The Narrative CV format means thinking about your research in a new way. Rather than creating an exhaustive list of all your achievements, you tell a story that explains why the funding body should give you money.
In this post, we’ll consider the audience for your story and also what you might tell them.
Thinking about your audience
With storytelling, you should think about your audience. In this case, it’s the members of the funding panel. What do they want to know about you when they’re reading your application? Well, they’re almost certainly looking for:
- Relevant experience. Do you have the skills to carry out the research? Enthusiasm isn’t enough.
- Track record of successfully delivering projects. Skills aren’t enough, either. Funders want to know you can finish this research.
- Communication skills. And it’s not just about your research chops, either. Funders expect you to communicate with them about your progress and also to disseminate your findings more broadly.
Above all, they’re seeking reassurance that you’re going to complete the research within the timeframe and not spend all the money on crisps 😳
Specific funders will also have other priorities, such as:
- Evidence of Open Research
- EDI (Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion)
- Public engagement
- Impact
- Collaboration
These priorities might be explicit on their website, or implicit through the types of project they typically fund.
Above all, funders want relevance. Increasingly, academic research needs to have an impact beyond universities. How is your research going to change people’s lives?
Reviewers are also given specific criteria. These are usually available on the funder’s website.
With these funder priorities in mind, let’s look at how the four modules help you demonstrate these qualities.
The Narrative CV modules
Narrative CV templates usually ask you to explain your contribution across four modules. You can think of these modules as themes for your story:
- Generation and flow of new ideas, hypotheses, tools, or knowledge
- Development of others
- Impact on wider research and innovation community
- Impact on broader society
Let’s take a look at them each in turn:
Generation and flow of new ideas, hypotheses, tools, or knowledge
This is generally the easiest module. If you’ve completed a PhD, you’ve already made an original contribution to your field. You’ve almost certainly shared other ideas, too. For example, through:
- Projects
- Datasets
- Software
- Conference presentations
- Research and policy publications
- Published works
- Standards
- Patents
Have a rummage through your hard drive. Are there any presentations or publications you’ve forgotten about? How might they strengthen your story?
Development of others
You’re also likely to find this module easy, as it’s not just about leadership roles. Examples here could include:
- Project management
- Supervision
- Mentoring
- Line management
- Contribution to success of a team
- Collaborations
- Diversity programmes
- Summer schools
The advantage of the narrative CV format is that you can use examples from outside academia, such as previous careers or voluntary roles. It’s about the experience, not the context.
Think back to any situation where you’ve supported others. What did you learn from that experience? And how might it help you with your proposed research project?
Impact on wider research and innovation community
This is where it gets trickier, especially if you’re at the beginning of your research career. However, this module includes a range of activities, such as:
- Editing (journals or edited collections)
- Peer reviewing
- Committee work
- Promoting open research
- Improving research ethics
- Organising conferences
If this module is looking a bit sparse and you have some time before your application, you might be able to get involved with some community activities. Smaller journals are often seeking peer reviewers or editors, or you could organise an event at your institution. Even a one-off reading group or work-in-progress seminar counts.
Impact on broader society
The final module is the scariest for many researchers, especially if you’re not finding a cure for cancer or pursuing nuclear fission. However, “broader society” just means “beyond academia”. You’re not required to change the world, just to make a positive impact on a community - even a tiny one. Speaking at a local history group counts here.
You can also include:
- Public engagement, such as talks.
- Policy development (working with governments and charities).
- Industry collaborations
- Podcasts (as a guest or a host)
- Blogs
- Books or articles aimed at a general audience.
As with the previous module, if time allows, you could quickly gather some examples by writing a blog post, appearing on a podcast, or giving a talk.
💡 If you’re very early on in your research career, you won’t be expected to fill all these modules equally. However, having at least one example in each area strengthens your application. Use any significant gaps to plan your professional development.
Collecting your examples
It’s a good idea to organise these examples and artefacts on a platform like Zenodo or Knowledge Commons. These are free, not-for-profit repositories where you can store and share research outputs - everything from datasets and presentations to preprints and grey literature. They provide persistent identifiers (DOIs) for your work and fulfil the Open Access requirements of most funding bodies.
While your institution may have its own repository (and you might be required to use it), having everything in one platform that you control is particularly valuable if you move between institutions.
You could also capture your broader experience on LinkedIn, where you’ll also reach a broader audience. Funders might look at your LinkedIn profile to get a sense of your career and connections. There’s no need to interact, if that feels uncomfortable or inauthentic, but a basic LinkedIn presence is rapidly becoming essential for academics.
Audit your existing experience, then make sure you’re capturing current and future activities in a way that’ll help you assemble your narrative CV.
You’ll need a different narrative for each project and funder, so it’s important to build an extensive library of examples or building blocks.
Next Steps
Once you have your examples, you can start assembling them to build specific narratives. That’s what you’ll do in the next post, where you’ll also see some examples for each module.
In the meantime, unearth and record those previous achievements. You can start simple with a Word document or a spreadsheet. Spending just 30 minutes on each module would be a great start.
🍪 And don’t forget to give yourself a big pat on the back and a biscuit for everything you’ve achieved so far.