On the 6th February Darcey and I attended the Prosper Practice Exchange event, which was held in Manchester and hosted by Propser Portal (a consortium of Universities responsible for developing the Prosper Portal website, which is an excellent career resource for research staff and postdocs). At this full day session, we heard from key voices within the sector on developing cohort models for postdoc career development, engaging internal and external stakeholders and we had excellent opportunities for networking (over lunch and within small round table discussion) with colleagues from institutions around the UK.
The day was thoroughly enjoyable and I was reminded that most institutions face the same systemic challenges. I personally enjoy the chance for networking and thought this was a good opportunity to share that networking need not be something to be feared or approached with trepidation. Prosper has some excellent resources on this topic. See:
There are some further posts on Networking on the IAD 4 Researchers blog (February 2023) and a THE article I wrote on Networking Tips for Academics if you would like to read more on the topic. If networking is of interest and you’d like to see a dedicated session on the timetable for June Careers Month do contact us (Eleanor.hennige@ed.ac.uk ) and let us know your thoughts.
