University of Pennsylvania

  • Appointments

Career Fairs

  • Resume Reviews

Penn Career Services

  • Undergraduates
  • PhDs & Postdocs
  • Faculty & Staff
  • Prospective Students
  • Online Students
  • Career Champions
  • I’m Exploring
  • Architecture & Design
  • Education & Academia
  • Engineering
  • Fashion, Retail & Consumer Products
  • Fellowships & Gap Year
  • Fine Arts, Performing Arts, & Music
  • Government, Law & Public Policy
  • Healthcare & Public Health
  • International Relations & NGOs
  • Life & Physical Sciences
  • Marketing, Advertising & Public Relations
  • Media, Journalism & Entertainment
  • Non-Profits
  • Pre-Health, Pre-Law and Pre-Grad
  • Real Estate, Accounting, & Insurance
  • Social Work & Human Services
  • Sports & Hospitality
  • Startups, Entrepreneurship & Freelancing
  • Sustainability, Energy & Conservation
  • Technology, Data & Analytics
  • DACA and Undocumented Students
  • First Generation and Low Income Students
  • International Students
  • LGBTQ+ Students
  • Transfer Students
  • Students of Color
  • Students with Disabilities
  • Explore Careers & Industries
  • Make Connections & Network
  • Search for a Job or Internship
  • Write a Resume/CV
  • Write a Cover Letter
  • Engage with Employers
  • Research Salaries & Negotiate Offers
  • Find Funding
  • Develop Professional and Leadership Skills
  • Apply to Graduate School
  • Apply to Health Professions School
  • Apply to Law School
  • Self-Assessment
  • Experiences
  • Post-Graduate
  • Jobs & Internships
  • Career Fairs
  • For Employers
  • Meet the Team
  • Peer Career Advisors
  • Career Services Policies
  • Walk-Ins & Pop-Ins
  • Strategic Plan 2022-2025

Research statements for faculty job applications

The purpose of a research statement.

The main goal of a research statement is to walk the search committee through the evolution of your research, to highlight your research accomplishments, and to show where your research will be taking you next. To a certain extent, the next steps that you identify within your statement will also need to touch on how your research could benefit the institution to which you are applying. This might be in terms of grant money, faculty collaborations, involving students in your research, or developing new courses. Your CV will usually show a search committee where you have done your research, who your mentors have been, the titles of your various research projects, a list of your papers, and it may provide a very brief summary of what some of this research involves. However, there can be certain points of interest that a CV may not always address in enough detail.

  • What got you interested in this research?
  • What was the burning question that you set out to answer?
  • What challenges did you encounter along the way, and how did you overcome these challenges?
  • How can your research be applied?
  • Why is your research important within your field?
  • What direction will your research take you in next, and what new questions do you have?

While you may not have a good sense of where your research will ultimately lead you, you should have a sense of some of the possible destinations along the way. You want to be able to show a search committee that your research is moving forward and that you are moving forward along with it in terms of developing new skills and knowledge. Ultimately, your research statement should complement your cover letter, CV, and teaching philosophy to illustrate what makes you an ideal candidate for the job. The more clearly you can articulate the path your research has taken, and where it will take you in the future, the more convincing and interesting it will be to read.

Separate research statements are usually requested from researchers in engineering, social, physical, and life sciences, but can also be requested for researchers in the humanities. In many cases, however, the same information that is covered in the research statement is often integrated into the cover letter for many disciplines within the humanities and no separate research statement is requested within the job advertisement. Seek advice from current faculty and new hires about the conventions of your discipline if you are in doubt.

Timeline: Getting Started with Your Research Statement

You can think of a research statement as having three distinct parts. The first part will focus on your past research and can include the reasons you started your research, an explanation as to why the questions you originally asked are important in your field, and a summary some of the work you did to answer some of these early questions.

The middle part of the research statement focuses on your current research. How is this research different from previous work you have done, and what brought you to where you are today? You should still explain the questions you are trying to ask, and it is very important that you focus on some of the findings that you have (and cite some of the publications associated with these findings). In other words, do not talk about your research in abstract terms, make sure that you explain your actual results and findings (even if these may not be entirely complete when you are applying for faculty positions), and mention why these results are significant.

The final part of your research statement should build on the first two parts. Yes, you have asked good questions and used good methods to find some answers, but how will you now use this foundation to take you into your future? Since you are hoping that your future will be at one of the institutions to which you are applying, you should provide some convincing reasons why your future research will be possible at each institution, and why it will be beneficial to that institution and to their students.

While you are focusing on the past, present, and future or your research, and tailoring it to each institution, you should also think about the length of your statement and how detailed or specific you make the descriptions of your research. Think about who will be reading it. Will they all understand the jargon you are using? Are they experts in the subject, or experts in a range of related subjects? Can you go into very specific detail, or do you need to talk about your research in broader terms that make sense to people outside of your research field, focusing on the common ground that might exist? Additionally, you should make sure that your future research plans differ from those of your PI or advisor, as you need to be seen as an independent researcher. Identify 4-5 specific aims that can be divided into short-term and long-term goals. You can give some idea of a 5-year research plan that includes the studies you want to perform, but also mention your long-term plans so that the search committee knows that this is not a finite project.

Another important consideration when writing about your research is realizing that you do not perform research in a vacuum. When doing your research, you may have worked within a team environment at some point or sought out specific collaborations. You may have faced some serious challenges that required some creative problem-solving to overcome. While these aspects are not necessarily as important as your results and your papers or patents, they can help paint a picture of you as a well-rounded researcher who is likely to be successful in the future even if new problems arise, for example.

Follow these general steps to begin developing an effective research statement:

Step 1: Think about how and why you got started with your research. What motivated you to spend so much time on answering the questions you developed? If you can illustrate some of the enthusiasm you have for your subject, the search committee will likely assume that students and other faculty members will see this in you as well. People like to work with passionate and enthusiastic colleagues. Remember to focus on what you found, what questions you answered, and why your findings are significant. The research you completed in the past will have brought you to where you are today; also be sure to show how your research past and research present are connected. Explore some of the techniques and approaches you have successfully used in your research, and describe some of the challenges you overcame. What makes people interested in what you do, and how have you used your research as a tool for teaching or mentoring students? Integrating students into your research may be an important part of your future research at your target institutions. Conclude describing your current research by focusing on your findings, their importance, and what new questions they generate.

Step 2: Think about how you can tailor your research statement for each application. Familiarize yourself with the faculty at each institution, and explore the research that they have been performing. You should think about your future research in terms of the students at the institution. What opportunities can you imagine that would allow students to get involved in what you do to serve as a tool for teaching and training them, and to get them excited about your subject? Do not talk about your desire to work with graduate students if the institution only has undergraduates! You will also need to think about what equipment or resources that you might need to do your future research. Again, mention any resources that specific institutions have that you would be interested in utilizing (e.g., print materials, super electron microscopes, archived artwork). You can also mention what you hope to do with your current and future research in terms of publication (whether in journals or as a book); try to be as specific and honest as possible. Finally, be prepared to talk about how your future research can help bring in grants and other sources of funding, especially if you have a good track record of receiving awards and fellowships. Mention some grants that you know have been awarded to similar research, and state your intention to seek this type of funding.

Step 3: Ask faculty in your department if they are willing to share their own research statements with you. To a certain extent, there will be some subject-specific differences in what is expected from a research statement, and so it is always a good idea to see how others in your field have done it. You should try to draft your own research statement first before you review any statements shared with you. Your goal is to create a unique research statement that clearly highlights your abilities as a researcher.

Step 4: The research statement is typically a few (2-3) pages in length, depending on the number of images, illustrations, or graphs included.  Once you have completed the steps above, schedule an appointment with a career advisor to get feedback on your draft. You should also try to get faculty in your department to review your document if they are willing to do so.

Additional Resources

For further tips, tricks, and strategies for writing a research statement for faculty jobs, see the resources below:

  • The PhD Career Training Platform is an eLearning platform with on-demand, self-paced modules that allow PhDs and postdocs to make informed decisions about their career path and learn successful job search strategies from other PhDs. Select the University of Pennsylvania from the drop-down menu, log in using your University ID, and click the “Faculty Careers” tab to learn more about application documents for a faculty job search.
  • Writing an Effective Research Statement
  • Research Statements for Humanities PhDs
  • Tips to Get Started on Your Research Statement (video)

Explore other application documents:

sample research plan for faculty position pdf

Sample Application Materials for Faculty Positions

Ali Yekkehkhany at University of California, Berkeley

  • University of California, Berkeley

Discover the world's research

  • 25+ million members
  • 160+ million publication pages
  • 2.3+ billion citations

Ali Yekkehkhany

  • S. Rasoul Etesami

Ebrahim Arian

  • Ilan Shomorony
  • Perform Eval Rev
  • Avesta Hojjati

Mohammad H. Hajiesmaili

  • Hossein N.Z. Matin
  • Javad Lavaei

Timothy Murray

  • Recruit researchers
  • Join for free
  • Login Email Tip: Most researchers use their institutional email address as their ResearchGate login Password Forgot password? Keep me logged in Log in or Continue with Google Welcome back! Please log in. Email · Hint Tip: Most researchers use their institutional email address as their ResearchGate login Password Forgot password? Keep me logged in Log in or Continue with Google No account? Sign up
  • Undergraduate Students
  • Masters Students
  • PhD/Doctoral Students
  • Postdoctoral Scholars
  • Faculty & Staff
  • Families & Supporters
  • Prospective Students
  • Explore Your Interests / Self-Assessment
  • Build your Network / LinkedIn
  • Search for a Job / Internship
  • Create a Resume / Cover Letter
  • Prepare for an Interview
  • Negotiate an Offer
  • Prepare for Graduate School
  • Find Funding Opportunities
  • Prepare for the Academic Job Market
  • Search for a Job or Internship
  • Advertising, Marketing, and Public Relations
  • Arts & Entertainment
  • Consulting & Financial Services
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Government, Law & Policy
  • Hospitality
  • Management & Human Resources
  • Non-Profit, Social Justice & Education
  • Retail & Consumer Services
  • BIPOC Students & Scholars
  • Current & Former Foster Youth
  • Disabled Students & Scholars
  • First-Generation Students & Scholars
  • Formerly Incarcerated Students & Scholars
  • International Students & Scholars
  • LGBTQ+ Students & Scholars
  • Student Athletes
  • Students & Scholars with Dependents
  • Transfer Students
  • Undocumented Students & Scholars
  • Women-Identifying Students & Scholars

Research Statements

  • Share This: Share Research Statements on Facebook Share Research Statements on LinkedIn Share Research Statements on X

A research statement is used when applying for some academic faculty positions and research-intensive positions. A research statement is usually a single-spaced 1-2 page document that describes your research trajectory as a scholar, highlighting growth: from where you began to where you envision going in the next few years. Ultimately, research productivity, focus and future are the most highly scrutinized in academic faculty appointments, particularly at research-intensive universities. Tailor your research statement to the institution to which you are applying – if a university has a strong research focus, emphasize publications; if a university values teaching and research equally, consider ending with a paragraph about how your research complements your teaching and vice versa. Structures of these documents also varies by discipline. See two common structures below.

Structure One:

Introduction: The first paragraph should introduce your research interests in the context of your field, tying the research you have done so far to a distinct trajectory that will take you well into the future.

Summary Of Dissertation: This paragraph should summarize your doctoral research project. Try not to have too much language repetition across documents, such as your abstract or cover letter.

Contribution To Field And Publications: Describe the significance of your projects for your field. Detail any publications initiated from your independent doctoral or postdoctoral research. Additionally, include plans for future publications based on your thesis. Be specific about journals to which you should submit or university presses that might be interested in the book you could develop from your dissertation (if your field expects that). If you are writing a two-page research statement, this section would likely be more than one paragraph and cover your future publication plans in greater detail.

Second Project: If you are submitting a cover letter along with your research statement, then the committee may already have a paragraph describing your second project. In that case, use this space to discuss your second project in greater depth and the publication plans you envision for this project. Make sure you transition from your dissertation to your second large project smoothly – you want to give a sense of your cohesion as a scholar, but also to demonstrate your capacity to conceptualize innovative research that goes well beyond your dissertation project.

Wider Impact Of Research Agenda: Describe the broader significance of your work. What ties your research projects together? What impact do you want to make on your field? If you’re applying for a teaching-oriented institution, how would you connect your research with your teaching?

Structure Two:

25% Previous Research Experience: Describe your early work and how it solidified your interest in your field. How did these formative experiences influence your research interests and approach to research? Explain how this earlier work led to your current project(s).

25% Current Projects: Describe your dissertation/thesis project – this paragraph could be modeled on the first paragraph of your dissertation abstract since it covers all your bases: context, methodology, findings, significance. You could also mention grants/fellowships that funded the project, publications derived from this research, and publications that are currently being developed.

50% Future Work: Transition to how your current work informs your future research. Describe your next major project or projects and a realistic plan for accomplishing this work. What publications do you expect to come out of this research? The last part of the research statement should be customized to demonstrate the fit of your research agenda with the institution.

EECS Communication Lab

Faculty Application: Research Statement

Criteria for success.

  • Clearly articulate your brand.
  • Demonstrate the impact of your past work.
  • Show that you are credible to carry out your proposed future research.
  • Articulate the importance of your research vision.
  • Match the standards within the department to which you are applying.
  • Show that you are a good fit for the position.
  • Polish. Avoid typos.

Structure Diagram

The typical structure and length of research statements vary widely across fields. If you are unsure of what is typical in the field where you are applying, be sure to check with someone who is familiar with the standards. 

In electrical engineering and computer science, research statements are usually around three pages long with a focus on past and current work, often following the structure in the diagram below.

sample research plan for faculty position pdf

Identify Your Purpose

Your cover letter and CV outline your past work and hint at a general direction of your future work but do not go into detail. Therefore, the purpose of a research statement is to emphasize the importance of your past work and describe your research vision. Both your past/current work and future work presented in the research statement should reflect your branding statement .  

In EECS, faculty research statements focus on past/current work. However, it is important to also include your vision for the future, which should build on your previous work. This statement should convince the committee that your future work is important, relevant, and feasible. The future work section should go beyond direct extensions of your doctoral or postdoctoral work; it should cover a 5-10 year span. Proposed future work should show scientific growth and convince the committee that you propose strong research directions for your future group. Your research statement can also include possible funding sources and collaborations.

Analyze Your Audience

Your audience is a faculty search committee, which is made up of professors from across the department, not just the ones in your research area. A typical search committee member is probably very busy reviewing lots of applications, and hence may not read your statement in depth until you make it to later rounds of the hiring process.

Knowing details of the job posting and what the faculty search committee is looking for will help you tailor your statement. If the call is for a specific research area (e.g., language processing, bioinformatics, algorithms, machine learning, systems), it is beneficial to motivate and emphasize the importance of your work in the language of that area whenever possible.

Structure your statement

Although there is usually no mandated structure for a research statement, it can be very helpful to a reader if the content flows naturally.

Use the hourglass concept. It makes a compelling introduction if a research statement presents motivation starting from the high-level picture and then zooms in to the main topic(s) of research. This is helpful for two reasons. First, a research statement is typically read by committee members from several research areas, so starting with a high-level picture gives members a gentle guidance to the meat of a work. Second, providing general motivation helps in showing how different pieces of research fit in a big puzzle.

After talking about specific results, the story typically zooms back out by discussing impact and future directions. It is best if future work has some concrete research directions and also widens up to touch on a broader perspective of research plans.

The diagram below summarizes the hourglass concept and provides one potential flow of content.

sample research plan for faculty position pdf

Use good formatting to help retain focus . A successful research statement is typically organized into three main parts: Introduction and motivation; past work/achievements; and vision/future work. Each of these parts can be divided into subsections.

In addition, you can help a reader focus their attention on the important content by:

  • making each section/paragraph title tell a message;
  • using bullet points and itemization while listing;
  • using bold or italics to emphasize important keywords or sentences. 

Some institutions set constraints on the format of research statements, primarily constraints on length . Make sure that your research statement is tailored to the guidelines. It is helpful to prepare two versions of your statement — a long one and a short one. The short version is usually the long one stripped of many details with the emphasis on high-level pictures and ideas.

Say who you are

Your research statement tells a story about you. Think who you want to be in the eyes of committee members (e.g., a programming languages person, a machine learning expert, a theory professor) and which of your achievements you want them to remember.

Make your research statement echo your branding one . A successful research statement builds a story around the author’s branding statement. A strong point is made if past and future work are echoes of the same brand. 

Successful candidates outline their research agenda before stating actual results and after providing a background. Sometimes this is done even before giving background and motivation. In the latter case, the research agenda is typically stated briefly, and then reiterated with more context after providing the background.

Show credibility for your future work by your past work

Your past work is an excellent way to illustrate that you are fit for the future work you are proposing. Refer to some of your past work when outlining feasibility of your proposed future directions. Even if you aim to change your field of research, your past experience should still serve as a justification for why you are well suited for the new line of work.

Dedicate space to your strongest results . Describe your strongest results in the most detail. If you want to mention many papers, organize them into several themes. A successful statement communicates how obtained results affect a field or a research community. Impact of papers can be shown by awards, high number of citations, or follow up papers by other research groups. A reader will have limited time to go over your statement, so make sure that the reader’s attention is spent on your most impactful work. Note that your strongest results do not necessarily have to be your most recent ones; they can even be several years old. Nevertheless, it is still a good idea to also mention some of your recent work as it shows that you have been active lately as well.

Importantly, a research statement should be a coherent story about ideas and impact, not only an overview of published articles. Hence, it is often the case that a research statement does not discuss all papers published or all work done by the applicant.

Use figures to support important claims . Consider including figures . They can be used to support your claims about your results and/or in the future work section to illustrate your research plans. A well-made figure can help the reader quickly understand your work, but figures also take up a large amount of space. Use figures carefully, only to draw attention to the most important points.

Devote time!

Getting out a job application package takes an indefinitely long time (writing, addressing feedback, polishing, addressing feedback … aaaand polishing)! Start early and invest time.

Get feedback . Your application package will be read by committee members that are not necessarily in your research area. It is thus important to get feedback about your research statement from colleagues with different backgrounds and seniority. Note that it might take time for other people to share their feedback (remember, others are busy as well!), so plan ahead.

MIT EECS affiliates can also make an appointment with a Communication Fellow to obtain additional feedback on their statements.

Resources and Annotated Examples

Amy zhang research statement.

Submitted in 2018-2019 by Amy Zhang, now faculty at University of Washington 1 MB

Elena Glassman Research Statement

Submitted in 2017-2018 by Elena Glassman, now faculty at Harvard University 2 MB

Students & Educators  —Menu

  • Educational Resources
  • Educators & Faculty
  • College Planning
  • ACS ChemClub
  • Project SEED
  • U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad
  • Student Chapters
  • ACS Meeting Information
  • Undergraduate Research
  • Internships, Summer Jobs & Coops
  • Study Abroad Programs
  • Finding a Mentor
  • Two Year/Community College Students
  • Social Distancing Socials
  • Grants & Fellowships
  • Career Planning
  • International Students
  • Planning for Graduate Work in Chemistry
  • ACS Bridge Project
  • Graduate Student Organizations (GSOs)
  • Standards & Guidelines
  • Explore Chemistry
  • Science Outreach
  • Publications
  • ACS Student Communities
  • LEADS Conference
  • ChemMatters
  • You are here:
  • American Chemical Society
  • Students & Educators

Writing the Research Plan for Your Academic Job Application

By Jason G. Gillmore, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Hope College, Holland, MI

A research plan is more than a to-do list for this week in lab, or a manila folder full of ideas for maybe someday—at least if you are thinking of a tenure-track academic career in chemistry at virtually any bachelor’s or higher degree–granting institution in the country. A perusal of the academic job ads in C&EN every August–October will quickly reveal that most schools expect a cover letter (whether they say so or not), a CV, a teaching statement, and a research plan, along with reference letters and transcripts. So what is this document supposed to be, and why worry about it now when those job ads are still months away?

What Is a Research Plan?

A research plan is a thoughtful, compelling, well-written document that outlines your exciting, unique research ideas that you and your students will pursue over the next half decade or so to advance knowledge in your discipline and earn you grants, papers, speaking invitations, tenure, promotion, and a national reputation. It must be a document that people at the department you hope to join will (a) read, and (b) be suitably excited about to invite you for an interview.

That much I knew when I was asked to write this article. More specifics I only really knew for my own institution, Hope College (a research intensive undergraduate liberal arts college with no graduate program), and even there you might get a dozen nuanced opinions among my dozen colleagues. So I polled a broad cross-section of my network, spanning chemical subdisciplines at institutions ranging from small, teaching-centered liberal arts colleges to our nation’s elite research programs, such as Scripps and MIT. The responses certainly varied, but they did center on a few main themes, or illustrate a trend across institution types. In this article I’ll share those commonalities, while also encouraging you to be unafraid to contact a search committee chair with a few specific questions, especially for the institutions you are particularly excited about and feel might be the best fit for you.

How Many Projects Should You Have?

While more senior advisors and members of search committees may have gotten their jobs with a single research project, conventional wisdom these days is that you need two to three distinct but related projects. How closely related to one another they should be is a matter of debate, but almost everyone I asked felt that there should be some unifying technique, problem or theme to them. However, the projects should be sufficiently disparate that a failure of one key idea, strategy, or technique will not hamstring your other projects.

For this reason, many applicants wisely choose to identify:

  • One project that is a safe bet—doable, fundable, publishable, good but not earthshaking science.
  • A second project that is pie-in-the-sky with high risks and rewards.
  • A third project that fits somewhere in the middle.

Having more than three projects is probably unrealistic. But even the safest project must be worth doing, and even the riskiest must appear to have a reasonable chance of working.

How Closely Connected Should Your Research Be with Your Past?

Your proposed research must do more than extend what you have already done. In most subdisciplines, you must be sufficiently removed from your postdoctoral or graduate work that you will not be lambasted for clinging to an advisor’s apron strings. After all, if it is such a good idea in their immediate area of interest, why aren’t they pursuing it?!?

But you also must be able to make the case for why your training makes this a good problem for you to study—how you bring a unique skill set as well as unique ideas to this research. The five years you will have to do, fund, and publish the research before crafting your tenure package will go by too fast for you to break into something entirely outside your realm of expertise.

Biochemistry is a partial exception to this advice—in this subdiscipline it is quite common to bring a project with you from a postdoc (or more rarely your Ph.D.) to start your independent career. However, you should still articulate your original contribution to, and unique angle on the work. It is also wise to be sure your advisor tells that same story in his or her letter and articulates support of your pursuing this research in your career as a genuinely independent scientist (and not merely someone who could be perceived as his or her latest "flunky" of a collaborator.)

Should You Discuss Potential Collaborators?

Regarding collaboration, tread lightly as a young scientist seeking or starting an independent career. Being someone with whom others can collaborate in the future is great. Relying on collaborators for the success of your projects is unwise. Be cautious about proposing to continue collaborations you already have (especially with past advisors) and about starting new ones where you might not be perceived as the lead PI. Also beware of presuming you can help advance the research of someone already in a department. Are they still there? Are they still doing that research? Do they actually want that help—or will they feel like you are criticizing or condescending to them, trying to scoop them, or seeking to ride their coattails? Some places will view collaboration very favorably, but the safest route is to cautiously float such ideas during interviews while presenting research plans that are exciting and achievable on your own.

How Do You Show Your Fit?

Some faculty advise tailoring every application packet document to every institution to which you apply, while others suggest tweaking only the cover letter. Certainly the cover letter is the document most suited to introducing yourself and making the case for how you are the perfect fit for the advertised position at that institution. So save your greatest degree of tailoring for your cover letter. It is nice if you can tweak a few sentences of other documents to highlight your fit to a specific school, so long as it is not contrived.

Now, if you are applying to widely different types of institutions, a few different sets of documents will certainly be necessary. The research plan that you target in the middle to get you a job at both Harvard University and Hope College will not get you an interview at either! There are different realities of resources, scope, scale, and timeline. Not that my colleagues and I at Hope cannot tackle research that is just as exciting as Harvard’s. However, we need to have enough of a niche or a unique angle both to endure the longer timeframe necessitated by smaller groups of undergraduate researchers and to ensure that we still stand out. Furthermore, we generally need to be able to do it with more limited resources. If you do not demonstrate that understanding, you will be dismissed out of hand. But at many large Ph.D. programs, any consideration of "niche" can be inferred as a lack of confidence or ambition.

Also, be aware that department Web pages (especially those several pages deep in the site, or maintained by individual faculty) can be woefully out-of-date. If something you are planning to say is contingent on something you read on their Web site, find a way to confirm it!

While the research plan is not the place to articulate start-up needs, you should consider instrumentation and other resources that will be necessary to get started, and where you will go for funding or resources down the road. This will come up in interviews, and hopefully you will eventually need these details to negotiate a start-up package.

Who Is Your Audience?

Your research plan should show the big picture clearly and excite a broad audience of chemists across your sub-discipline. At many educational institutions, everyone in the department will read the proposal critically, at least if you make the short list to interview. Even at departments that leave it all to a committee of the subdiscipline, subdisciplines can be broad and might even still have an outside member on the committee. And the committee needs to justify their actions to the department at large, as well as to deans, provosts, and others. So having at least the introduction and executive summaries of your projects comprehensible and compelling to those outside your discipline is highly advantageous.

Good science, written well, makes a good research plan. As you craft and refine your research plan, keep the following strategies, as well as your audience in mind:

  • Begin the document with an abstract or executive summary that engages a broad audience and shows synergies among your projects. This should be one page or less, and you should probably write it last. This page is something you could manageably consider tailoring to each institution.
  • Provide sufficient details and references to convince the experts you know your stuff and actually have a plan for what your group will be doing in the lab. Give details of first and key experiments, and backup plans or fallback positions for their riskiest aspects.
  • Hook your readers with your own ideas fairly early in the document, then strike a balance between your own new ideas and the necessary well referenced background, precedents, and justification throughout. Propose a reasonable tentative timeline, if you can do so in no more than a paragraph or two, which shows how you envision spacing out the experiments within and among your projects. This may fit well into your executive summary
  • Show how you will involve students (whether undergraduates, graduate students, an eventual postdoc or two, possibly even high schoolers if the school has that sort of outreach, depending on the institutions to which you are applying) and divide the projects among students.
  • Highlight how your work will contribute to the education of these students. While this is especially important at schools with greater teaching missions, it can help set you apart even at research intensive institutions. After all, we all have to demonstrate “broader impacts” to our funding agencies!
  • Include where you will pursue funding, as well as publication, if you can smoothly work it in. This is especially true if there is doubt about how you plan to target or "market" your research. Otherwise, it is appropriate to hold off until the interview to discuss this strategy.

So, How Long Should Your Research Plan Be?

Chemistry Grad Student & Postdoc Blog

Learn more on the Blog

Here is where the answers diverged the most and without a unifying trend across institutions. Bottom line, you need space to make your case, but even more, you need people to read what you write.

A single page abstract or executive summary of all your projects together provides you an opportunity to make the case for unifying themes yet distinct projects. It may also provide space to articulate a timeline. Indeed, many readers will only read this single page in each application, at least until winnowing down to a more manageable list of potential candidates. At the most elite institutions, there may be literally hundreds of applicants, scores of them entirely well-suited to the job.

While three to five pages per proposal was a common response (single spaced, in 11-point Arial or 12-point Times with one inch margins), including references (which should be accurate, appropriate, and current!), some of my busiest colleagues have said they will not read more than about three pages total. Only a few actually indicated they would read up to 12-15 pages for three projects. In my opinion, ten pages total for your research plans should be a fairly firm upper limit unless you are specifically told otherwise by a search committee, and then only if you have two to three distinct proposals.

Why Start Now?

Hopefully, this question has answered itself already! Your research plan needs to be a well thought out document that is an integrated part of applications tailored to each institution to which you apply. It must represent mature ideas that you have had time to refine through multiple revisions and a great deal of critical review from everyone you can get to read them. Moreover, you may need a few different sets of these, especially if you will be applying to a broad range of institutions. So add “write research plans” to this week’s to do list (and every week’s for the next few months) and start writing up the ideas in that manila folder into some genuine research plans. See which ones survive the process and rise to the top and you should be well prepared when the job ads begin to appear in C&EN in August!

Jason G. Gillmore , Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Hope College in Holland, MI. A native of New Jersey, he earned his B.S. (’96) and M.S. (’98) degrees in chemistry from Virginia Tech, and his Ph.D. (’03) in organic chemistry from the University of Rochester. After a short postdoctoral traineeship at Vanderbilt University, he joined the faculty at Hope in 2004. He has received the Dreyfus Start-up Award, Research Corporation Cottrell College Science Award, and NSF CAREER Award, and is currently on sabbatical as a Visiting Research Professor at Arizona State University. Professor Gillmore is the organizer of the Biennial Midwest Postdoc to PUI Professor (P3) Workshop co-sponsored by ACS, and a frequent panelist at the annual ACS Postdoc to Faculty (P2F) Workshops.

Other tips to help engage (or at least not turn off) your readers include:

  • Avoid two-column formats.
  • Avoid too-small fonts that hinder readability, especially as many will view the documents online rather than in print!
  • Use good figures that are readable and broadly understandable!
  • Use color as necessary but not gratuitously.

Accept & Close The ACS takes your privacy seriously as it relates to cookies. We use cookies to remember users, better understand ways to serve them, improve our value proposition, and optimize their experience. Learn more about managing your cookies at Cookies Policy .

1155 Sixteenth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036, USA |  service@acs.org  | 1-800-333-9511 (US and Canada) | 614-447-3776 (outside North America)

  • Terms of Use
  • Accessibility

Copyright © 2024 American Chemical Society

/images/cornell/logo35pt_cornell_white.svg" alt="sample research plan for faculty position pdf"> Cornell University --> Graduate School

Research statement, what is a research statement.

The research statement (or statement of research interests) is a common component of academic job applications. It is a summary of your research accomplishments, current work, and future direction and potential of your work.

The statement can discuss specific issues such as:

  • funding history and potential
  • requirements for laboratory equipment and space and other resources
  • potential research and industrial collaborations
  • how your research contributes to your field
  • future direction of your research

The research statement should be technical, but should be intelligible to all members of the department, including those outside your subdiscipline. So keep the “big picture” in mind. The strongest research statements present a readable, compelling, and realistic research agenda that fits well with the needs, facilities, and goals of the department.

Research statements can be weakened by:

  • overly ambitious proposals
  • lack of clear direction
  • lack of big-picture focus
  • inadequate attention to the needs and facilities of the department or position

Why a Research Statement?

  • It conveys to search committees the pieces of your professional identity and charts the course of your scholarly journey.
  • It communicates a sense that your research will follow logically from what you have done and that it will be different, important, and innovative.
  • It gives a context for your research interests—Why does your research matter? The so what?
  • It combines your achievements and current work with the proposal for upcoming research.
  • areas of specialty and expertise
  • potential to get funding
  • academic strengths and abilities
  • compatibility with the department or school
  • ability to think and communicate like a serious scholar and/or scientist

Formatting of Research Statements

The goal of the research statement is to introduce yourself to a search committee, which will probably contain scientists both in and outside your field, and get them excited about your research. To encourage people to read it:

  • make it one or two pages, three at most
  • use informative section headings and subheadings
  • use bullets
  • use an easily readable font size
  • make the margins a reasonable size

Organization of Research Statements

Think of the overarching theme guiding your main research subject area. Write an essay that lays out:

  • The main theme(s) and why it is important and what specific skills you use to attack the problem.
  • A few specific examples of problems you have already solved with success to build credibility and inform people outside your field about what you do.
  • A discussion of the future direction of your research. This section should be really exciting to people both in and outside your field. Don’t sell yourself short; if you think your research could lead to answers for big important questions, say so!
  • A final paragraph that gives a good overall impression of your research.

Writing Research Statements

  • Avoid jargon. Make sure that you describe your research in language that many people outside your specific subject area can understand. Ask people both in and outside your field to read it before you send your application. A search committee won’t get excited about something they can’t understand.
  • Write as clearly, concisely, and concretely as you can.
  • Keep it at a summary level; give more detail in the job talk.
  • Ask others to proofread it. Be sure there are no spelling errors.
  • Convince the search committee not only that you are knowledgeable, but that you are the right person to carry out the research.
  • Include information that sets you apart (e.g., publication in  Science, Nature,  or a prestigious journal in your field).
  • What excites you about your research? Sound fresh.
  • Include preliminary results and how to build on results.
  • Point out how current faculty may become future partners.
  • Acknowledge the work of others.
  • Use language that shows you are an independent researcher.
  • BUT focus on your research work, not yourself.
  • Include potential funding partners and industrial collaborations. Be creative!
  • Provide a summary of your research.
  • Put in background material to give the context/relevance/significance of your research.
  • List major findings, outcomes, and implications.
  • Describe both current and planned (future) research.
  • Communicate a sense that your research will follow logically from what you have done and that it will be unique, significant, and innovative (and easy to fund).

Describe Your Future Goals or Research Plans

  • Major problem(s) you want to focus on in your research.
  • The problem’s relevance and significance to the field.
  • Your specific goals for the next three to five years, including potential impact and outcomes.
  • If you know what a particular agency funds, you can name the agency and briefly outline a proposal.
  • Give broad enough goals so that if one area doesn’t get funded, you can pursue other research goals and funding.

Identify Potential Funding Sources

  • Almost every institution wants to know whether you’ll be able to get external funding for research.
  • Try to provide some possible sources of funding for the research, such as NIH, NSF, foundations, private agencies.
  • Mention past funding, if appropriate.

Be Realistic

There is a delicate balance between a realistic research statement where you promise to work on problems you really think you can solve and over-reaching or dabbling in too many subject areas. Select an over-arching theme for your research statement and leave miscellaneous ideas or projects out. Everyone knows that you will work on more than what you mention in this statement.

Consider Also Preparing a Longer Version

  • A longer version (five–15 pages) can be brought to your interview. (Check with your advisor to see if this is necessary.)
  • You may be asked to describe research plans and budget in detail at the campus interview. Be prepared.
  • Include laboratory needs (how much budget you need for equipment, how many grad assistants, etc.) to start up the research.

Samples of Research Statements

To find sample research statements with content specific to your discipline, search on the internet for your discipline + “Research Statement.”

  • University of Pennsylvania Sample Research Statement
  • Advice on writing a Research Statement (Plan) from the journal  Science

Stack Exchange Network

Stack Exchange network consists of 183 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow , the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers.

Q&A for work

Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search.

Research plan for a first-time faculty application

I'm in my 3rd year of postdocs and started to apply for Lecturer positions in Computer Science the UK (the entry level permanent faculty positions). As part of my interview process, I am required to give a 15 minute presentation about my current research and my three year research plan, and am looking for some advice on how to do the latter. The focus of the research plan presentation is not only on the ideas you propose, but in major part about how you plan to obtain funding for it and how many research staff you can bring in from that funding to support your research.

I've looked through some other questions regarding UK faculty applications , research plan writing and content , which offer some good advice. However, I am looking for advice specifically targeting early-career researchers applying for their first faculty position .

The two specific aspects I am concerned about is the transition from postdoctoral positions where shorter-term career plans are the norm, as well as my relative inexperience with grant writing (I've recently been included in the late stages of grant writing by my advisor, but that's it).

Of course I am not planning to take the answers I get here my only source of information; I have an advisor happy to discuss this with me and give me specific tips, and have been looking up information about funding for new faculty members online as well as through chatting with fresh hires in my department (with some hinting they rely on the informal support and sharing of more junior research staff from within their team while applying for initial external funding).

So, considering that I've never held a faculty position, have limited experience with grant applications (but an understanding that it is an acquired skill as well as very competitive and thus uncertain), never independently proposed a research project (tho I am always active in proposing and typically independent in choosing which approaches I want to apply to problems), and never formally worked with a PhD or a postdoctoral researcher for full the duration of a project, the questions I have are:

How "confidently" am I supposed to write the research plan? Should I write it assuming I will have a student / research postdoc available to work with, or should I also present a plan for the situation where I do not have "my own staff" for a while?

One major consideration is that UK faculty typically has about 40% of their time dedicated to research (rest is teaching and admin), as opposed to research staff (PhD students and postdocs) with 90+% of their time dedicated to research. Therefore the amount of research that one realistically can conduct would depend substantially on how much funding one manages to secure.

How many backup grant options do I need to include? I understand there is some grant options specifically targeting fresh faculty in the UK, so should I demonstrate that I plan to ask the appropriate parties for funding, or also try to cover the case of no applications being successful?

To summarize: I am concerned and would like advice about the level of confidence in the tone of a 3-year research plan for a fresh faculty member.

I worry that, on the one hand, including many backup options could be seen as "setting myself up to fail", while, on the other hand, too confident a tone would make me come across as somebody not understanding the competitiveness and difficulties in obtaining funding due to my lack of experience.

The level of detail is clear from the format: it's a 15 minute presentation with some time for questions, so I won't have time to talk in much detail, but I might be asked to elaborate on any aspect of it. All in all, I am a fair deal nervous, and I'm not even sure I'm asking the right questions here; any advice from the perspective of applying for a first-time faculty position would be great.

  • research-process
  • computer-science
  • faculty-application
  • united-kingdom

Community's user avatar

2 Answers 2

I see from comments that the interview is past, but here's still some thoughts on this that might be useful for someone else.

I would say that your results at a 3-years horizon don't depend that much on funding prospects, mainly because you're not starting with those funds from day 1, and as a new lecturer you're certainly not expected to have an army of postdocs working for you in the first couple of years.

You might spend a few months writing the grant proposal, then the process will take some more months, and then from decision to start date there's more time... so assuming success you might be able to hire someone to start in a year at best, more realistically two. Then would you start immediately with postdocs? Unless you're one of several investigators in a larger project, that doesn't sound realistic. Rather you'll probably be supervising MSc projects, and you might hope for one or two PhD students to start within those three years, and with any luck get their first paper or two. I think what you need to pitch is a set of ideas that could form a grant proposal and some realistic-sounding MSc and PhD topics.

The bottom line is that you're being asked for a 3-year plan to see whether you can actually prepare a plan that involves medium- to long-term goals, rather than just think of the next development of what you're doing at the moment.

user3780968's user avatar

My situation was a bit different as I went directly from my mathematics PhD to a faculty position (in the US). But when I finished the doctorate I had a file drawer full of speculative ideas and ideas left unexplored from the work on the dissertation. If you have such a thing, or could create it, you should 'mine' it for ideas that are yet to be explored. These should be easy for you to discuss since you already touched on them in your past, though if you haven't already recorded them you have some work to do. For such work you can probably speak with confidence.

Fifteen minutes isn't very long, so you don't need a lot of material. But you might think about the fact that since you will also be teaching, research that students could potentially participate in could be especially valued. Also, you have likely gained insight into a wide range of ideas that are at least peripherally related to your current research. That wide range opens doors to a moderately broad "area" of research that increases your likelihood of success in exploring at least some of the ideas. While research is necessarily narrow for a given idea, there are related areas, most likely, that increase your range and hence your desirability as a colleague.

Sorry that I can't speak much about UK funding, but in general, "interesting" ideas are also interesting to funders. Likewise, appearing to a funder as someone with a lot of ideas (and therefore potential) is also an advantage.

Buffy's user avatar

  • Thank you for your answer. My interview was a week ago at this point, so waiting for the response atm. The "idea drawer" sounds very interesting, and something I will try to implement from now on. However, the focus of the (research) presentation in the UK is in a big part on obtaining funding so your answer covers just half of my question. I was more interested in how to go about presenting the uncertainty with funding applications - about half of what I said regarding each research proposal was about the idea itself, the rest was about getting it funded and making (industrial, social) impact –  penelope Commented Nov 7, 2018 at 13:59
  • Also, just for extra context, while the main part of the interview follows and is with the same panel as the presentation of the research plan, there is in fact a separate teaching presentation before of a different panel. Since the bulk of the interview follows the research plan presentation, they were also asking some questions about teaching, but that aspect is mostly covered in front of a different panel. –  penelope Commented Nov 7, 2018 at 14:05
  • I think, when I wrote the question, I was interested mostly in how funded I should assume I will be during the time I am presenting the research plan for. You only get about 40% of your time allocated to research as faculty in the UK. So, the actual goal of the presentation was to say stuff like: "for research idea A, I will aim to fund it from the agency B, which will allow me to hire a postdoctoral researcher for X years to work on A". Consequently, the research plan takes a much different shape depending on how much funding you (assume) you are going to obtain. –  penelope Commented Nov 7, 2018 at 14:25
  • Also, I might be wrong on this, but the only way to appear to a funder as "prolific" is by your past profile in the terms of what you published, and which projects you got funded. Since PI grants are usually given for a specific project with concrete goals, I was advised that including too many ideas in your research proposal for a grant application will make your application weaker, as it appears you have no clear idea of what to do and and/or have not clearly defined your project goals. –  penelope Commented Nov 7, 2018 at 14:28

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for browse other questions tagged research-process computer-science faculty-application united-kingdom ..

  • Featured on Meta
  • Bringing clarity to status tag usage on meta sites
  • We've made changes to our Terms of Service & Privacy Policy - July 2024
  • Announcing a change to the data-dump process

Hot Network Questions

  • When does bundling wire with zips become a problem?
  • Use all eight of the given polygons to tile a parallelogram
  • Trying to identify manufacturer logo .. circle with circle inside
  • Is magnetic flux in a transformer proportional to voltage or current?
  • Step in Granvilles proof of Sylvester-Schur Theorem
  • For applying to a STEM research position at a U.S. research university, should a resume include a photo?
  • Howson's property for amalgams of free groups
  • Is the oil level here too high that it needs to be drained or can I leave it?
  • Can You Build a Propeller or Airfoil for a Higgs Field?
  • What's the airplane with the smallest ratio of wingspan to fuselage width?
  • GNU grep: This manpage is not compatible with mandoc
  • What to do if sample size obtained is much larger than indicated in the power analysis?
  • How to read data from Philips P2000C over its serial port to a modern computer?
  • Is my encryption format secure?
  • On the definition on almost sure convergence
  • Easyjet denied EU261 compensation for flight cancellation during Crowdstrike: Any escalation or other recourse?
  • What if something goes wrong during the seven minutes of terror?
  • One number grid, two ways to divide it
  • How common is it for external contractors to manage internal teams, and how can we navigate this situation?
  • Why is the identity of the actor voicing Spider-Man kept secret even in the commentary?
  • Sci-fi book with a part-human, part-machine protagonist who lives for centuries to witness robots gain sentience and wage war on humans
  • Are the peer reviewers of a journal article allowed to voice surprise to the editor at a "minor revision" decision?
  • Making a Passive Sentence from "Someone break the window."
  • Closed form expression for this zeta-like series involving GCD and LCM

sample research plan for faculty position pdf

23+ SAMPLE Research Statements in PDF | MS Word | Google Docs

Research statements | ms word | google docs, 23+ sample research statements, what is a research statement, goals of a research statement, how to write a research statement, questions that research statements should answer, general guidelines of a research statement, should i prepare a longer version of my research statement, what else should be considered when writing a research statement, how can i show my accomplishments to success in my research statement.

Research Problem Statement Template

Research Problem Statement Template

University Research Statement

University Faculty Position Research Statement

Academic Research Statements

Academic Graduate School Research Statements

Winning Research Statement

Biology Winning Research Statement

Research Statement for Faculty Template

PhD Research Statement for Faculty

Sample Research Statement Template

Sample Chemistry Research Statement

Job Application Research Statement

Job Application Research Statement

Science Research Statement

Science Research Statement

Data Research Statement

Community Health Nursing Research Statement

Graduate Research Statement

Medical Surgical Nursing Research Statement

School of Economics Research Statement

Assistant Professor Research Statement

Simple Research Statement Template

Simple Molecular Biology Research Statement

Research Statement Format

Engineering Research Statement Format

Academic Job Research Statement

Academic Problem Job Research Statement

Basic Research Statement Template

Basic Mathematics Research Statement

Current Research Statement

Current Computer Science Research Statement

Work Research Statement

Work Thesis Research Statement

Statement of Research Interest Template

Education Statement of Research Interest

Formal Research Statement Template

Formal Undergraduate Research Statement

Research Statement Example

Mechanical Engineering Research Statement Example

Research Statement and Achievements

1 Page Research Statement and Achievements

Personal Research Statement

Psychology Personal Research Statement

Purpose or Statement of Research Template

Purpose or Statement of Research Proposal

Academic Carrers Research Statement

Machine Learning  Research Statement

Step 1: introduction, step 2: summary of dissertation/thesis, step 3: contribution to field and publications, step 4: details on the second project, step 5: wider impact of research agenda, what do you do, why is your work important, where is it going in the future, draft your statement early, not too long, it’s story telling time, ask for feedback, always proofread, share this post on your network, you may also like these articles, research problem statement.

research problem statement

Creating a clear and compelling Research Problem Statement is essential for any successful research project. This guide provides a step-by-step approach to formulating an effective problem statement, including key…

20+ SAMPLE Nursing Personal Statements in PDF | MS Word

sample nursing personal statements

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone began to realize just how critical the job of nurses was. Of course, even in the pre-pandemic era, nurses already played…

browse by categories

  • Questionnaire
  • Description
  • Reconciliation
  • Certificate
  • Spreadsheet

Information

  • privacy policy
  • Terms & Conditions

IMAGES

  1. 35+ SAMPLE Research Plan Templates in PDF

    sample research plan for faculty position pdf

  2. Research Statement

    sample research plan for faculty position pdf

  3. 8+ Faculty Development Plan Templates

    sample research plan for faculty position pdf

  4. FREE 11+ Sample Research Plan Templates in MS Word

    sample research plan for faculty position pdf

  5. 14+ Research Plan Templates

    sample research plan for faculty position pdf

  6. Research Plan

    sample research plan for faculty position pdf

COMMENTS

  1. Research statements for faculty job applications

    Step 4: The research statement is typically a few (2-3) pages in length, depending on the number of images, illustrations, or graphs included. Once you have completed the steps above, schedule an appointment with a career advisor to get feedback on your draft. You should also try to get faculty in your department to review your document if they ...

  2. PDF Research and Teaching Statements

    reviewers visualize your plan). 5. Where you're going with your scholarly work in the future, how you will build on current results and your specific goals for the next three to five years. The teaching statement aims to paint a picture of who you are as an educator for academic positions where teaching will be a large or small component. It ...

  3. PDF Research Statement Template

    A research statement is used when applying for academic faculty positions, and sometimes for research-intensive positions in think tanks or government. Because the academic job market is increasingly competitive, a common trend for hiring ... project as you did in structure one and a realistic plan for accomplishing it. What publications do you ...

  4. PDF Research Statement Annika M. Mueller Institute for Quantitative Social

    This research statement is organized as follows: The first section discusses my work in the area of development economics/public policy, with a focus on my dissertation papers. The second section discusses my work in the area of contests/management from my postdoctoral work. Both sections include plans for future research in the respective areas.

  5. Application Materials for Faculty Positions

    Faculty application packets typically include a Cover Letter, a Curriculum Vitae (CV), Letters of Reference, a Research Statement and/or a Teaching Statement or Diversity Statement. The materials will first be screened by a faculty members on the search committee. Depending on the institution, faculty members may come a wide range of ...

  6. (PDF) Sample Application Materials for Faculty Positions

    Faculty Position, Faculty Job, Faculty Application, Cov er Letter, Curriculum Vitae, CV, Resume, Research Statement, Teaching Statement, Di versity Statement. I. C OVE R L ET TE R

  7. Research Statements

    A research statement is used when applying for some academic faculty positions and research-intensive positions. A research statement is usually a single-spaced 1-2 page document that describes your research trajectory as a scholar, highlighting growth: from where you began to where you envision going in the next few years.

  8. PDF ACADEMIC CAREERS: Research Statements

    ADEMIC CAREERS: Research Statements Many postdoctoral and faculty job postings, require a research statement. as part of the application materials. An effective research statement allows faculty to envision your research productivity and cont. ibutions over the next several years. Expectations for research statements vary across discipline, so ...

  9. PDF PDCO Career Resources

    The research statement should aim to get search committees excited about your research. It is essential that you avoid jargon that faculty outside of your immediate subfield will have difficulty understanding. Try to pitch your research statement to a broad, but informed scientific audience. Finally, keep your research statement clear and concise.

  10. PDF Research Statements in STEM

    Research statements have a specific audience, function, and form Audience-Mainly members of a search committee + departmental faculty. Function-Present . your area of research-Demonstrate . the importance of your work-Convince . audience of your research ability-Propose . your future research plan. Text: Short (2-3 pages), formatted in a way ...

  11. PDF Developing a Winning Research Statement

    Peter Fiske's Rules: • Know the school. • Know the department. • Know the position. Your statement should follow one of these 2 outlines: (use these headings) • Chronological. o Executive Summary (first paragraph) o Graduate research (project by project) o Postdoctoral research (project by project)

  12. Faculty Application: Research Statement : EECS Communication Lab

    In EECS, faculty research statements focus on past/current work. However, it is important to also include your vision for the future, which should build on your previous work. This statement should convince the committee that your future work is important, relevant, and feasible. The future work section should go beyond direct extensions of ...

  13. Writing the Research Plan for Your Academic Job Application

    Good science, written well, makes a good research plan. As you craft and refine your research plan, keep the following strategies, as well as your audience in mind: Begin the document with an abstract or executive summary that engages a broad audience and shows synergies among your projects. This should be one page or less, and you should ...

  14. PDF Research Statement

    I plan to defend my dissertation in April 2012 and continued to revise the associated manuscript for publication by 2014. In Part 1 of the project, I demonstrate that examining issues particular to government ... Future Research I plan to expand on my current work in a number of directions. Related to my interest in the

  15. Research Statement : Graduate School

    The research statement (or statement of research interests) is a common component of academic job applications. It is a summary of your research accomplishments, current work, and future direction and potential of your work. The statement can discuss specific issues such as: The research statement should be technical, but should be intelligible ...

  16. PDF Writing A Research Statement

    A research statement is a one to three page document that may be required to apply for an . academic job or (less frequently) graduate school. The purpose of a research statement is to describe the trajectory of your research to a selection/search committee. A research statement allows you to • show that you can take on independent research •

  17. PDF Academic Careers: Research Statements

    Academic Careers: Research Statements. Academic Careers:Research StatementsMany post-doc and faculty job postings - in a variety of disciplines and in an array of institutions - require that. candidates send a Research Statement. Being able to write coherently about your past/current research efforts and articulately about your fu.

  18. Research Statements

    Writing a Research Statement. The research statement (sometimes called "research summary" or "statement of future research") is another common component of academic job applications. In about one to three pages, the statement should describe your current work, highlight your accomplishments, and discuss the direction you expect your ...

  19. PDF Academic Job Market: STEM Research Statements

    Length varies, but 3-5 pages is common. Chemistry: Present approximately three good ideas via: Executive Summary (1-2 page synopsis of your research plans w/ all three ideas, prioritized. Most of the committee will read it.) Full Research Plan (3-5+ pages, for specialists.) Physics: Include research overview, current research accomplishments ...

  20. PDF Research Statements and Proposals

    The fellowship will begin September 1, 2018 and end August 31, 2019, with a 12-month stipend of approximately $60,000. Fellows are required to be in residence in the Stanford area during the appointment period; to teach one course during the academic year; and to participate in all regular Center activities. Stanford University Press will have ...

  21. Research plan for a first-time faculty application

    You only get about 40% of your time allocated to research as faculty in the UK. So, the actual goal of the presentation was to say stuff like: "for research idea A, I will aim to fund it from the agency B, which will allow me to hire a postdoctoral researcher for X years to work on A". Consequently, the research plan takes a much different ...

  22. SAMPLE Faculty Plan

    SAMPLE Faculty PlanSAMPLE Facu. rsity July 30, 2019The purpose of the faculty development plan is to help with determining goals to achieve my full potential as a fa. ulty member at BYU. It will help with setting expectations between my department and myself and allow me to track my process thro.

  23. 23+ SAMPLE Research Statements in PDF

    It is common when applying for academic faculty positions and sometimes even for research-reliant positions like being part of a think tank or the government. If you plan to apply for research grants or studies for funding, a research statement will help communicate your plan by summarizing previous research, current work, and the future direction.