all departmental contacts, including admin and IT is available here.

Equality and Diversity

The Department of Pharmacology is committed to equality and diversity and, in recognition of this, has been awarded an Athena SWAN Bronze Award.

The University’s training module gives a good introduction to the relevant material and is compulsory for all members of the department.

Parents and Carers in the Department of Pharmacology

The Equality and Diversity Committee has put together a webpage with information and links for all parents and carers in the department.

You can also find useful information through SPACE (Supporting Parents & Carers at Cambridge) and the Childcare Office.

Welfare

The following support structures are available within the University:

• University Counselling Service

• Disability Resource Centre

• Equality and Diversity

Personal and Professional Development

The Postdoc Academy provides development opportunities for postdocs in leadership, teaching, personal effectiveness, communication, innovation skills, and strategic career management. They also offer 1:1 support and coaching, and a developmental mentoring scheme for postdocs.

Personal and Professional Development (PPD) provide a database of training opportunities within the University.

Springboard - A Women's Development Programme.

Navigator - A Personal Development Programme for Men.

Vitae is a national organisation dedicated to championing career and personal development for researchers.

Need to learn how to use new software? Chances are there is a course offered by the University Computing Service.

The University of Cambridge Careers Service can help with CV/cover letter checks, practice interviews, one-to-one sessions for advice about your career direction and options, and anything else career-related you would like to discuss.

Fellowships

Thinking of applying for a fellowship? Our Fellowship Mentoring Programme can help! Contact Marie if you want to see examples of both successful and unsuccessful applications from people in the Department, or speak to someone who has applied for the same fellowship you are going for!

The Borysiewicz Interdisciplinary Fellowship has been developed by the Postdoc Academy to provide career enhancement to support outstanding researchers seeking to shape the future for the betterment of society. It enables these researchers to focus on a range of global challenges in addition to their primary research, as well as undertaking a programme of leadership and entrepreneurship training.

The programme provides a unique mixture of purposeful and outcome-driven engagement opportunities for postdocs both within and outside their area of expertise, which develops their skills as leaders to pursue independent work on novel ideas.

Scientific Resources

Looking for a collaborator to combine your exciting experimental results with theoretical analysis or modeling? The Theory of Living Matter group is a new initiative to build a network for researchers interested in theoretical analysis and modeling biological phenomena in Cambridge. The group aims to bring together theoretically oriented scientists (physicists, mathematicians, computer scientists and others) and biologists on a postdoctoral or young group leader level.

Need help with your statistics? The Statistics Clinic aims to offer free statistical consulting services to all university members. Clinic sessions happen fortnightly during the term and around once a month outside the term.

Looking for a rare textbook? The Cambridge University Library can help.

Research Ethics

The University of Cambridge has four School-level Research Ethics Committees that can review projects involving human participants and personal data.

Some departments, Faculties and institutes also have their own local Research Ethics Committees or procedures such as the Cambridge Human Biology Research Ethics Committee.

The departmental contact for advice about Research Ethics is Dr Matthew Harper (+44 (0)1223 334032).

Travel Grants for Conferences

Biochemical Society General Travel Grants  (only available if membership >1 year).

British Pharmacological Society.

Events @ Pharmacology

The postgraduate & postdoc committee organizes a variety of events to foster exchange between the different departmental research groups in a more social environment.

We have welfare tea time, career talks, the recently launched book club and many more.

For career sessions we invite a variety of people from academia, industry, policy, etc. If you know of anyone you think might be an interesting person to talk to, please let the committee know!