In a world where TL;DR is easily recognized to mean “too long; didn’t read”, one has to wonder about the sensibility of the typical Canadian academic CV.
These documents are outrageous in length, from 30 to 50 or even 100 pages, consisting mostly of extensive lists of work done. And the listing-everything approach permeates academic culture, from recruitment to promotion to annual performance reports. Even those committed to “quality over quantity” succumb to a perceived pressure to list every publication, every presentation, every grant secured, and every student supervised.
There’s also no joy in putting together these lists – as anyone who has filled out the Canadian Common CV (CCV) created by Canada’s federal granting agencies can attest.
The traditional excuse for this sorry state of affairs often references the Latin for curriculum vitae, meaning “course of life”, in contrast with resume, from the French for summary. But the real cause of the ridiculously lengthy academic CV is a culture within higher education that places value on seeing outputs that one can count. No one asks who has time to read these behemoths. More worrying, their length means readers likely only choose the bits that interest them, which undermines consistency in assessment.
But change is coming, albeit slowly, with the federal granting agencies having talked about a narrative CV for Canada since 2020. Budget 2024 oddly gives me optimism, because it includes a $6.6 million allocation for an improved and harmonized grants management system. In the meantime, a new narrative-style “Tri-Agency CV” of no more than five pages (six in French) is being piloted by CIHR and NSERC.
Replacing the lists with a narrative embrace
If we want an academic culture that values more than counting publications and dollars brought in, it’s time to cultivate a CV format that focuses on the bigger picture.
To do that, many funding bodies in Europe have moved to a structured, but flexible format, known as the narrative CV. A prime example is that pioneered in 2017 by the U.K.’s Royal Society, the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence.
Revised in 2019, the Royal Society’s “Résumé for Researchers” (the “R4R”) consists of just four modules to complete, using 1,000 words and an overall suggested page limit of two(!), plus a short personal statement of overarching goals.
The R4R came about as part of the Society’s efforts to change research culture; to change how research is valued, and how it is communicated, as this Society video explains.
It has since spawned a similar “Résumé for Research and Innovation” (the R4RI) which has been embraced by UK Research and Innovation, the umbrella body bringing together seven research councils for the provision of grant funding to a wide range of disciplines.
The benefits of a narrative CV
A narrative CV favours the selection of a few key examples, rather than a data dump. These examples are then incorporated into a description that is crafted to explain how one’s research has contributed to
- the generation of knowledge,
- the development of individuals,
- the wider research community, and
- the broader society.
The format puts the focus on explaining how your work has had impact, rather than listing what was done. And impact is also defined broadly so to place value on contributions beyond journal publications and money raised, including contributions to mentorship, team building, clinical practice development, policy work, and community collaborations.
A narrative CV also respects the principles of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), endorsed by Canada’s five major national research funders in 2019, which urge a move away from the abuse of journal impact factors and over-reliance quantitative metrics to measure research impact.
Narrative-style CVs can also work for both academics and non-academics, making it easier to engage in funded research with clinical or industry co-applicants, and supportive of diversity in pathways to academia. And they can be written on an individual or team basis – with one narrative CV submitted for a team application saving oodles of time for researchers, as well as external assessors and merit review committees.
International research collaborations
And it’s not just the Brits doing this.
Other European funding agencies are making use of a narrative-style CV, with this being relevant to the push within Canada for international research collaborations.
The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has experimented with a narrative CV format since 2017, adopting a narrative CV format for its Vici grant program in 2019. Science Foundation Ireland introduced a narrative CV format for its funding programs in 2019, as has the Luxembourg National Research Fund in 2021, and in 2020, the Swiss National Science Foundation adopted a hybrid format to combine a listing element within a narrative style.
And at least one government has endorsed the change, with the U.K.’s department for business, energy & industrial strategy promising in 2021 to “drive adoption of the Résumé for Researchers’ narrative CV” as part of its R&D People and Culture Strategy.
Studies are underway to assess the initial impacts of a narrative CV on academic culture, with one study also piloting the use of a narrative CV for early career recruitment.
Change is never easy, and there will be grumbles as we work through a new CV format when applying for grants. But something has to be done to replace the 50- or 100-page CV and what that says about the culture of our workplaces.
Joanna Harrington is a law professor as well as associate dean of research for the college of social sciences and humanities at the University of Alberta.