Developing a narrative CV - in practice

Read our case-studies to find out how others got on with developing a narrative CV, and what advice they have for individuals and teams working with the new format.

Q & A with fellowship applicant, Stephen Marshall

Why did you need to develop a narrative CV?

I was applying for a BBSRC Discovery Fellowship, and that was the format they required.

What did you feel about it?

It felt daunting! I was comfortable with the traditional CV and had one that I could tweak depending on the role. It seemed hard to work up something new.

How did you go about it? 

I started with bullet points for each section, noting the key points to address, and then tried to link them in a coherent way. It was challenging trying to explain the ‘impact’ of what I’d done (rather than just listing jobs, papers and responsibilities) without being too verbose.

How long did it take?

A couple of hours to get an initial draft, and then a couple more to polish it after getting some feedback from colleagues.

What did you feel about the result?

I was pleased with it. The format allows you to highlight what you’d like people to know about you, your wider interests, and what you can bring to a team or institution. It’s a chance to reflect on what you’ve achieved, and helps you target areas to improve.

On the other hand, as an early-career researcher I found it hard to evidence some things: the fact that I’d positively impacted students’ career development, for instance, rather than just saying that I had ‘supervised two students’. This probably gets easier as you become more senior – and more experienced at writing narrative CVs!

Did you think anything was missing?

Yes – I realised that I didn’t have much experience of ‘wider research impact’. That prompted me to get more involved in various committees and policy engagement activities – which is something I’ve found very rewarding.

Any advice for other researchers?

• Start early… well before the deadline for a particular job or funding opportunity. This will give you a chance to look at what you’ve done, revise it, and get it to a point where you are happy.
• Draw out what you personally brought to any collaboration you were involved with: how you have contributed to, for instance, building a positive research culture.
• It’s not all about metrics. Include your major contributions to science, but many funding bodies aren't looking for a long list of all your publications. They want to see you are a rounded individual, not a h-index.
• Think about career development. Look out for opportunities and activities that extend beyond your research interests and will help build your CV.

Any last words?

Don’t feel too daunted. The first narrative CV will take some time and thought, but then it gets easier to maintain, update and improve -- just like a ‘traditional’ CV. At Oxford, we’re lucky enough to have Research Facilitators, so do ask them for help. And remember, it’s a great way to showcase what you have to offer so don't be afraid to sell yourself!

Stephen Marshall, PDRA, Schofield Group, Department of Chemistry

Q and A with Dr Nicholas Provine

Why did you need to develop a team narrative CV? We were applying for an MRC Research grant.

What did you think of the new format? I liked the principle but was wary of the practicalities – particularly of trying to fit all the information from a team into the word count. At the time, there was no specific guidance from MRC to follow.

How did you go about it? I brainstormed with my co-lead to think about what each of us brought to the proposal, then we each worked up different sections – directing specific questions to other members of the team as we needed to.

How did it go? It was a challenge fitting everything into the word count (which is the same as for an individual CV); and trying to find the balance of reflecting our senior collaborators’ more extensive experience, with profiling what we could bring to the proposal as relatively less experienced Principal Investigators. We weren’t sure whether we needed to mention all applicants equally in all four of the sections or how many words to devote to leads relative to co-investigators. Overall, it took a lot of time.

What help did you get? The Oxford University guidance was useful. And professional colleagues offered to review and give feedback – but, unfortunately, we hadn’t left time for this.

What advice would you give to other researchers?

• Start early – it’ll take more time than you think. And treat it is as part of the application rather than an add-on. Each narrative CV has to be written from the ground up for a specific application – so use it to really help develop your thinking and your approach, and demonstrate why you’re the best team for the job.
• Leave time for review. Get other researchers or professional colleagues to give you feedback.
• And use the guidance. Oxford’s guidance is a great start – the webinar recording and written guidance take you through all the sections of the CV format. UKRI has broad guidance that covers all their funding areas.

Anything else? It’s really a very different process to developing a traditional CV – and much harder than just pulling individual CVs into one document. But it does give you an opportunity to reflect on how you will work together, what skills and experience you need in the team, and to bring that in if you haven’t already got this.

Final thoughts? As I said, the principle is good – but there are challenges and the new format is a learning experience for everyone. Try to speak with colleagues who have gone through the process so we can learn collectively.

Dr Nicholas Provine is a Career Development Fellow, Pandemic Sciences Institute, Nuffield Department of Medicine

Q and A with Robert Hilton on developing a team narrative CV

Why did you need to develop a narrative team CV? We were applying for a NERC ‘Pushing the Frontiers’ round, and it was the first where they were asking for the new format.

How did you find the process? It was a big change and initially it was hard to get going because it was so different. But I think it’s a brilliant format. It really gave us a chance to think through how we work together as a team, and our approach to research culture and wider engagement. We were a group of six, so it was a logistical challenge to fit everything into four sections on just two pages.

So how did you go about it? Once we'd had feedback on our initial attempt, we brainstormed our ideas for each section and then had lots of emails and calls to drill down into the detail. We tried to be really specific about our examples, to pick the most relevant ones rather than to list everything, and to show how a particular paper or engagement advanced the field or contributed to the wider research environment.

What did you like about the format? It was great to be able to write about our approach to research culture and career development – from how we run meetings to how we support family leave. The format is really useful to capture these important elements of research that traditional CVs don't, and the fact that this now counts in applications incentivises teams to do it better.

Was the feedback useful? Yes, we had feedback from the NERC internal review board, who told us that our first attempt wasn’t really what the research council was looking for and sent us back to the drawing board. But that forced us to rethink and then really get to grips with the new approach.

Did anything else help? We were in touch with research colleagues in other institutions, who were exploring the same issues. This peer support was very useful as there were no examples to go on at that stage. NERC also had useful guidance and its important to follow the specific requirements of the particular funder.

What advice would you give other researchers?

• Start early! The team CV is essential to the application, not an 'add on' – so don’t leave it until the last minute.
• Get feedback. This could be from internal review panels, academic peers, or professional staff. It helps to have an outside perspective to push you to really embrace the new format rather than do what you have always done.
• Make the most of it. The narrative CV is a brilliant way to showcase your wider research contribution.

What about next time? I think we’ll be more confident in the process next time, and of course we’ll have something to work with and can build in more time for reflection and review.

Last thoughts? Overall, I think the narrative CV format is a very welcome development on the research landscape.

Robert Hilton, is Professor in Earth Sciences and Tutorial Fellow at St Peters

Q and A with research facilitator, Kanza Basit

Kanza, what’s your experience of narrative CVs? Part of my role as a research facilitator is to offer support on the new CV format. I’ve helped several people develop narrative CVs for UKRI and the British Academy – and supported the development of an interdisciplinary team CV for a centre grant application.

How did the researchers find the process? The senior academics had more career experience to draw on in the different sections and felt they could present themselves better than with a traditional CV. But the early career researchers found it a bit daunting to start with, and some struggled to fill in the sections for ‘leadership’ and ‘policy engagement’.

What advice did you give them? I helped them to think through their relevant experience so they could complete the sections. Supervising students for the leadership section, for instance, and involvement in conferences and networks for policy engagement. I’ve also been able to suggest that researchers include their administrative roles, for instance their involvement in department committees (ethics, research, academic etc).

What other advice would you give researchers? The main thing is, don’t rush it! Do a first draft and then come back to it and see where you can strengthen it. And get input from peers, senior colleagues or research facilitators. Developing a narrative CV is usually an iterative process and it takes time.

Any other tips? Writing can feel hard. Start with bullet points to get down your experience, then try to join similar points into a narrative for each section. This will also help you to keep your writing tight and avoid repetition.

What about team CVs? If there are a lot of collaborators, make sure you include the strongest examples in each section, and those that are most appropriate to that particular application. The best example may be from a more junior researcher rather than the PI.

What support can you offer? I’m happy to talk to individual researchers and I’m sure facilitators in other departments are too. Oxford has developed some really good guidance, so take a look at that. The UKRI website is also helpful to find out what reviewers are looking for.

And finally? The primary consideration is the relevance of the examples to the specific funding call. It's crucial that the examples are not only high quality but also directly relate to the proposal at hand. The examples should demonstrate your expertise in the subject, leaving no room for doubt in the minds of the reviewers!

Kanza Basit is a research facilitator in the department of economics