Further internal resources
For EMBL fellows
Within EMBL, further internal resources (e.g. recorded career seminars) can be found on our career exploration intranet pages.
Career area: Academic teaching
In addition to positions focused on research or scientific services, it is possible in many countries to have an academic career focused on teaching.
Roles and responsibilities
Each country has a unique higher education system and different way of organizing research and teaching within universities, technical universities and other higher education institutions. We recommend resources in the ‘want to learn more’ section below that can help you learn more about teaching-focussed roles in different countries.
Knowledge and skills
In our careers and skills survey, 4 people with academic teaching careers told us the competencies they use most in their daily work The most frequently selected competencies were:
- visualizing data and ideas (selected by 100% of respondents)
- effective communication (selected by 75% of respondents, and ranked most important for success in the role)
- broad scientific knowledge (selected by 75% of respondents)
- independent thought (selected by 75% of respondents)
Language requirements
To be eligible you will normally need to be fluent in the local language. Although an increasing number of graduate courses are taught in English, undergraduate teaching usually takes place in the local language.
Career entry and progression
Career entry and career progression is highly country-specific and dependent on the relevant national system; in many cases a large proportion of teaching is done by staff on precarious and/or part-time contracts, but some career tracks provide stable positions. There are different national prerequisites for teaching at the university level – in some countries accreditation is required. The application process for positions often requires a dossier of evidence documenting your relevant teaching experience.
Why consider this career area?
In our careers and skills survey, 4 people with academic teaching careers told us what they appreciate most about their work. The most common selections were, that the work:
- is intellectually stimulating (80%)
- allows them to be creative (60%)
- allows them to set their own direction and think independently (60%)
- benefits society (60%)
Want to learn more?
Sources / further reading
- Articles:
- Challenges and opportunities for early-career Teaching-Focussed academics in the biosciences – F1000 Research article (UK-focus)
- From bench to board-side: Academic teaching careers – Developmental biology special issue ‘Careers beyond the bench
- Resources:
- General information about academic (research and teaching) careers by country from the European University Institute (written for social scientists/humanities students but generally applicable to the sciences) **highly recommended**
- Teaching as a skill and a career – Science Careers collection of articles
- InterSECT Job Sim simulation library – including:
Informational interviews
For all career areas, we highly recommend first learning more about the careers using the resources above, then conducting informational interviews to gain further insights directly from former PhDs working in career areas that interest you.
Last update: October 2022
