An academic CV helps a supervisor or admissions team understand your preparation for research. It should make relevant evidence easy to find: your qualifications, research projects, methods, experience and outputs. Follow the programme’s instructions where it specifies a template or length.
Organise the CV around your research preparation
- Contact details: include your name and professional contact information required for the application.
- Education: list qualifications, institutions and dates clearly, with grades where appropriate.
- Research experience: describe your thesis, projects, methods and your own contribution.
- Publications and presentations: use accurate titles, author order, publication details and status.
- Relevant employment: explain responsibilities and achievements connected to the proposed research.
- Methods and skills: include skills you can demonstrate through your work.
Describe what you actually did
For each research project, identify the question, your role, the methods and the output. A short description of your contribution is more useful than a list of broad claims. If a project was part of a team, distinguish your work from the team’s overall result.
For a thesis, include the title and degree, then briefly explain the study where space permits. Mention software or methods only when you used them or have the relevant training. Do not add invented achievements, grades, publications or technical skills to strengthen the appearance of the CV.
Keep publication status precise
Separate published or accepted work from submitted manuscripts and work in progress. Check author order and links against the actual publication. Conference attendance and a conference presentation are different activities, so label them accurately.
If you have no publications, present the research experience you do have. A dissertation, project, research assistantship or relevant professional investigation can still help explain your preparation. Avoid an empty publication section that implies missing information.
Use a readable, consistent layout
Use clear headings, consistent date formats and a layout that can be read easily on screen and in a PDF. Keep each qualification or role with its supporting details. Start with the most recent entries within a section unless the application asks for a different order.
An academic CV does not need decorative graphics to be clear. Nor is one regional format compulsory for every university. Use Europass or another template when the specific application requests it; otherwise choose a clean academic layout suited to the evidence you need to present.
Check the CV against the rest of the application
Match degree titles, dates, employer names and grades to your certificates and application answers. Check that the proposal refers to the same research background described in your CV. Where referees are requested, use the correct details with their permission.
Before sending, check the file name, PDF layout and contact details. The final document should be something you can discuss confidently in an interview. Our PhD application service prepares the CV alongside the proposal and supervisor search.
A final check before sending your PhD CV
- Can a reader identify your most relevant research project on the first page?
- Does every publication show its correct status and author order?
- Do degree titles, dates and grades match the supporting documents?
- Are research methods linked to work you can explain, rather than listed without evidence?
- Does the PDF meet the course's length and file requirements, and is its text selectable?
Check whether a separate CV is requested at all. Oxford's application guidance distinguishes courses requiring a CV from those collecting the information within the application form. Follow your chosen course's instructions.
Official guidance: Oxford: CV requirements for graduate applications.
Continue your application preparation
For guidance built around your qualifications and research interests, start with a free Fully Funded PhD assessment. You can also read our complete application-support process.
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