Writing an Academic CV

An academic CV is not a longer version of an industry resume. It is a different document, with different conventions, read by different people, evaluated against different criteria. Confusing the two is the single most common mistake in academic applications.

What makes an academic CV different

Industry resumes are marketing documents, prioritising evidence of impact in specific roles. Academic CVs are evidence dossiers, prioritising the objective record of your scholarly output. The reader wants to verify claims, not be persuaded by them.

This produces several differences:

• Length is driven by output. A four to six page CV is normal. A one-page CV is unusual and often signals a thin record.
• Publications dominate. The publication list is the single most important section and is usually the longest.
• Complete lists are expected. Do not truncate your publication list with "selected". List every peer-reviewed publication, even if the list is long.
• Serif typography is conventional. A serif font (Times, Garamond, or a similar system serif) is the norm in humanities and social sciences. Sciences often use serif or a clean sans.
• Photographs are omitted. Academic CVs almost never include a photo in the UK, US, or Canada.

Section order

Academic CVs are typically ordered as follows:

1. Name, title, contact
2. Research summary — 2–4 sentences
3. Education — most recent first, with thesis titles
4. Research experience — post-docs, research roles, visiting positions
5. Publications — separated into peer-reviewed, conference papers, book chapters, preprints
6. Grants and funding — grants received, with amounts and years
7. Teaching experience — courses taught, roles
8. Invited talks and conference presentations
9. Awards and honours
10. Professional service — reviewing, editorial boards, committees
11. Memberships
12. Skills and languages — usually last

Variations are common between disciplines. Humanities CVs may prioritise publications above research experience. Engineering CVs may place teaching and grants differently. The important thing is that the structure matches the conventions of your field.

The publications section

The publication section is the most important part of the CV and should be treated with care:

• Use a numbered list. This is the standard citation format in most scientific fields and allows easy reference from cover letters.
• Separate by type. Peer-reviewed articles, conference proceedings, book chapters, books, preprints — each in its own subsection.
• Use a consistent citation format. APA, Chicago, IEEE — whichever your field uses. Do not mix formats.
• Bold your name. So the reader can quickly see where you are in the author list.
• Include DOIs or stable URLs. Modern CVs often include a DOI or link for each paper.
• Order within each subsection. Typically reverse chronological, but some fields prefer alphabetical.

The research summary

The research summary (sometimes called "research interests" or "research statement headline") is the positioning statement for the CV. Two to four sentences:

• Field and sub-field.
• Current research focus.
• Notable outputs or methods.
• Future research direction.

Example: "Computational neuroscientist working on neural coding and brain-machine interfaces, with a focus on adaptive coding in the auditory pathway. Author of 34 peer-reviewed papers and principal investigator on £4.2M of research funding. Currently investigating Bayesian decoding of population spike trains under adaptive coding conditions."

Grants and funding

List grants with:

• Grant title
• Funder and grant type
• Amount (in the currency of the funder)
• Years (start and end)
• Role (PI, Co-I, Co-PI) if relevant

Some CVs separate "as PI" from "as Co-I" to clarify leadership. This is especially useful for early-career researchers.

Teaching

For faculty roles, teaching experience matters. List:

• Courses taught (title, level, institution)
• Roles held (sole instructor, TA, guest lecturer)
• Years
• Any teaching awards or innovations

For research-intensive positions, teaching can be shorter. For teaching-intensive positions, it deserves its own detailed section.