Career Profiles of Doctoral Entrepreneurs

One recent study has estimated that some 10% of doctoral graduates go on to follow an enterprising career.

Certainly an individual's personality is an indicator of how likely they are to be enterprising, but for doctoral graduates their research degree experience is itself crucial in helping them develop the skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur.

As the Vitae report noted:

"The doctoral experience played a very important role in many doctoral entrepreneurs' careers. The knowledge and expertise gained was often especially important where the business was closely related to the area of doctoral study. However, there are commonalties around other skills that doctoral entrepreneurs had developed during their degree and then found useful in other contexts".

If you have not yet done so, take a look at how enterprise skills form a part of the Researcher Development Statement. Launched in 2010, the Statement describes the skills that all researchers are expected to demonstrate. The inclusion within it of enterprise skills shows the value increasingly placed on these by employers and others and their importance in the researcher's skills portfolio.

We hope that this website will inspire you to think about how enterprising you are and to explore the opportunities to develop your enterprising capabilities.

Just as important though is understanding how to apply and use those skills - both over the course of your doctoral degree and beyond. In this respect, it may be helpful to learn about the experience of other doctoral graduates and their stories about entering and following an enterprising career.

Vitae's 2010 report What Do Researchers Do? - Career Profiles of Doctoral Entrepreneurs brings together the stories of thirty doctoral graduates who have gone on to follow enterprising careers. The stories are organised by discipline and highlight the skills and attitudes needed to be a successful doctoral entrepreneur.

We are building a similar profile of University of Leicester doctoral graduates who have gone on to follow enterprising careers. If you are a current or former University of Leicester postgraduate researcher and want to tell us your enterprising story, please email us.