Online resource for arts and humanities PhD researchers
The Centre for Career Management Skills (CCMS) created a new online career resource tailored specifically for arts and humanities PhD researchers. Beyond the PhD brings together audio interviews, video discussions and articles aimed at making visible what happens to postgraduate researchers after they graduate.
As part of the CCMS continuation strategy Beyond the PhD will be maintained by TransitionTradition, an online community for creative students and graduates: http://www.transitiontradition.com/
Beyond the PhD offers a rare opportunity to listen to the experiences of people from the University of Reading and HEIs across the UK, at different ages and stages of life, who have been through the PhD in an arts and humanities discipline and made the transition into a variety of work beyond it. Their candid personal reflections on facing challenges, responding to opportunities and reaching decisions are captured in over three hundred searchable audio clips.
In addition to biographical interviews, this site also features articles that offer personal perspectives on PhD researchers and their career development. How, for example, do we 'narrate' our past histories and future possible careers? How can we interpret the statistical data pertaining to the career destinations of arts and humanities PhDs? Do employers outside academia perceive PhD researchers in the arts and humanities as being over-educated but under-qualified? And, if so, how can this perception be challenged? How has the PhD as a course of study changed in recent years? And how has this affected its cultural and economic value?
Video clips of small group discussions form the third section of the site. In one group careers advisers reflect on the nature of career guidance and what PhD researchers might expect to gain from it; the range of work that arts and humanities postgraduates are drawn into; and how the PhD thesis can be reframed in applications for non-academic jobs.
Academic skills trainers feature in the other filmed discussion. They consider the government agenda for skills training for postgraduates in the arts and humanities and how this is being realised in universities; the role of supervisors in equipping postgraduates for academic careers, and the growing professionalisation of academia.
Beyond the PhD is a good place to explore possible career paths within and outside academia, but it aims to complement rather than replace the existing support for PhD researchers. A select list of online and print resources is available via our links page.
To explore the site visit: www.beyondthephd.co.uk
For more details, or to arrange a presentation to students, please contact Samantha Smith at sam@transitiontradition.com