The MU Office of Postdoctoral Education Research Grant Program is intended to support MU postdoctoral scholars in developing their independent research programs. The grant awards help defray the costs of conducting a clearly defined research project that is not financially supported by other grants, faculty members, or their department/division. The research project should be led by the postdoctoral scholar and represent a contribution to their independent research program.
To learn more about the grant application process, please read the MU Postdoctoral Research Grant Guidelines
Application cover sheet: MU-Postdoctoral-Research-Grant-COVER-SHEET
The newly established Postdoctoral Awards recognize the contributions of postdoctoral scholars and their demonstration of excellence in the areas of teaching and research at the University of Missouri. The awards are open to postdoctoral scholars in all disciplines.
Nominees for these awards must currently be a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Missouri, Columbia campus and have held the position as a postdoc for at least one semester prior to the nomination. Self-nominations are encouraged.
Postdoctoral award winners will be recognized at the Awards Banquet hosted by the Graduate School in April. The awards will consist of an honorarium of $500 to $1,000 (depending on the number of awardees). The awards will be administered by the MU Postdoctoral Association (MUPA) with support from the Office of Postdoctoral Education. Funding for the award is provided by the Graduate School.
Nomination requirements for both postdoctoral awards, including eligibility and criteria, can be found in the attached call. The fillable nomination form is also attached below.
Send nominations and materials as a single PDF to: postdoc@missouri.edu
Deadline: Nominations are due by 5 PM (Central Time) on February 15th each year. If the 15th of February falls on a weekend, then the due date is the following Monday.
View the current award guidelines here: MU-Postdoctoral-Awards-Call
Download the nomination form here: Fillable Nomination Form Postdoctoral Awards
This award represents an appreciation for an individual who has demonstrated either a profound, sustained, or leadership contribution to improving the postdoctoral experience.
The award recognizes an individual who has contributed to improving the postdoctoral experience through:
The nomination must be made by a postdoctoral scholar (anyone who is currently a postdoc or within 5 years of completing their postdoctoral training). The nomination packet should be saved as a single pdf file labeled with the nominee’s name. It should include the following documents, saved in the following order:
The MU Graduate School has paid for institutional membership with the National Postdoctoral Association (NPA). This means all of Mizzou’s postdocs are entitled to free affiliate (individual-level) membership to NPA. In doing this, we join a long list of other prestigious universities who are also members of NPA. Here’s a list of their individual member benefits:
To obtain your free membership, click the image below! Once on their webpage, select “Affiliate Individual Member, Postdoc” as your membership type. Create a username and enter your first and last name. Next, you will be prompted to confirm your membership type. Lastly, complete the demographic information, and enter the University of Missouri as your organization. It is as simple as that!
The National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD) is an independent faculty development center that offers live and recorded webinars, courses, mentoring, and workshops on a wide variety of topics for faculty at different stages of their careers. Topics range from cultivating your network of mentors and sponsors, engaging in healthy conflict, overcoming academic perfection, mastering academic time management, the art of saying “no,” and many others.
Access Your Membership
MU postdocs can utilize NCFDD resources free of charge. You can activate your membership by selecting MU on the right under Access NCFDD here. If you have any trouble registering or you have questions about the membership, please email membership@facultydiversity.org.
VersatilePhD is the largest online community dedicated to non-academic and non-faculty careers for PhD graduates in humanities, social sciences, and STEM fields. helps graduate students, ABDs and PhDs identify, prepare for and excel in professional careers. MU is an institutional member. Before you can access VersatilePhD, you must authenticate with your MU credentials. Once you’ve authenticated, you can then log in (or sign up) to access MU’s VersatilePhD portal.
myIDP (Individual Development Plan) concept is commonly used in industry to help employees define and pursue their career goals. It is a unique, web-based career-planning tool tailored to meet the needs of PhD students and postdocs in the sciences.
myIDP provides:
There is no charge to use myIDP.
ImaginePhD is an online career exploration and planning tool for PhD students and postdoctoral scholars in the humanities and social sciences.
At ImaginePhD, you will be
There is no charge to use ImaginePhD.