Academic CV examples

This guide will walk you through every stage of writing an Academic CV with tips to properly highlights your research or teaching skills. From structuring it effectively to showcasing your academic and professional achievements, you’ll learn how to craft a CV that makes an impact in academia.

Picture an Academic CV like a well-written dissertation. It’ll need to flow logically and show off the most pertinent facts clearly for the reader, condensing complex information in a digestible way. An academic recruiter or hiring committee should be able to immediately grasp your qualifications and achievements.

Ready to see how it’s done? Your CV should follow the below structure:

• Name and contact details – Place these at the top for easy reference. A photo is optional.
• CV profile – Provide a concise summary of your academic interests and any impressive career achievements.
• Core skills – Highlight your key academic strengths, tailored to the specific role you’re looking for.
• Work experience – Include any of your past roles, giving prominence to recent ones and academic jobs.
• Education – This section will be especially prominent, going into a great deal of detail about your qualifications, writings, and academic accolades.
• Publications – Include peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and your other contributions to your field.
• Additional info – Optionally include any related and impressive extracurricular hobbies that show your appreciation of the field.

Think about it: your recruiter might have just finished reading a batch of shoddy undergraduate essays, so make sure your CV has a professional and polished layout that allows them to navigate your many enviable achievements easily.

To make sure your CV reflects the meticulous nature of academic work, follow these formatting principles:

• Bullet points – Break down responsibilities and achievements into manageable chunks.
• Divide sections – Use clear, logical headings to separate the sections mentioned above.
• Use a clear font – A professional font and muted colour palette is especially appropriate for academic roles.
• No more than 4 pages – Most CVs are no more than 2, but academic employers expect to see more detail into your valuable contributions and experience.

And now we come to your CV’s abstract, so to speak. Your profile is going to introduce you to the hiring committee as soon as they open your CV. 

Its focus depends on what academic role you’re applying for, but generally it should highlight things like your teaching expertise or research achievements, and above all else: your alignment with the institution’s values.

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Tailor your profile to the specific position by referencing the specific qualities listed in the job description. It should aim to include the following:

• Where you’ve worked – Summarise the types of the universities and research institutions where you’ve been employed.
• Your top qualifications – Highlight your most impressive academic qualifications and fellowships.
• Essential skills – This really depends on the role, but try to focus on key areas like curriculum design, grant writing, or supervising postgraduate students.
• Research focus areas – State the specific areas of study you’ve worked extensively on.
• Courses you’ve taught – Name the relevant modules and subjects of things you’ve taught in the past.
• People you’ve worked with – Reference collaboration with students, research teams, other academic colleagues, or interdisciplinary groups.
• Relevant tools you know – Include any specialised tools and methodologies used in your particular field of research.

The core skills section is your opportunity to highlight the abilities that are going to set you apart as an academic professional.

Generic soft skills are like unsourced citations: they just won’t cut it.  And you know how much academics love specialist language, so highlight concrete examples like “developing innovative pedagogical approaches” or “leading grant-funded research projects.”

For roles like lecturer or researcher, this bit might include curriculum research methodologies and administrative skills. Tailor the skills to the institution’s needs: emphasise things like student engagement if it’s a teaching role you want, or data analysis for research-heavy positions.

The work experience section will show off your impressive litany of academic and professional positions. Hiring committees want to see the actual tangible impact in your teaching, research, and administrative roles, and how you’ll bring that value to their institution.

List your roles in reverse chronological order, focusing on the responsibilities that align with the position you’re applying for. Use bullet points to highlight these key bits.

• Outline – Provide an overview of the institution, your role and how it fits within the wider organisation, and the primary focus of your post.
• Responsibilities – Detail your main duties, whether it involves teaching and researching or administrative tasks.
• Achievements – Numbers look really good here: a recruiter wants measurable outcomes, such as improved student feedback scores, the size of conferences you’ve spoken at, or the number of citations your published research has received.

As you’d expect, academics are a fair bit more interested in your education than most other roles, so you should definitely focus on fleshing out your academic history too.

To give key insight into your academic journey with maximum impact, include things like:

• Degrees earned – List your undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral qualifications, along with the awarding institutions and dates.
• Thesis or dissertation – Briefly describe the topic of your thesis, particularly for postgraduate studies.
• Academic accolades – Highlight scholarships, distinctions, or fellowships that demonstrate your excellence.

Just like your work experience, list them in reverse chronological order, so the recruiter sees your most recent and relevant achievements first.

As an academic, proof of your expertise extends beyond your work experience and qualifications. Add some more detail into your scholarly contributions, such as:

• Conference presentations
• Peer-reviewed articles 
• Books or book chapters you’ve authored.
• Ongoing research projects or upcoming publications.