Resource: Advocating for Career and Professional Development
Career and professional development is a strategic investment that equips graduate students and postdocs with the tools to develop essential professional skills and navigate diverse career pathways, ensuring a healthy and robust research ecosystem. This resource offers key messaging and actionable strategies to support individuals advocating for sustained or increased support for career and professional development within their institutions.
This resource was developed by pd|hub in collaboration with the pd|hub Coalition of Higher Education Organizations in recognition of the importance of ongoing investment in career and professional development as a core component of academic infrastructure that must be sustained, evolved, and advanced.
Key Content
Core arguments to highlight the value of career and professional development on your campus, organized in these categories:
- Advances institutional priorities for research training.
- Benefits the institution's research enterprise.
- Cultivates a learning environment in which all trainees thrive.
Considerations for advocacy:
- Who to approach on your campus.
- Prompts for understanding the current ecosystem and questions for advocacy.
- Considerations for investment and programmatic elements to include.
Recommended citation: Professional Development Hub (2025). Advocating for PhD Career and Professional Development in Times of Institutional Disruption. Worcester, MA: Professional Development Hub, UMass Chan Medical School.