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This study aims to explore postdoctoral scholars’ experiences and perceptions of a teaching certificate program and identify how they use the knowledge and skills developed through the certificate program to improve their teaching practices.

In this case study, the authors explored postdoctoral scholars’ experiences and perceptions of a teaching certificate using a multiple methods and data sources including documents, course evaluations, interviews and surveys.

The teaching certificate program helped postdocs learn the language and theory of teaching and learning in post-secondary education; practice specific strategies and develop confidence in how to teach; network with colleagues about teaching and learning; develop a reflective teaching practice; and contribute to the scholarship of teaching and learning.

The findings from this study will inform efforts to develop new or refine existing approaches to promote teaching and learning professional development opportunities for postdoctoral scholars.

This paper fulfills an identified need to study teaching and learning development for postdoctoral scholars.

This study aims to explore the perceptions of a diverse set of 16 engineering postdoctoral scholars regarding their fit for the professoriate. The professoriate speaks to the body of tenured/tenure-track faculty within higher education institutions.

An intrinsic case study design was conducted to provide an in-depth understanding of the factors influencing engineering postdoctoral scholars’ perceived professorial fit using person–job fit theory.

As a result of inductive and deductive data analyses techniques, four themes emerged: the professoriate is perceived as a calling for those who desire to teach and mentor the upcoming generation of engineers; research autonomy in the professoriate is highly attractive; the work demands of the professoriate are contrary to the work–life balance sought; and the professoriate appears daunting due to the competitive nature of the job market and the academic environment.

This study is critical for those invested in possessing a deeper understanding of the postdoctoral career stage, its relationship to the professoriate as a career choice and broadening participation in engineering academia.

Many postdoctoral scholars are seeking professional learning and development (PLD) opportunities to prepare for diverse careers, roles and responsibilities. This paper aims to develop an evidence-informed framework for PLD of postdoctoral scholars that speaks to these changing career paths.

This paper used an integrated knowledge translation approach to synthesize and extend previous work on postdoctoral scholars’ PLD. The authors engaged in consultations with key stakeholders and synthesized findings from literature reviews, surveys and semi-structured interviews to create a framework for PLD.

The PLD framework consists of four major domains, namely, professional socialization; professional skills; academic development; and personal effectiveness. The 4 major domains are subdivided into 16 subdomains that represent the various skills and competencies that postdoctoral scholars can build throughout their postdoctoral fellowships.

The framework can be used to support postdoctoral scholars, postdoctoral supervisors and higher education institutions in developing high quality, evidence-informed PLD plans to meet the diverse career needs of postdoctoral scholars.

Postdoctoral scholars are increasingly pursuing diverse career paths requiring broad skill sets. This study aims to create a more comprehensive understanding of current approaches and strategies for postdoctoral scholars professional learning and development.

This literature review is a systematic examination and synthesis of the current literature describing professional learning and development pertaining to postdoctoral scholars. The objectives and components of initiatives were extracted and narratively synthesized to identity important patterns and themes across the literature.

Commonalities amongst professional learning and development initiatives for postdoctoral scholars included skills development in the following areas: teaching and learning, mentorship, academic careers, academic writing, industry careers, networking, career planning, project management, time management, communication, leadership and balancing work-life demands.

In synthesizing the literature that describes professional learning and development opportunities for postdoctoral scholars, it is apparent that opportunities look different in every setting with no empirical evidence that one strategy is more effective than another. Given the significant resources often required to support professional learning and development initiatives, a deeper understanding of the benefits and deficiencies of various components is needed to ensure scarce resources are invested in the most effective strategies.

This paper is the result of a collaboration and sharing of experiences of two postdoctoral researchers. The purpose of this paper is to put these experiences into perspective by cross-referencing our respective personal narratives with an analysis of the existing literature on the postdoctoral experience in the social sciences.

The authors conducted a non-exhaustive systematic literature review using the database PsycInfo and the multidisciplinary Web of Science Catalogue database to find relevant articles published from 2000 to today. Of the 946 articles identified from the database, only 12 were included in the literature review. The authors also included four articles identified from other sources, such as Google Scholar. Secondly, the authors used a method inspired by reflexive personal narrative writing, which allowed us to share our postdoctoral experience and examine how it compares or complements the existing literature on postdoctoral experience in the social sciences.

The literature highlights three significant criteria that play a major role in the postdoctoral experience across disciplines: professional identity, work–life balance and relationship with supervisor. While the majority of the current literature seems to highlight the importance of career prospects in the daily lives of postdoctoral researchers, the other two aspects seem to be somewhat less explored. However, personal factors as well as the relationship with the supervisor appear to be of major importance in the search for work–life balance, feelings of competency and overall satisfaction among postdoctoral researchers.

At the theoretical level, this paper allows a better understanding of the experiences of postdoctoral students in the social sciences, which seem to be less documented than those in scientific fields (e.g., Science, technology, engineering and mathematics postdoctoral fellow).

On a practical level, it constitutes a tool for reflection for postdoctoral researchers in the social sciences as well as for academic actors working to support and develop the well-being of these researchers (e.g. teachers, supervisors, administrators), all with the aim of optimising academic practices.

These results are discussed with respect to the specificity that our subjective personal narratives can offer to understand postdoctoral experiences, particularly in the social sciences, and thus offer reflections on ways to attend to individual psychosocial and relational needs that can foster an improved personal and professional training.

While postdoctoral research (postdoc) training is a common step toward academic careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, the role of postdoc training in social sciences is less clear. An increasing number of social science PhDs are pursuing postdocs. This paper aims to identify factors associated with participation in postdoc training and examines the relationship between postdoc training and subsequent career outcomes, including attainment of tenure-track faculty positions and early career salaries.

Using data from the National Science Foundation Survey of Earned Doctorates and Survey of Doctorate Recipients, this study applies propensity score matching, regression and decomposition analyses to identify the role of postdoc training on the employment outcomes of PhDs in the social science and STEM fields.

Results from the regression analyses indicate that participation in postdoc training is associated with greater PhD research experience, higher departmental research ranking and departmental job placement norms. When the postdocs and non-postdocs groups are balanced on observable characteristics, postdoc training is associated with a higher likelihood of attaining tenure-track faculty positions 7 to 9 years after PhD completion. The salaries of social science tenure-track faculty with postdoc experience eventually surpass the salaries of non-postdoc PhDs, primarily via placement at institutions that offer relatively higher salaries. This pattern, however, does not apply to STEM PhDs.

This study leverages comprehensive, nationally representative data to investigate the role of postdoc training in the career outcomes of social sciences PhDs, in comparison to STEM PhDs. Research findings suggest that for social sciences PhDs interested in academic careers, postdoc training can contribute to the attainment of tenure-track faculty positions and toward earning relatively higher salaries over time. Research findings provide prospective and current PhDs with information helpful in career planning and decision-making. Academic institutions, administrators, faculty and stakeholders can apply these research findings toward developing programs and interventions to provide doctoral students with career guidance and greater career transparency.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight suicide risk factors experienced by graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, and then outline suicide prevention strategies for these populations.

Through analysis of literature and application of theory, the authors use the diathesis-stress model and Joiner’s (2005) interpersonal theory of suicidality to outline suicide prevention strategies specific to graduate students and postdoctoral scholars.

The authors’ review of the literature and application of theory suggest that both individuals and groups can engage in suicide prevention strategies, specifically pertaining to reducing stressors unique to graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, as well as addressing feelings of thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness that can lead to the development of suicidality within these populations.

Engaging in suicide prevention strategies can save lives and address the mental health conditions exhibited among graduate student and postdoctoral scholars.

The authors offer a synthesis of good practices addressing suicide risk factors and prevention with attention to the stress-diathesis model and Joiner’s (2005) interpersonal theory of suicidality toward reducing suicidality among graduate students and postdoctoral scholars.

While science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) postdoctoral scholars often enter their positions with strong science identities, racially marginalized scholars are often not treated as scientists, which can weaken their science identities. This study aims to examine how racial discrimination negatively affects their science identities in STEM and the importance of community recognition in mitigating these effects.

The authors use reflected appraisals and identity theory to theoretically guide this work. The data are based on a survey of 215 postdoctoral scholars in STEM disciplines.

The authors find that community recognition mediates the negative relationship between perceived discrimination and postdoctoral scholars’ science identities.

The study shows the importance of recognizing the achievements and identities of underrepresented STEM scholars to counteract the chronic and cumulative identity nonverification that leaves talent unrecognized and disrupts scholars’ science identities.

The authors explore the negative impact of discriminatory experiences on the importance individuals place on their identities as scientists and if this can be affected by the degree to which they feel that other scientists recognize them as competent scientists among a group of scholars who have earned the highest of academic degrees, and who are also relatively understudied: postdocs.