Your work as a postdoctoral researcher is meant to train and prepare you for an independent career. Defined goals, clear expectations, and good communications with your faculty mentor are important in making the most of this time.
The Individual Development Plan (IDP) process is designed to help you develop goals, set expectations, and ensure communication with your mentor. It’s an annual process beginning with a self-assessment guided by an IDP form, a discussion of goals and objectives with your mentor, and a formulation of an action plan for the year ahead.
The IDP in use at UW Astronomy has been adapted from the processes used at Stanford and those recommended centrally at UW. To find out more about IDPs in general, we recommend you take a look at the excellent website of Stanford’s Office of Postdoctoral Affairs.
Timeline
New postdocs
- Read the Initial IDP Form soon after you arrive. Take some time to think about the questions and formulate your goals.
- Within first three months of arrival, meet with your mentor to discuss the IDP. Ideally, share the IDP form with them well ahead of the meeting. Jointly formulate the action plan for next year.
- Report the date of your meeting by e-mailing office — at — astro.washington.edu and CC-ing your faculty mentor. Only the date of the meeting needs to be reported; both your IDP form and the content of your conversation with your faculty mentor are private.
- Refer to the action plan throughout the year, revisit it with your mentor as necessary.
Returning postdocs
- Fill our the Annual IDP Form at the beginning of the autumn quarter.
- No later than the end of October, meet with your mentor to discuss the IDP. Ideally, share the IDP form with them well ahead of the meeting. Jointly formulate the action plan for next year.
- Report the date of your meeting by e-mailing office — at — astro.washington.edu and CC-ing your faculty mentor. Only the date of the meeting needs to be reported; both your IDP form and the content of your conversation with your faculty mentor are private.
- Refer to the action plan throughout the year, revisit it with your mentor as necessary.
Forms
IMPORTANT: these are links to Google Drive. You have to be logged in with your UW account to access them.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Who gets to see my completed IDP form?
- Both your IDP form and the content of your conversation with your faculty mentor are private. Beyond a confirmation that the IDP meeting took place, the form is not reported or shared with others (unless required by overriding regulations — e.g. Faculty are required to report instances sexual misconduct or potential sexual misconduct).
- How is this different from the Annual Activity Report (AAR)?
- The IDP is there to facilitate postdoc-advisor communication and define the plan of action going forward. The activity report is a list of quantitative accomplishments over the past year.
- Will the IDP be used for assessing salary increases?
- The AARs are used to document salary increase requests.
- Is it relevant for appointment renewals?
- Not directly. The IDP process does end with an agreed-upon activity plan for the next year, which will set the mentor’s expectations. But such expectations already exists, just on an informal basis (and can sometimes be very unclear). The IDP will make them explicit and easier to understand.
- What are the consequences if goals specified in the action plan are not met?
- Most likely, a discussion with your advisor on what went wrong, and incorporation of lessons learned into the plan for next year. Progress in research is almost never linear (it’s research!).