Element | Description |
Title | National Postdoctoral Association (NPA): NPA Postdoctoral Core Competencies Toolkit |
Type of document | NPA Website with resources useful to postdocs: http://www.nationalpostdoc.org/ PDF documents - Template for self-assessment of postdoctoral skills: http://www.nationalpostdoc.org/images/stories/Documents/ToolkitDocuments/competency-checklist.pdf - Template for postdoctoral annual review: http://www.faseb.org/portals/0/pdfs/opa/SampleAnnualReview.pdf - Postdoctoral core competencies document (description of each 6 core competencies indentified as indispensible for postdoctoral researchers): http://www.nationalpostdoc.org/images/stories/Documents/ToolkitDocuments/core-competencies.pdf - Guiding document explaining the steps to follow in establishing an Individual Development Plan: http://www.faseb.org/portals/0/pdfs/opa/idp.pdf |
URL of the practice | - Career planning resources: http://www.nationalpostdoc.org/index.php/careers-24/career-planning-resources - The NPA Postdoctoral Core Competencies Toolkit: http://www.nationalpostdoc.org/index.php/publications-5/competencies |
Summary | The NPA is an educational non-profit organization that seeks to support postdoctoral scholars and the postdoctoral community through resource development, building community, and education. They have developed various documents accordingly, among which a list of “Postdoctoral Core Competencies” which stands as a reference point that can help postodocs evaluate their skills and orientate their future career plans according to strengths and weaknesses. A template for the self-assessment of these skills is available on the NPA’s website as well as a template for annual review to be filled in by researchers and their supervisors. |
Stakeholders | - Publishers: The US National Postdoctoral Association - Beneficiaries: (US) Postdoctoral Community (researchers, reviewers, etc.) |
Validation | The NPA is a non-profit member-driven association, with bylaws. The work largely done through committees. new New standards and policies proposed by NPA are being considered and adopted by federal agencies and research Institutions throughout the U.S. The “list of Postdoctoral Core Competencies” has been developed by the NPA Core Competencies Committee in collaboration with mentors, institutions and advisors who provide postdoctoral training and who therefore know what is required to this community. |
Constraints | Working on a self-assessment, Individual Development Plan or on an annual review is more efficient when the mentor or supervisor is equally involved, which can sometimes be difficult to achieve. The elaboration of good development plan requires time, and in order to be efficient, it should be up-dated regularly according to the evolution of one’s skills and projects. Making a self-assessment may reveal aspects of one personality that can be hard to take into consideration under the pressure of the job market. |
Sustainability | Sustainability depends on postdocs and reviewers’ discipline to up-date their plans, annual reviews and self-assessment. |
Transferability | In their Bylaws, the NPA defines a postdoctoral scholar (“postdoc”) as: “an individual holding a doctoral degree who is engaged in a temporary period of mentored research and/or scholarly training for the purpose of acquiring scholarly, scientific and/or professional skills needed to pursue a career path of his or her choosing.” The SAIA project is cantered on doctoral students but as future holders of a doctoral degree, many resources to be found on the NPA’s website can be of interest for them, also in the idea to get ready for their post-doctorate career. |
Contact details | NPA 1200 New York Avenue, NW (202) 326-6424 (202) 371-9849 Email contact form: http://www.nationalpostdoc.org/index.php/contact-us-form-13 |
Publication/Access Date | Core Competencies Committee elected fort the period 2007-2009 |
Author/Publisher | NPA Core Competencies Committee (2007-2009): - Lida Anestidou, D.V.M, Ph.D., Program Officer, The National Academies - Joan Chesney, M. D., Member, Department of Infectious Diseases, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital - Emil Chuck, Ph.D., Faculty Member, Student Academic Affairs and Advising, Health Professions Advisor & Term Assistant Professor, George Mason University - Phil Clifford, Ph.D., Professor of Anesthesiology and Physiology & Associate Dean for Postdoctoral Education, Medical College of Wisconsin - Lisa Curtis, Ph.D., Instructor of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Division of Nephrology, University of Alabama at Birmingham - Jennifer Hobin, Ph.D.,Senior Science Policy Analyst, Office of Public Affairs, Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, joined committee in 2009 - Cathee Johnson Phillips, M.A., Executive Director, NPA (2008-present), joined committee in 2009 - Keith Micoli, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Program Manager, NYU School of Medicine, Sackler Institute of Graduate Biomedical Sciences - Lucia Mokres, D.V.M., Program Specialist, Hantel Technologies - Alyson Reed, M.B.A., Former Executive Director, NPA - Nancy Schwartz, Ph.D., Dean for Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs, University of Chicago |
Related Web site(s) | - Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB): http://www.faseb.org/ - Science Careers: http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/about - MyIDP Online development planning tool developed by Science Careers: http://myidp.sciencecareers.org/ - Myers-Briggs Test: a questionnaire that describes one’s preferred way of interacting http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp |
Related resources that have been developed | - Link to the NPA complete Core competencies document: http://www.nationalpostdoc.org/images/stories/Documents/ToolkitDocuments/core-competencies.pdf - Link to the NPA competencies checklist: http://www.nationalpostdoc.org/images/stories/Documents/ToolkitDocuments/competency-checklist.pdf - Link to the guiding document explaining the steps to follow to establish an Individual Development Plan: http://www.faseb.org/portals/0/pdfs/opa/idp.pdf - Link to the NPA template for an annual review for Postdoc Researchers: http://www.faseb.org/portals/0/pdfs/opa/SampleAnnualReview.pdf
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