University Lecturer CV Examples & Writing Guide

This is the first decision and many people get it wrong. In UK higher education the two documents are not interchangeable, and sending the wrong one signals you do not know the field.

This sample is for a lecturer with nine years of university teaching who is applying for a teaching and scholarship post at a post-92 university. The name and institutions are invented. For a research-intensive post, expand this into a full academic CV using the same content.

Academic hiring is done by a panel of your future colleagues, usually reading 80 to 300 applications for one post. They sort into three piles fast, and they are answering different questions depending on the type of institution.

• Can you cover the teaching we need? Panels look for the specific modules in the job advert. List modules by title and level, with student numbers, and say which ones you led and which you contributed to.
• Is the teaching any good? Module evaluation medians, pass and continuation rates, module redesigns, HEA fellowship, and any teaching award or peer observation. For teaching and scholarship posts this is the whole decision.
• Is the research active and fundable? At research-intensive universities: publication count and venue, first-author work, grant income, and whether your outputs could count towards the REF. At teaching-focused institutions: whether students can join it.
• Will you take on citizenship? Committees, personal tutoring, programme leadership, quality assurance work, curriculum revision. Nobody wants to hire a colleague who does none of it.
• Do you fit the institution? A research-intensive university wants grant income and outputs. A post-92 university wants applied teaching, employability and widening participation. Saying the same things to both is the most common mistake.

“I read the course list first and check it against what we need to staff in the autumn. Then evaluation numbers, then the publication venues. A candidate who tells me they taught "various undergraduate courses" has just made the committee's decision easy.”

A personal statement belongs on the two-page CV, not on a full academic CV. Three or four lines: what you teach, at what scale, one teaching result and one research result.

"What are the duties and responsibilities of a lecturer" is a common search, and the answer is teaching, research, citizenship and student support. Here is what each looks like when written properly.

In UK higher education the degree does most of the credentialing work, and no licence is needed to teach. A few things are worth listing precisely.

• The doctorate in your field: a PhD for most disciplines, a professional doctorate (EdD, DBA, DClinPsy) in applied fields, or a strong practice record in creative subjects. If you are still finishing, write "PhD thesis submission expected March 2027" or "viva passed, minor corrections" rather than leaving the stage unclear.
• Further education colleges usually want a teaching qualification such as a PGCE (post-16) or the Level 5 Diploma in Education and Training, plus a degree or industry experience in the subject. If that is your target, state it, because colleges check it.
• HEA fellowship carries real weight: Associate Fellow, Fellow, Senior Fellow or Principal Fellow, awarded by Advance HE, often through a PGCHE. Many universities expect new lecturers to gain it during probation. Name the category and the year.
• Research ethics and lab compliance training: research integrity training, a Home Office personal licence for work with animals, laboratory safety. List these if your field requires them.
• Professional registration, when the field expects it: Chartered Engineer, ACA or ACCA, NMC registration for nursing, HCPC for allied health. In applied programmes these matter as much as the doctorate.
• Your ORCID identifier is worth including in the contact line. It is free, it disambiguates your publication record, and panels increasingly look for it.
• Do not list "permanent contract" as a credential. State your job title (lecturer, senior lecturer, associate professor, reader, professor) and the institution, and let the appointment history show it.

Two groups search for this: new PhDs whose teaching was all as a graduate teaching assistant, and experienced professionals moving into hourly-paid or visiting lecturing. Different problems, similar answer, which is to find the teaching you have already done and describe it in academic terms.

1. 1Separate "module leader" from "teaching assistant." Being responsible for a module, including its design, assessment and marking, is the thing panels count. Say which terms you held it.
2. 2Count everything you did teach: lab practicals, seminars, tutorials, guest lectures, revision sessions, workshops. Give group sizes and how many terms.
3. 3If you have module evaluation data from your teaching assistant work, use it. Departments keep it and will release your own numbers on request.
4. 4For professionals: any training you have delivered counts. Corporate training, apprentice supervision, conference workshops, professional development sessions. Write it with participant counts and feedback scores.
5. 5Add a short teaching development line: an AFHEA, a course from your university's academic development unit, or an online learning design workshop.
6. 6Write a one-page teaching philosophy statement even if the advert does not ask for one. If it does ask, that document will outweigh the CV.
7. 7Name the modules in the department's current programme that you are prepared to teach tomorrow. Panels are staffing modules, and this line answers their question directly.

• Two-page version: two pages. Full academic CV: as long as the record justifies, and mid-career academic CVs often run to five pages or more. Never pad a CV with filler to look longer.
• UK convention on both documents: no photo, no date of birth, no marital status. Some European academic CVs include these, and UK panels do not want them. Add a line on right to work only if it is relevant.
• Universities recruit through online application systems, often reached through jobs.ac.uk, and some use platforms such as Workday. Use a single column, real text and standard headings so the parser does not scramble your record.
• Keep one citation style throughout, and use the style your field uses. Inconsistent citations on a CV read as carelessness in a field where citation is the currency.
• List your appointments in reverse chronological order with job title and institution type. Hourly-paid work across several institutions can be grouped, but keep the terms and module counts.
• Referees: UK academic applications usually ask for two or three, often on the application form; list them on a full CV if the advert asks. On a two-page CV, leave them off.
• A teaching portfolio link (syllabi, sample assignments, evaluation summaries) is worth including for teaching-focused posts.
• PDF for both. Name the file Lastname-Firstname-CV-2026.pdf, because committee members download dozens of files into one folder.

Job advert words worth mirroring when they are true: module leadership, module design, learning outcomes, assessment and feedback, student continuation, online and blended delivery, virtual learning environment, dissertation supervision, peer-reviewed publication, principal investigator, research income, curriculum development, quality assurance, academic citizenship, personal tutoring, inclusive practice, HEA fellowship.