Training Program

The focus of the VBC Postdoctoral Training Program is to support the professional development of postdocs by ensuring adequate mentoring and access to resources which can allow them to carry out meaningful and rigorous scientific projects. The program also aims to empower postdocs to effectively plan and conduct their scientific projects, communicate results and make them available to the broader scientific community.

By the end of the training fellows should have laid the foundations for their own research which they will continue to work on independently in the future, and have acquired the necessary skills and expertise to lead a lab. During their stay at the VBC they will be also exposed to other sectors through training and outreach activities.s and placements (detailed below) and more importantly each fellow will be able to choose an inter-sector mentor (from industry, Publishing, Science Communication for example)

We expect fellows to become proficient in the competencies listed below, which are inherent to the scientific process. These competencies are important skills for a career in science but also for a wide range of related careers: 

Scientific reasoning

  • Independence in problem solving and critical thinking
  • Critical evaluation of scientific publications and presentations

Communication skills

  • Scientific Writing
  • Presentation to different audiences
  • Interpersonal Communication: working in teams; networking; teaching/supervising

Management and organisational skills

  • Time Management and prioritising
  • Project Management: planning, implementing and finishing/reporting.

To ensure an effective mentoring all fellows have to set clear goals and discuss them openly with their supervisors, thus establishing clear expectations and facilitating fruitful discussions. Each fellow will develop an initial career development plan (3 months after starting), and discuss it with their supervisor. Afterwards the fellow and supervisor will hold annual mentoring meetings to discuss the progress and potentially amend the career development plan.