Discipline-Specific Conceptual Knowledge | Research Skills Development | Communication Skills
Professionalism | Leadership and Management Skills | RCR

I. Discipline-Specific Conceptual Knowledge

One of the main goals of postdoctoral training is to expand knowledge of your field and develop your niche. To become a subject matter expert:

• Join professional societies.
• Join interest groups at your local university/department.
• Attend journal clubs.
• Attend national and international meetings. A good source for the sciences is the Nature Events Directory; for the humanities, H-Net Academic Announcements; and for the social sciences, the Consortium of Social Sciences Associations. Networking is key to your career success, regardless of your field. Consider the benefits of attending large conferences where you will obtain a broad picture of the state of your field vs. smaller conferences where you will have more personal interactions.

Please note:  Much of what postdoctoral researchers need to learn under this topic is discipline-specific. The following resources are examples:

• List of PhD Public Health Competencies for several majors including behavioral sciences, biostatistics, environmental sciences, epidemiology, and health policy
• “Finding Your Niche” from Ten Steps to a Winning R01 Application, NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
• What’s the Right Toolset for Digital Humanities? from Academic PKM: Personal Knowledge Management for Academia & Librarians
• Information Literacy Standards for Anthropology and Sociology Students from the Association of College and Research Libraries

II. Research Skills Development

Please note: Much of what postdoctoral researchers need to learn under this topic is discipline-specific. The following resources are examples.

• Making the Right Moves: A Practical Guide to Scientific Management for Postdocs and New Faculty from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund
• From Postgraduate to Social Scientist: A Guide to Key Skills by Nigel Gilbert, available from Sage Publications
• Researcher Development Framework from Cloudworks UK
• Getting Started in the Digital Humanities from the Digital Scholarship in the Humanities blog
  

III. Communication Skills

Communication in General

• ScienceCareers and the Chronicle of Higher Education have numerous archived articles on communication skills.
• Open-access, free courses in communication skills are available online, including:
  • Introduction to Public Speaking, Business Communication for Career Readiness, and Communication in the 21st Century Workplace from Coursera
  • Communication Skills for Academics, Communication for Managers, Science Writing and New Media: Elements of Science Writing for the Public, and Argumentation and Communication from MIT Open Courseware
• Toastmasters International helps members improve their public speaking and leadership skills, with 14,650 Toastmasters chapters in 126 countries.
• The AAAS Center for Public Engagement with Science and Technology provides resources on communicating science to the public.
• The NIH Office of Intramural Training & Education provides videocasts on improving communication skills, including Improving Spoken English, Communicating Science, and Using LinkedIn Effectively.

Conflict Resolution

• Articles on conflict resolution from Mediate.com and the Conflict Resolution Network
• Butting Heads: Conflict Resolution for Postdocs from AAAS ScienceCareers
• Difficult Conversations: How To Discuss What Matters Most by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, and Sheila Heen, from Penguin Books (advice suitable for all academic disciplines; available from most university libraries)
• Your Perfect Right: A Guide to Assertive Behavior by Robert Alberti and Michael Emmons from Impact Publishers  (advice suitable for all academic disciplines; available from most university libraries)
• Conflict Resolution Skills from the Conflict Resolution Network

General Writing Resources

• Handouts and videos from the Writing Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• The Elements of Style (1st ed) by William Strunk from Project Gutenberg

Grant Writing

• Grant Proposals (or Give Me the Money!) from the Writing Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (advice suitable for all academic disciplines)
• Grant Writing Resources from the College of Arts and Sciences, the University of California at Berkeley (advice suitable for all academic disciplines)
• Proposal Writing Short Course from the Foundation Center (advice suitable for all academic disciplines)
• Guide for Writing a Funding Proposal (advice suitable for social science disciplines)
• Writing a Grant Proposal: Writing Tips and Application Forms and slide presentations on Funding and Grantsmanship for Research and Career Development Activities from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Columbia University Medical Center (advice suitable for scientific/medical disciplines)
• How to Get Funding series from ScienceCareers (advice suitable for scientific/medical disciplines)
• Information specific to National Institutes of Health (NIH) Awards:
  • The K Kiosk: Information about NIH Career Development Awards
  • Tips for New NIH Grant Applicants from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
  • Tips on Submitting an NIH NRSA F32 Application from Sarah Bottjer, the University of Southern California

Managing News and Social Media

• An Introduction to Social Media for Scientists by Holly Bik and Miriam Goldstein from PLOS Biology
• SciDevNet Practical Guide topics include “What Journalists Want from Scientists and Why”, “How to Record and Produce Audio Slideshows”, “How to Report Science in Local Languages”, and ‘Beyond Press Releases: How to Dig Up Science Stories”.
• Sense About Science resources include “Standing Up for Science”, ‘Standing Up for Science 2: The Nuts and Bolts”, and “There Goes the Science Bit”.
• Dealing with the Media: Press Tips from the Harvard Innovation Lab
• Science Writing and New Media: Elements of Science Writing for the Public: open-access, free course from Coursera

Negotiating

• Principles and Tactics of Negotiation from the Journal of Oncology Practice, National Center for Biotechnology Information 
• What is Negotiation? from the University of Colorado Conflict Information Consortium
• Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by Roger Fisher, William Ury, and Bruce Patton (available from most university libraries)

Professional and Career Development

• Scientific/Medical Disciplines: Resources on professional development for both academic careers and careers beyond academia  (e.g. CVs, resumes, cover letters, research and teaching statements, job interviews, informational interviewing, networking) are available from the Duke Office of Postdoctoral Services, the University of California at San Francisco Office of Career & Professional Development, and the National Postdoctoral Association (advice suitable for scientific/medical disciplines).
• Humanities/Social Sciences: Resources on professional and career development for both academic careers and careers beyond academia are available from the Duke Graduate School, the Modern Language Association, and Anne Mitchell Whisnant’s “Resources for an Expansive Job Search: Humanities & Social Sciences.”

Scientific Presentations

• Speaking About Science: A Manual for Creating Clear Presentations by Scott Morgan and Barrett Whitener of Premiere Public Speaking, from Cambridge University Press
• Scientifically Speaking: Tips for Preparing and Delivering Scientific Talks and Using Visual Aids from the Oceanography Society Council
• Designing Conference Posters by Colin Purrington
• Delivering a Dynamic Job and Chalk Talk by Susan McKarns from the American Physiological Society
• How to Give a Great Scientific Presentation from the MacDiarmid Emerging Scientists Association
• How to Convert your Paper into a Presentation, Duke University Writing Studio
• Giving a Conference Talk by Mike Dahlin
• How to Give Effective Lectures-and Job Talks and Conference Presentations by Columbia University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences Teaching Center
• University of North Carolina: The Graduate School (a comprehensive resource for academic poster presentations and general presentation advice)
• Giving an Academic Talk by Jonathan Shewchuk
• How to Give an Academic Talk by Paul N. Edwards
• Talking the Talk: Tips on Giving a Successful Conference Presentation by Abby Adler
• Designing Effective Scientific Presentations Using PowerPoint and Structuring your Talk by Susan K. McConnell, Ph.D.

Scientific Writing

• The Science of Scientific Writing by George Gopen and Judith Swan from American Scientist Magazine
• Scientific Writing Resource (online course) from the Duke University Graduate School
• How to Write Your First Research Paper by Elena Kallestinova, in the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, from the National Center for Biotechnology Information
• Series on Effective Writing and Publishing of Scientific Papers by Daniel Kotz, Jochen Cals, Peter Tugwell, and André Knottnerus, from the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, available from Elsevier ScienceDirect

Teaching

• McKeachie's Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers by Marilla Svinicki, Wilbert James McKeachie, et al (advice suitable for all academic disciplines; available from most university libraries)
• Teaching Resources for Postdoctoral Scholars from the National Postdoctoral Association (advice suitable for all academic disciplines)
• Ways to Make Your Teaching More Effective from the Center for Teaching and Learning, University of California at Berkeley (advice suitable for all academic disciplines)
• Ideas for Teaching from the Duke Center for Instructional Technology (advice suitable for all academic disciplines)
• The Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL) (advice suitable for STEM disciplines)

Public Speaking Tips

• Strike a Pose: How the Way you Stand can make you more successful by Susanne Gargiulo
• Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are by Amy Cuddy
• Five Basics of Public Speaking, Toastmasters International
• The University of Chicago Workshop on Public Speaking
• Ready, Set, Speak by Aisha Langford
• Public Speaking by Eric Jager
• More Effective Public Speaking by K.D. Shives

IV. Professionalism

Workplace Professionalism  (advice suitable for all academic disciplines)

• Workplace Etiquette from the Columbia University Center for Career Education
• Creating and Sustaining an Ethical Workplace Culture by Charles Kerns
• Essentials of Business Communication by Mary Ellen Guffey and Dana Loewy
• Creating a Positive Professional Image by Mallory Stark from Harvard Business School Working Knowledge

Diversity Resources

• Diversity Issues from AAAS ScienceCareers
• NPA ADVANCE resources for women in science from the National Postdoctoral Association
• MinorityPostdoc.org resources on the minority postdoc experience

Conflict of Interest

• Conflicts of Interest from the Association of American Universities
• NIH Financial Conflict of Interest Tutorial
• NSF Conflict of Interest Policies

The Scientist as Good Citizen

• Scientists as Citizens: Activism Beyond the Bench by Kathy Barker
• The Scientist as World Citizen by Mary-Claire King from Science Magazine
• Scientists as Citizens by Sir John Conforth from the Vega Science Trust
• Researchers Point to ‘Moral Obligation’, ‘Good Citizens’ in Urging Scientists to ‘Speak Up’ on Policy by Julie Halpert from Yale Climate Connections

V. Leadership and Management Skills

Leadership in General

• Leadership: Theory and Practice by Peter Guy Northouse from Sage Publications  (advice suitable for all academic disciplines; available from most university libraries)
• Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman from Bantam Books (advice suitable for all academic disciplines; available from most university libraries)
• What Makes a Leader? by Daniel Goleman from the Harvard Business Review (advice suitable for all academic disciplines)

Leadership in the Laboratory

• At the Helm: a Laboratory Manager by Kathy Barker from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
• Making the Right Moves: A Practical Guide to Scientific Management for Postdocs and New Faculty from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund
• Leadership in the Clinical Laboratory: Strategies for Change by ML Cameron from Clinical Laboratory Management Review
• Management Strategies for Encouraging Creativity by P Preston from Clinical Laboratory Management Review
• A Herd of Cats: Managing Scientists from Lab Dynamics:  Management Skills for Scientists by Carl Cohen and Suzanne Cohen from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press

Time/Stress Management

• Chapter 6: Time Management from Making the Right Moves by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund
• Time Management from New York University Learning Center
• Work Smarter, Not Harder: Time Management for Personal & Professional Productivity: Open access, free online course from Coursera
• How Successful People Stay Calm by Travis Bradberry from Forbes Magazine

VI. Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR)

• Comprehensive resources on the Responsible Conduct of Research are available from the Office of Research Integrity and the National Postdoctoral Association.