PhD Student UK CV Example in 2026 [Free Checklist]

Before you write, decide what the CV is for. A PhD application CV, a teaching assistant CV, a research associate CV, an industry research internship CV and a policy fellowship CV should not all lead with the same evidence.

For an academic-facing opportunity, put research fit first. Name your doctoral topic, methods, outputs and contribution to the field. For a teaching role, show student contact, marking, seminars, laboratory demonstrating, feedback and course support. For an industry role, translate the doctorate into usable skills such as data analysis, experimental design, stakeholder interviews, project management, technical writing or problem solving.

This choice affects the order of your sections. A PhD Student UK CV for a research role might use Profile, Education, Research Experience, Publications, Conferences, Teaching, Skills and Awards. A CV for an industry placement might use Profile, Key Skills, Research Projects, Experience, Education, Publications and Additional Activity.

You do not need to hide academic work for non-academic roles. You do need to explain it in terms the reader values. A recruiter outside your discipline may not understand why your archive, dataset, model or experiment matters. They will understand well-scoped projects, reliable analysis, clear reporting and evidence of delivery.

A useful profile might read: PhD candidate in urban policy at the University of Manchester, researching how local transport decisions are shaped through stakeholder consultation, interview data and policy documents. Experienced in qualitative coding, evidence reviews, undergraduate teaching and conference presentation, now seeking a research role that combines applied analysis with clear public-facing communication.

That paragraph works because it names the field, topic, methods, outputs and direction. It does not rely on empty claims such as passionate, hard-working or highly motivated.

UK doctoral candidates often struggle with how to list an unfinished PhD. The simplest answer is to be direct. Put your current doctoral degree in the education section, include your institution, department, thesis title or working title, supervisor if useful, and expected submission or completion date.

For example: PhD in English Literature, University of Leeds, expected submission September 2027. Thesis: Reading climate narratives in contemporary British fiction. Supervisors: Dr A. Patel and Professor J. Morris.

Do not write PhD after your name unless the degree has been awarded. Do not describe yourself as Dr before completion. If you have passed your viva subject to corrections, be precise: PhD viva passed with minor corrections, final submission expected July 2026 is clearer than trying to make the status sound complete.

If your funding is relevant, add it under Awards or Funding rather than crowding the education line. Competitive scholarships, doctoral training partnership funding, industry-sponsored studentships and departmental awards can all strengthen the CV because they show selection, credibility and the ability to secure support.

For a PhD Student UK CV, the education section is often more detailed than it would be for a standard two-page professional CV. That does not mean it should become a thesis abstract. Give the reader enough context to understand your research area and level, then move into evidence.

Research experience is the heart of many doctoral CVs. The reader wants to know what you can actually do: design a study, review literature, handle data, run experiments, analyse sources, recruit participants, manage ethics, write clearly, collaborate with supervisors or communicate findings.

Do not describe your research only by topic. Topic alone rarely proves employability. Two candidates can both study machine learning, medieval history or education policy while doing very different work day to day.

A stronger research bullet combines context, method and output:

• Designed and maintained a reproducible R workflow for a 60,000-row public dataset, producing tables and visual summaries for two supervisor-reviewed manuscripts.
• Conducted 42 semi-structured interviews with local authority officers, coding transcripts in NVivo and presenting early findings at a departmental methods seminar.
• Built a structured archive of 180 primary sources, creating a searchable evidence log that supported two thesis chapters and a conference paper.

Each bullet helps the reader picture the work. It avoids exaggeration, but it still shows depth.

If your discipline is humanities-based, your research section can still be practical. You might show archival research, textual analysis, theoretical framing, language skills, catalogue work, digital humanities methods, editorial judgement or conference presentation. If your discipline is laboratory-based, include techniques, safety awareness, equipment, data handling and collaborative practice. If your discipline is social science, include ethics, recruitment, survey design, interviews, statistical modelling or policy analysis.

The best PhD Student UK CV examples make academic work visible as work. They show project scope, decisions, constraints, outputs and learning.

Publications matter in academia, but they need careful wording. Separate accepted publications from submitted, under review and in preparation work. A reader will notice if you blur those categories.

Use a consistent citation style. You do not need to copy a journal's full reference format perfectly, but the information should be complete enough: author names, year where available, title, journal or venue, status and DOI or link if appropriate.

A simple structure is:

• Publications: Rahman, M. and Ellis, J. (2025). Mapping consultation themes in urban transport planning. Journal of Applied Policy Research, accepted.
• Manuscripts under review: Rahman, M., Ellis, J. and Turner, P. Interview evidence in local transport decision-making. Under review.
• Selected conference papers and posters: Public participation and transport planning. Oral presentation, UK Urban Studies Conference, 2025.

If you have no publications yet, do not panic. Many PhD students do not have accepted journal publications early in the doctorate. Use the space for research outputs you do have: conference posters, departmental seminars, working papers, technical reports, public engagement pieces, dataset documentation, blog posts, exhibitions or collaborative projects.

A PhD Student UK CV can also include a short Publications and Research Outputs section if your output list is still developing. That keeps the wording honest and gives you a place to show progress.

Conference activity shows that you can communicate research, respond to questions and take part in your field. It is especially helpful when publications are limited.

List the title, format, event and year. If the event was competitive or externally reviewed, say so. If it was internal, that is still useful, but label it clearly.

For example:

• Presented early thesis findings at the British Sociological Association Annual Conference, 2025, following peer-reviewed abstract selection.
• Delivered a departmental research seminar on archival sources for post-war theatre history, attended by 30 staff and postgraduate researchers.
• Designed and presented a poster on survey methodology at the faculty research showcase, receiving the postgraduate poster prize.

Do not list every routine attendance event. Attending a seminar can be useful for your development, but it is usually less persuasive than presenting, chairing, organising or contributing. Select activity that shows participation rather than passive presence.

Teaching experience can be a strong part of a PhD Student UK CV, even when your formal job title was teaching assistant, graduate teaching assistant, seminar tutor, demonstrator or marker.

Make the responsibility clear. Did you lead seminars? Demonstrate methods? Mark essays? Give formative feedback? Hold office hours? Support first-year students? Create teaching materials? Use a virtual learning environment? Teach independently or support a module leader?

Stronger bullets include scale and level:

• Led weekly seminars for two first-year undergraduate groups of 18 students, supporting discussion on research methods and marking formative assignments.
• Demonstrated core practical techniques for a second-year module, reinforcing safe practice and assisting students during assessed sessions.
• Marked 60 undergraduate essays against a departmental rubric, providing written feedback and moderating sample scripts with the module convenor.

If you completed teaching training, include it. Associate Fellowship preparation, postgraduate teaching certificates, departmental training and equality, diversity and inclusion training can all support teaching-focused applications.

For non-academic roles, teaching can prove communication, facilitation, confidence and the ability to explain complex material. Do not hide it just because the employer is not a university.

Funding and awards are useful because they show external validation. Add scholarships, studentships, travel grants, prizes, bursaries and competitive placements. Include the awarding body, year and short context where helpful.

For example:

• ESRC-funded doctoral studentship, 2023-2027, awarded through a competitive doctoral training partnership.
• Faculty travel grant, 2025, supporting conference presentation in Copenhagen.
• Postgraduate research poster prize, School of Engineering Research Showcase, 2024.

Academic service can also strengthen the CV, especially when it shows responsibility beyond your thesis. Examples include postgraduate representative work, organising reading groups, conference committee support, peer mentoring, outreach, widening participation, ethics committee assistance or public engagement.

Keep this selective. A long list of small internal activities can make the CV feel scattered. Choose items that show leadership, communication, reliability or contribution to the research environment.

A PhD Student UK CV for industry or policy work should still value the doctorate, but the language needs to change. Instead of leading with theory, lead with problem-solving, evidence, tools, stakeholders and outcomes.

Academic phrase: My thesis examines public narratives in contemporary fiction.

Professional translation: Analysed a large body of contemporary texts to identify patterns in public narratives, producing written briefings and conference presentations for academic audiences.

Academic phrase: I conducted a qualitative study of local authority decision-making.

Professional translation: Designed and delivered a qualitative research project involving interviews with public-sector stakeholders, thematic coding and written recommendations.

Academic phrase: I used statistical modelling to investigate a large public dataset.

Professional translation: Built statistical models in R to analyse structured data, validate assumptions and communicate findings to supervisors and collaborators.

The evidence has not changed. The framing has. That is the difference between an academic CV and a CV that works for mixed career routes.

Use this approach in your profile, skills and experience bullets. If an employer wants project management, show deadlines, ethics approvals, dataset milestones, event organisation, teaching schedules or publication timelines. If they want communication, show presentations, teaching, public engagement and writing. If they want analysis, show tools, data, methods and outputs.

Academic CVs can be longer than standard UK professional CVs. A current doctoral student might use two to four pages for academic roles if they have publications, conferences, teaching, funding and service to show. For most industry, charity, policy or graduate-level roles, two pages is usually safer.

Put the strongest evidence where the reader expects it. For an academic role, education and research can sit near the top. For a non-academic role, a skills-led or project-led first page may work better.

A practical order for an academic-facing PhD Student UK CV is:

1. Contact details and relevant links.
2. Profile.
3. Education and doctoral research.
4. Research experience.
5. Publications and outputs.
6. Conferences and presentations.
7. Teaching experience.
8. Funding, awards and training.
9. Skills.
10. Additional professional activity.
11. References, only if requested or expected.

For a professional version, move skills and selected projects closer to the top and shorten publication detail. You can keep a fuller academic CV as a master document and create tailored versions from it.

Academic readers may expect links to ORCID, Google Scholar, institutional profile, GitHub, OSF, portfolio, personal website or LinkedIn, depending on your field. Add only links that are useful, professional and up to date.

If your GitHub contains clean, relevant code, include it. If it contains unfinished experiments or private coursework, leave it out. If your Google Scholar profile has one accepted paper and your name is common, it may still help. If your profile is empty or inaccurate, fix it before linking.

A PhD Student UK CV should not include a photo for standard UK applications unless a specific application requests one. Keep the header simple: name, location, email, phone, professional links and, where useful, work authorisation or availability.