Your 10 development days

PI guidance to support the 10 development days

At Imperial, we value our postdocs and fellows and are committed to ensuring that all research staff can develop and grow both personally and professionally. The Postdoc and Fellows Development Centre supports you to take a proactive approach to developing your skills and exploring your career prospects. We are dedicated to ensuring your time here is not just productive but transformative.

To support you with your career ambitions, postdocs and fellows have 10 days per year of development time written into their contracts. This is part of Imperial’s long-standing commitment to the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers. As a valued member of staff, you can access a wide range of services that are offered by the College for example via the Educational Development Unit, People and Organisational Development or the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Centre.

In the webpages below you can find recommendations and testimonials from your peers which will allow you to make the most of your 10 development days.  These pages give you clarity on why you should undertake 10 days of development activities each year, think broadly about what you might want to develop or experience to support your career success, and inspiration on how you can use your 10 days in a variety of engaging ways. 

The PFDC has also developed guidance to help your line manager support you on how to use your 10 development days. The Academic’s Success Guide runs along the 10 development days guide below.

Why, What, When and How and Where? 

In this guide we provide advice and tools to help you with: 

Advice and tools

‘The Why’

Get clarity on why there is an expectation that you undertake 10 days of development activities each year and why you specifically might want to use them to achieve your career vision and goals.e

‘The What and When’

Think broadly about what you might want to develop or experience, to support your career success. We provide resources for you to work through and prioritise your development needs according to different skills categories.

‘The How and Where’

To inspire you to use your 10 days in a variety of engaging ways, we have created lists of activities that address a range of skills, knowledge, and experiences. In each category, we spotlight specific examples that other researchers at Imperial have found valuable in their development.