Our guide to writing a CV

List your educational background. You should always list the newest first (reverse chronological order). Remember to include the title of your Ph.D. as well as the name(s) of your supervisor(s).

The title of your Ph.D. informs reviewers of your research expertise, whereas the name(s) of your supervisor(s) indicates those responsible for your training and help reviewers evaluate your scientific independence (generally put, publications without supervisor(s) = scientific independence).

Only mention your master’s degree if it adds value to your scientific profile, that is, if it was at a high-profile institution/supervisor or helps you document an international profile or a specific background.

List your currently and previously held academic positions. As before, always use reverse chronological order.

Please be aware of the still increasing importance of international experience. Thus, should you lack work experience from abroad, you need to document that you have gained international experience through other activities such as:

• Short research stays
• Joint grant applications
• International collaborators
• Joint publications & supervision

Especially important when applying for excellency calls (ERC, DFF Sapere Aude, Novo Ascending, etc.), you need to prove experience of or, at least, potential for research leadership.

Helpful in this regard is stating the kind of supervision you have done and the number of Postdocs, PhD-students and master students you have supervised.

Being able to attract external funding can be a proof of scientific merit as it indicates that others have already found you fundable.

You should list the funding obtained, your role in the funded research projects (PI, CO-WI, WP-leader etc.), and the amount granted (convert to the currency relevant to the funding body).

If you have received prizes and awards recognizing your scientific merits, be sure to include them in your CV.

List as well your invited presentations, if any. These demonstrate scientific recognition from your peers.

To have organized scientific events, held institutional responsibilities, planned courses and so forth can all help establish your experience as, or potential for, being a research leader.

You should list your publications in major, peer-reviewed journals and indicate the number of citations & DOI for each publication (exclude self-citations). For selected publications you can add a short description of its main findings and general importance/impact.

It can be a good idea to include an easily accessible, graphic illustration of your scientific track record, listing (for instance): total number of peer-reviewed publications, field-weighted citations, h-index, etc.