Gain a fresh perspective on your professional journey through creative language play. In this interactive 20-minute session you will be introduced to writing a metaphor poem and a problem-solving poem to encourage creative and critical thinking, provide a space to share experiences, and to explore the challenges in a changing academic landscape.

Dr Martina Diehl is an academic development advisor at Durham University with a PhD in Education. She delivers workshops on the researcher development programme and organises events that promote belonging, connection and empowerment for PGRs. She is particularly interested in communicating research in creative, meaningful and authentic ways, finding enjoyability in research and creating safe spaces for researchers to be brave.

If you've ever struggled to answer the question ‘What are your skills as a postdoc?’ then this session is for you. Using a creative, interactive exercise, you'll uncover the valuable skills you've developed through research, make a start on articulating these, and learn how to use them as a starting point for exploring your next steps.

Dr Holly Prescott is a career guidance practitioner specialising in supporting doctoral and postdoctoral researchers, with 10 years’ experience helping researchers to feel more confident about their next steps and to make career transitions into a variety of sectors. She is also the founder of Post-PhD careers blog ‘PostGradual’ which, since its launch in 2021, has attracted 80,000 unique readers in over 150 different countries. Holly’s new book, ‘Navigating Careers Beyond Academia: A Practical Handbook for Doctoral and Postdoctoral Researchers,’ was released by Routledge in August 2026. Holly holds a PhD from the University of Birmingham, PGDip (QCG) in Career Guidance from Coventry University and the Career Development Institute, and Fellowship of Advance HE (FHEA).

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Andrew Brown is the Deputy Head of the Research Funding Team at the British Academy. The team is responsible for delivering the Academy’s portfolio of fellowships and grants including the Postdoctoral Fellowships and the Small Research Grants. Prior to joining the British Academy, Andrew held roles at the University of Oxford, UCL, the University of York, and the Francis Crick Institute.

Dr Nik Ogryzko is a Policy Lead at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), where he works on research culture, workforce development and funding policy. Before joining UKRI, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Universities of Sheffield and Edinburgh, giving him first-hand experience of the challenges facing early career researchers. Motivated by a desire to improve the culture and environment that postdoctoral researchers work in, he moved into research policy and now works to support a more sustainable and inclusive research workforce. He brings perspectives from both postdoctoral research and national research funding.