How to write an academic CV

An academic CV is not a longer version of a normal CV. It is a different document with different rules. A business CV is kept to one or two pages and sells your impact. An academic CV is as long as it needs to be and documents your scholarly record in full. Confuse the two and you will either look thin for an academic role or overwhelming for an industry one.

What an academic CV is for

Search committees use it to judge your record against the demands of a research or teaching post. They are looking for evidence in a few areas: your qualifications, your research, your publications, your teaching, and your standing in your field. Your job is to present that evidence clearly and in the order that matters most for the role.

The sections to include

Most academic CVs contain a recognisable set of sections. Adjust the order so that your strongest, most relevant material comes first.

• Contact details and a short profile. Name, contact information, and one or two lines summarising your field and focus.
• Education. Degrees in reverse order, with your PhD topic and supervisor.
• Research experience. Positions, projects, and the methods or areas you worked in.
• Publications. Listed in a consistent citation style, separated into peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, conference papers, and work in progress.
• Funding and awards. Grants, scholarships, and prizes, with amounts and dates where relevant.
• Teaching experience. Courses, levels, and your role, plus any supervision.
• Conferences and talks. Presentations, invited talks, and posters.
• Service and other activity. Peer review, committee work, and professional memberships.

Not every CV needs every section, and early-career researchers will have shorter ones. Include what you have, and do not pad.

Order by relevance

The single most useful move is to lead with what the specific post values. For a research-heavy role, put research and publications near the top. For a teaching-focused post, bring teaching experience up. Read the job description, work out what they care about most, and arrange your sections to answer that first.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Treating it like a business CV. Do not cut your publication list to save space. In academia, the detail is the point.
• An inconsistent publication style. Pick one citation format and use it throughout. Sloppiness here reads as carelessness about your own work.
• Burying your best material. If your strongest asset is on page four, most readers will never reach it.
• No tailoring. A CV sent unchanged to every post signals that you have not thought about the role.

Keep it current and clean

Update your CV as you go rather than rebuilding it under deadline pressure. Use clear headings, consistent formatting, and enough white space to make it easy to scan. An academic CV can be long, but it should never be hard to read. Clarity and an honest, well-ordered record will do more for you than any amount of decoration.