Welcome to the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs (OPA).

The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs serves as a central resource on postdoctoral training and education at Northwestern University.  There are approximately six hundred and fifty postdoctoral scholars training with us and their contribution to our research enterprise is greatly valued.  This office provides information and assistance on recruitment, appointment, orientation, policies, employee relations (assist HR) and manages inquiries and requests from postdoctoral scholars, staff and faculty members.  We liaise on behalf of our constituents both internally with other university offices as well as external organizations.  The OPA seeks to foster better integration of postdoctoral fellows within the Northwestern community and provide professional development, career and quality of life programs.

Some current OPA initiatives:

• Development of Northwestern University's Postdoctoral Scholar Handbook (available May 2009)
• Roll out of new postdoctoral scholar training policies and guidelines (May 2009)
• Distribution of faculty resources on recruitment, appointment and mentoring (initiated April 2009, interested faculty can request information)
• Planning professional development events for 2009 - Grantsmanship event was a huge success, Tech transfer/Patent Law event under development for late April.
• Improving career services to Postdoctoral scholars. Current postdoctoral researchers are encouraged to assist us by taking our survey on Career Management

Information for prospective scholars:

Postdoctoral candidates: Please note, this office does not select Postdoctoral Scholars. For questions regarding postdoctoral training opportunities at Northwestern, you are encouraged to directly contact faculty members with whom you share research interests .  You are invited to review additional information available at our Finding Postdoctoral Positions webpages.

Prospective graduate students: The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs manages the training of postgraduate scholars, those who have already completed or are nearing completion of their PhD.should review information on other Graduate school webpages and per requirement contact the appropriate office within The Graduate School.