jobs.ac.uk - Great jobs for bright people
  • Find a Job
  • Find PhDs
  • Career Advice
  • Jobs by Email
  • Advertise a Job
  • Recruiters
  • Your Account

  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

career-advice.jobs.ac.uk

Secondary Sidebar

jobs.ac.uk Career Advice

  • CV and Cover Letter Advice
    • CV Tips
    • Free CV Templates
    • Cover Letters with Examples
    • Personal Profiles
    • CV Resources
  • Jobseeking and Interview Tips
    • Jobseeking Tips
    • Academic Interviews
    • Professional Interviews
    • Jobseeking and Interview Resources
  • Career Development
    • Academic Careers
    • Research Careers
    • Career Progression Stories
    • Professional Careers
    • Working in Industry
    • Career Development Resources
    • Global Careers
    • Working From Home
  • Women in Higher Education
  • FE Career Advice
    • FE CV & Interview Tips
    • Working in FE
    • Managing your Career in FE
    • FE Jobs Profiles
  • Resources
    • Academic Case Studies
    • Professional Case Studies
    • Job Profiles
      • Biological Science Jobs
      • Health and Medical Jobs
      • Engineering and Technology Jobs
      • Computer Science Jobs
      • Physical and Environmental Science Jobs
      • Professional Service Jobs
        • Business Development Manager Jobs Profile
        • Chef Jobs Profile
        • Civil Service Jobs Profile
        • Email Marketing Jobs Profile
        • SEO Jobs Profile
        • Office Admin Jobs
    • Vlogs
  • Webinars
  • Country Profiles
    • Africa
      • Egypt
      • Ghana
      • Kenya
      • Nigeria
      • South Africa
    • Americas
      • Canada
      • United States of America
    • Asia
      • Bahrain
      • Brunei
      • China
      • Hong Kong
      • India
      • Japan
      • Kazakhstan
      • Malaysia
      • Qatar
      • Saudi Arabia
      • Dubai
      • Singapore
      • South Korea
      • Turkey
      • United Arab Emirates
      • Work in Vietnam – Country Profile
      • Work in Uzbekistan – Country Profile
    • Europe
      • Belgium
      • Denmark
      • Finland
      • France
      • Germany
      • Ireland
      • Italy
      • Netherlands
      • Norway
      • Russia
      • Spain
      • Sweden
      • Switzerland
      • United Kingdom
    • Oceania
      • Australia
      • New Zealand
  • PhD and Studentship Advice
    • PhD
    • Studentship Resources
    • Vlogs
  • Need help advertising a job?
  • About jobs.ac.uk
  • Ask A Professional
  • Academic Spotlight Interviews
  • Menu
    • CV and Cover Letter Advice
      • CV Tips
      • Free CV Templates
      • Cover Letters with Examples
      • Personal Profiles
      • CV Resources
    • Jobseeking and Interview Tips
      • Jobseeking Tips
      • Academic Interviews
      • Professional Interviews
      • Jobseeking and Interview Resources
    • Career Development
      • Academic Careers
      • Career Progression Stories
      • Research Careers
      • Professional Careers
      • Working in Industry
      • Career Development Resources
      • Global Careers
      • Working From Home
    • Women in Higher Education
    • FE Career Advice
      • FE CV & Interview Tips
      • Working in FE
      • Managing your Career in FE
      • FE Jobs Profiles
    • Resources
      • Academic Case Studies
      • Professional Case Studies
      • Interview questions tool
      • Vlogs
      • Job Profiles
        • Biological Science Jobs
        • Health and Medical Jobs
        • Engineering and Technology Jobs
        • Computer Science Jobs
        • Physical and Environmental Science Jobs
        • Professional Service Jobs
        • Civil Service jobs
    • Webinars
    • Country Profiles
      • Africa
        • Work in Egypt – Country Profile
        • Work in Ghana – Country Profile
        • Work in Kenya – Country Profile
        • Work in Nigeria – Country Profile
        • Work in South Africa – Country Profile
      • Americas
        • Work in Canada – Country Profile
        • Work in the United States of America – Country Profile
      • Asia
        • Work in Bahrain – Country Profile
        • Work in Brunei – Country Profile
        • Work in China – Country Profile
        • Work in Hong Kong – Country Profile
        • Work in India – Country Profile
        • Work in Japan – Country Profile
        • Work in Kazakhstan – Country Profile
        • Work in Malaysia – Country Profile
        • Work in Qatar – Country Profile
        • Work in Saudi Arabia – Country Profile
        • Work in Singapore – Country Profile
        • Work in South Korea – Country Profile
        • Work in Turkey – Country Profile
        • Work in United Arab Emirates – Country Profile
      • Dubai
      • Europe
        • Belgium Country Profile
        • Work in Denmark – Country Profile
        • Work in Finland – Country Profile
        • France Country Profile
        • Work in Germany – Country Profile
        • Work in Ireland – Country Profile
        • Work in Italy – Country Profile
        • Work in the Netherlands – Country Profile
        • Work in Norway – Country Profile
        • Work in Russia – Country Profile
        • Work in Spain – Country Profile
        • Work in Sweden – Country Profile
        • Work in Switzerland – Country Profile
        • Work in the United Kingdom – Country Profile
      • Oceania
        • Work in Australia – Country profile
        • Work in New Zealand – Country Profile
    • Studentship Advice
      • PhD
      • Studentship Resources
      • Vlogs
    • Need help advertising a job?
    • About jobs.ac.uk

Attending Academic Conferences

academic conference

Academic conferences can seem daunting, especially for PhD students and early career researchers. However, these events are supremely useful to students, academics and professionals at all stages of their career. This article will explore why academic conferences are so useful, and how to prepare for them.

Papers and research

Conferences are the place to hear about cutting edge research, no matter what your field of study is. Attending a conference means that you will hear colleagues in the same or similar fields speak about what they are working on. Conferences offer the chance to share and test new ideas and concepts. Think of the academic conference as an ideas exchange – you will learn from the academics around you, and get quality feedback on your research, should you give a paper. For PhD students, the academic conference is a great place to practice talking about your own research and your ideas, in an environment where people are personally and professionally interested in what you have to say.

Networking

If the word networking alone makes you want to hide in a dark room, do not worry. For lots of people, the very idea of networking puts them on edge. Academic conferences however, provide the perfect place to network, without it feeling like networking. Everyone is there because of a mutual interest in the field. Even the most established academics are human too – go and talk to them, listen to what they have to say. Being with such like minded people can be an energising experience, giving your own research a boost. Especially for PhD students, for whom the research process can be a lonely road, getting out of the lab or the library and meeting people who are as excited and interested in your work and your field as you are, can be fantastically refreshing and invigorating.

Most conferences have informal spaces too, away from the papers, panels and keynote speeches. Either conference dinners, post conference drinks, even the coffee and lunch breaks. Most people find these moments the ideal time to get talking and to network. And if you have given a paper, delegates will come and chat to you about your paper in the coffee breaks or during the post conference drinks. From here natural and relaxed conversations will begin about your research and theirs too. Ask them questions, open a dialogue, leading to constructive feedback, encouragement for your work, and even plans for future collaboration.

Knowledge expansion

Thinking of the conference as a safe space to test ideas, means that as you listen to other papers, you are expanding your knowledge not only of the most up to date research, but also who exactly is in the field. Getting to know people, what they do, where they work, is crucial when entering the job market. The academic conference expands your knowledge of the current work in the field, but also of the landscape of academia itself.

Presenting at a conference

For any academic or PhD student, presenting at a conference is both useful and daunting. Even the most established researchers and academics suffer from nerves before they speak. In a room full of experts, giving a paper can feel intimidating. You can prepare for it though, with these simple tips.

  • Practice your paper before you go. Stand up in your office, or at home, and practice your paper out loud.
  • Time your paper. Most conferences allow a designated 20 minute slot per paper. You should not go over this time as there will be a tight schedule that the conference is running to.
  • Write your paper to come in under 20 minutes, aim for 17 or 18 minutes. This way, you have some leeway for any technological problems, and this also allows for a smooth crossover between one paper and the next.
  • Keep technological aspects simple. If you have a PowerPoint presentation for example, keep slides minimal. People cannot read many paragraphs of text on a slide, and listen to you at the same time. Instead you can bullet point key terms, use images, graphs, or infographics.
  • It is absolutely fine to read from a script. Have your paper in full, typed and printed out, which you can either read directly from or refer to. Or you might prefer to read from cue cards.
  • Take your time when speaking. For those who get nervous about public speaking, it can be tempting to race through your paper to get it over with. Instead, take breaths, slow down, speak clearly. The delegates all want to hear what you have to say.
  • Take a notepad and pen with you. When you listen to everyone else’s paper, you will want to make notes, remember names, institutions, or contact details.
  • After a panel, there is usually a Q & A. If a delegate asks you a question, take this as a good sign that they are interested in your research. Take your time with your answer, and make notes if you need to.
  • Get some business cards made. Yes, this smacks of that networking thing again – but they can be useful to have to hand for when you are chatting to other delegates.

So while attending academic conferences might seem time consuming, expensive and even intimidating, the benefits are excellent. You will develop your own skills while learning from others. You will meet other people in your field, from other institutions, from around the world. You will make friends and professional contacts. You will hear cutting edge research and get quality feedback on your own work. And above all, you are putting yourself out there, where fellow academics will get to know you and your work, which is essential for your future in academia.

What did you think of our article? - please rate

0 / 5. 0


Share this article

Stella Gaynor

Dr Stella Gaynor is an Associate Lecturer at the University of Salford in the Broadcast Media Department, with eight years teaching experience in Higher Education. She completed her PhD thesis on the horror genre and the US television industry and is developing this into a monograph. She has written a chapter in the forthcoming edited collection Global TV Horror, an article for the Revenant journal, and regularly blogs for Critical Studies in Television. She is also a freelance copywriter.

Reader Interactions

You may also like:

  • Audience at the conference hall.

    Writing Abstracts for Conferences

  • Supporting Individual Researchers in a Publish-or-Perish Culture

    Supporting Individual Researchers in a Publish-or-Perish Culture

  • Quiet Mornings with a Tea

    How to stay calm for your PhD defence

Comments

  1. HAIDAR NAJEEBULLAH says

    19th October 2022 at 5:51 pm

    This is Haidar Najeebullah one of the International, first-year master’s students at Tokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo Japan.
    my research plan is about post-harvest management of tomato fruit I want to attend one of the conferences during my completing my master’s course.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

four + fourteen =

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Follow us

Searching for a job in the United Kingdom

Latest Jobs

  • Faculty Position in AI/ML for Biosciences

    Department of Biosciences and Bioinformatics, Xi'an Jiaotong - Liverpool University

    Location: Suzhou

    Salary: Competitive salary in the market


  • Apprentice - Chemical & Environmental Engineering

    Engineering, University of Nottingham

    Location: Nottingham

    Salary: £23,563 - £23,946 per annum, depending on skills and experience.


  • Research Assistant / Research Associate (Fixed Term)

    Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge

    Location: Cambridge

    Salary: £32,546 - £45,413 per annum


  • Senior Scientific Associate, Pre-clinical Genome Editing Facility (12 months Fixed Term)

    Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge

    Location: Cambridge

    Salary: £35,116 - £45,413 per annum


  • Senior Research Fellow

    College of Social Sciences - School of Social Policy and Society, University of Birmingham

    Location: Birmingham

    Salary: £57,422 - £66,537 Grade: 9


  • Housekeeping Assistant

    Trinity Hall , University of Cambridge

    Location: Cambridge

    Salary: £12.77 per hour, plus pension and benefits


Footer

jobs.ac.uk - Great jobs for bright people
  • Find a Job
  • Find PhDs
  • Career Advice
  • Jobs by Email
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Terms of use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Accessibility Statement

Copyright © jobs.ac.uk 1998 - 2025

  • Find a Job
  • Find PhDs
  • Careers Advice
  • Jobs by Email
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Terms of use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Accessibility
jobs.ac.uk - Great jobs for bright people

Copyright © jobs.ac.uk 1998 - 2025