Many UK funders are adopting a new approach to academic CVs. In the business world, CVs typically occupy just a few pages, but academic CVs can stretch to more than a hundred pages, especially if you’re a prolific researcher. These monster documents are boring to write and also difficult for the recipient to digest.

Also, traditional CVs focus on publications, awards, and successful grants. These are your most visible activities, but might represent only a small proportion of your effort. Under the surface, you’re spending a lot of your time on peer review, committees, building collaborations, public engagement, and mentorship. This vital work doesn’t always count.

The narrative CV format seeks to address some of these problems.

In this post, I’ll explain the format, why it was introduced, and how you can get started with it.

What is a Narrative CV?

Rather than just listing all your achievements, you write a narrative that explains the contribution and impact of your research. Crucially, you don’t include everything, just the examples that are relevant to this funding application. As this is a narrative, you explain how and why you did it. Who was involved? What was the outcome? You’re telling a story, but backing it up with facts. A traditional CV is just the facts.

As the narrative CV is selective, it’s usually much shorter than a traditional academic CV, usually 2-4 pages.

Key features:

  • Much shorter than a traditional CV (sometimes just 2 pages).
  • Recognises a broader range of outputs.
  • Tells a story, but backed up with facts.
  • Explains how and why, not just what.
  • Focuses on quality, not quantity.

A narrative CV supports your funding application. Why are you the right person for this project? There are also team narrative CVs, where you need to balance the contributions and stories of multiple researchers.

Why has the Narrative CV been introduced?

Formed in 2013, the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) recognises the need to improve the ways in which researchers and scholarly research outputs are evaluated.

The specific aims of DORA are to:

  • Reduce reliance on metrics such as journal impact factors.
  • Assess research on its own merits, rather than on where it was published.
  • Consider a wider range of outputs, such as datasets, code, or public performances.
  • Help researchers share diverse contributions in a consistent way.
  • Improve inclusivity by recognising different career paths and personal circumstances.

To date, over 25K institutions and individuals have signed up to DORA.

The Europe-based Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) is a collective with similar aims to DORA. Since it was founded in 2022, over 700 organisations have agreed on CoARA’s guiding principles for reforming research.

You might see the DORA and CoARA logos on the website of your employer or funding body.

In September 2020, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) announced it would replace the many CV formats with one single format, based on the Royal Society’s resume for researchers. This new format is referred to as the Resume for Research and Innovation, or R4RI. Many funders use this format as the basis for their own format.

What does a Narrative CV look like?

Although the R4RI format is the most common, every funder will have their own flavour or interpretation of it. You should always check the funder’s website for precise guidance on their requirements. However, there are broad similarities.

Let’s take a look at the common components.

Personal details

This section includes standard information, such as your name, contact details, key qualifications, and relevant positions.

Personal statement

Here you introduce yourself in 2-3 sentences - what do you want the funder to know about you? If you were meeting them at an in-person event, how would you describe your research? This can include your overarching goals, mission, or the themes that link your activities. Your personal statement helps your funder quickly understand your research identity and what motivates you.

Your contribution

This is the most substantial part of the narrative CV. Your contribution comprises four modules.

You need to explain how you have contributed to:

  • Generation and flow of new ideas, hypotheses, tools, or knowledge - for example, publications, datasets, software, or frameworks.
  • Development of others - this might include PhD supervision, mentoring ECRs, or creating training programmes.
  • Impact on wider research and innovation community - these activities could include peer review, journal editing, conference organisation, or building research networks.
  • Impact on broader society - for instance, policy influence, public engagement, or collaborations with non-academic partners.

There is usually a strict word limit for this component, which typically ranges from 1,000-2,000 words, depending on the funder. Always check the current application guidance as these limits can change between funding rounds.

If you’re an early career researcher, you’re not expected to have contributed to all these areas. But it’s useful for identifying gaps in your professional development.

Additions (additional information)

Additions are an opportunity to explain career breaks, voluntary work, part-time work, or jobs in other sectors. These events might have affected your progression or helped you gain useful skills.

The aim here is to include researchers with non-traditional backgrounds and also allow transitions between academia and other sectors. Commonly, traditional CVs aren’t interested in experience beyond academia, and gaps are treated with suspicion.

Some funders request your academic age. This is the number of years you have been an active researcher, rather than your chronological age.

Funders calculate academic age differently - some count from when you completed your PhD, others from your first postdoc or publication. Always check the specific funder’s guidance to understand how they define it.

Example: You might be 40 years old chronologically, but have an academic age of only 5 years if you completed your PhD aged 35.

Academic age is sometimes used to determine eligibility for certain grants. For example, some “Starting Grants” are restricted to researchers with an academic age of 2-7 years.

Funders often allow you to adjust your academic age to account for circumstances such as parental leave, long-term illness, clinical training, or caring responsibilities. This means the 40-year-old in the example above might have an even younger academic age if they took time out during those 5 years.

In summary:

  • While many are based on R4RI, there is no standard format for narrative CVs.
  • Each funder will have their own format - so check carefully.
  • This format is still new and evolving - look out for changes.

What are the disadvantages of the Narrative CV format?

We’ve considered the advantages of the narrative CV format, but what are some of the specific challenges or disadvantages?

  • It can be harder for applicants writing in another language, as there’s more emphasis on writing skills.
  • There are more opportunities for bias when sharing longer narratives with funders.
  • The funders themselves sometimes struggle to apply assessment criteria consistently to a broader range of outputs.
  • Adoption isn’t yet universal, so you need to also maintain a traditional CV.
  • It’s a lot of extra work for you.

On the positive side, capturing all your research activities for the narrative CV is also helpful for job applications, promotions, or simply to get a sense of achievement. It’s easy to discount those one-off events you organised, or the mentorship scheme in which you participated.

Next steps

It takes a while to understand the narrative CV format and its implications. The first steps are to:

  • Capture all your previous and future research outputs and activities with this new format in mind.
  • When making notes, focus on how and why, not just what. Be clear and specific.
  • Use any gaps to plan your professional development.

💡 You’ll need to adapt your CV for each application to ensure you’re including the most relevant examples for that project and funder. This means creating a library of building blocks you can assemble. Developing this library is also helpful for when you need to create team narrative CVs. Team members can share their libraries and pick the best examples for each module.

In the next post, we’ll explore what examples you might include in those four modules.