Career Planning
The following online, interactive courses provide help and resources relating to career planning for PhD’s and Early Career Researchers:
Career Planning In The Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
Career Planning In The Sciences
Some of the material is relevant to undergraduate and masters students as it explores skills development, career planning and application for employment within a wide range of career sectors.
Additional resources
- Making your own luck - "planned happenstance" (ppt) (last modified: 7 January 2011)

- Securing a position outside of academia (ppt) (last modified: 6 January 2011)

Alumni case studies
These case studies were collected in spring / summer 2009 and are shared with you by the kind consent of the alumni themselves. Some are from recent graduates who are relatively early on in their careers: others are from those already at or near retirement age.
Both are extremely useful but perhaps in slightly different ways. The more recent accounts will still be highly relevant in regards to information about sources of vacancies and the recruitment process. Those of graduates from the 90s, 80s or even 70s give a really interesting picture of the path a researcher from Durham can take. It is also interesting to see the major changes in technology in a short space of time and how as an employee you are required to adapt to, and benefit from, these changes.
Hopefully these case studies will help you to realise the vast opportunities open to you and inspire you to find the right career for you. The case studies are organised in three broad categories: Sciences, Social Science and Arts and Humanities. They are available in the careers section of the Postgraduate Training and Development pages of DUO; unfortunately they are only accessible to postgraduate research students and staff. To find the careers section of the Postgraduate Training and Development pages of DUO please follow the following instructions:
- Sign into DUO using your CIS username and password
- Click on ‘postgraduate training and development’ from your list of courses
- Choose ‘careers’ from purple list on left hand side of page
- Click on the ‘Alumni Case Studies’ folder
- The reports are grouped by Faculty of Research
Beyond the PhD
Conceived and developed by people with arts and humanities PhDs, this online resource brings together personal and professional experiences of the world of postgraduate careers.
