Angela Priest

I'm a data geek and process nerd who loves to build people up and help them grow. For 20 years, I've been turning chaos into order at companies across all stages of growth to ensure that their teams flourish. I'm now throwing my passion for helping people into helping PhDs, PostDocs, and Mid-Career Researchers get jobs in industry. My goal is simple: to help brilliant minds thrive outside the academic world and make real impact in their new careers.

Check out my website to learn more: www.alma.me

Co-Founder and COO

At Alma.Me, we help PhDs kick start their careers in industry through on-demand courses, online communities, networking, and resources to help them make the transition from academia to industry with confidence.

Dear Employers: Please stop listing “5+ years of industry experience” when what you actually need is 5 years of APPLIED experience.

A PhD who spent 6 years designing experiments, analyzing complex datasets, and presenting findings to skeptical committees has that experience.

They just didn’t do it inside your building.

The work is real. The skills transfer. The titles are the only thing missing.

Please write job descriptions for what you actually need, not for a vague (and often meaningless) criteria.

#phd #hiring #careers #humanresources

PhD Career Guide | Hiring Manager | 20+ Yrs Building High Performing Teams | COO @ Alma.Me

“I feel overqualified AND underqualified at the same time.”

If you’re a PhD in the job market, you’ve probably felt this.

Too experienced for entry-level. Not enough “industry experience” for mid-level. It feels like there’s no door with your name on it.

But here's how you can reframe it:

“Industry experience” on a job posting is a proxy. It’s shorthand for “can this person do the work and communicate with our team.”

You can. You just need to show it in language they recognize.

Translate your research into business outcomes. 

Frame your collaboration as cross-functional teamwork. 

Connect the dots between what you’ve done and what they need.

The gap isn’t in your skills. It’s in how they’re being presented.

👉 Are you a PhD struggling to land a non-academic job? Check out the job search program on our website: www.alma.me

We accept 2 new PhDs per week.

#phd #jobsearch #careers #stemcareers

PhDs: Here's how to write resume bullet points that actually get you interviews.

Most resume bullets I see from PhDs describe what they did:

"Conducted analysis of gene expression data."

That tells me the activity. It doesn't tell me the impact.

Here's a simple framework that works:

Action + Method + Result

"Developed a gene expression analysis pipeline (R, Python) that reduced data processing time by 40%, accelerating publication timelines for 3 concurrent studies."

Same work. Completely different signal.

A few rules:

1️⃣ Start with a strong action verb: "Developed," "Designed," "Led," "Built" 
2️⃣ Include the method, tool, or skill you used 
3️⃣ End with the outcome. Quantify if possible.
I
f you can't quantify, state the benefit: "...enabling faster decision-making for the research team."

Keep each bullet under 2 lines. If it takes more, you're probably including too much detail.

Leave room for the interviewer to be curious. That's what gets you into the room.

🔄 Pass it along - repost to help a friend :)

👉 Want help translating your academic work into industry-ready bullet points? Check out the job search program on our website: www.alma.me

We accept 2 new PhDs per week.

#phd #jobsearch #careers #humanresources

Having looked at hundreds of resumes from PhDs - the same problem comes up over and over.

The resume reads like an academic CV.

Pages of methods, publications, techniques.

And very little about what they can actually deliver for a business.

Here's the thing - the experience is there every. single. time.
Every single time.

PhDs just haven't been taught how to communicate it in a way a hiring manager understands.

That's the gap we close every day at Alma.Me

And it's exactly what I'm covering in my free workshop as part of Proteintech's Careers Week 2026:

🟣 What hiring managers actually look for on a resume
🟣 How to translate your research into business language
🟣 How to write bullet points that show impact - not just activity

📅 Tuesday March 24
🕘 9 am CST / 2 pm GMT / 3 pm CEST

Free. Live. Practical.

Register here: https://lnkd.in/dkiPUimU

🔄 Pass it along - repost to help a PhD friend

Professor of NeuroImmunotherapy l Dean of Doctoral Education l Empowering professional leadership and shaping PhD education l Have trained 8000+ PhD supervisors l #MADBob

ORCID:
0000-0003-4990-509X

Born and educated in the UK, conducted a PhD at University College London in the field of parasitology. Moved to Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden in 1994 and became Professor of Immunotherapy in Neurological diseases there in 2013. Leads a research group focusing on immunotherapy in ALS, Alzheimer’s disease and Multiple Sclerosis. Currently Academic Vice President of Doctoral Education. Past Chair of the International Council at Karolinska Institutet. Past president of the international doctoral education organisation ORPHEUS. Honorary Doctorate from the Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy (UMF) Cluj-Napoca, Romania (2023).

2008-09 – 2018-12 Karolinska Institutet (KI); Central Director of Doctoral Education (Quality Assurance (QA); Doctoral education programmes; PhD supervisor training 

2005-10 – 2018-12 KI; Dept of Clinical Neuroscience Director of  Doctoral Education (Selection of new and monitoring of 286 PhD students)

2015-2022 ORPHEUS President

1999-05 – present 	KI; Centre for Molecular Medicine (CMM) Independent Research Group Leader (Research in autoimmunity/cell biology)

1997-01 – present	Diamyd Medical AB	Scientific advisor; 
Consultant/Part-time employment (QA; Preclinical studies; Vaccine formulation)

1997-01 – 1999-04	KI; CMM	Kung Gustav V:s 80års jubileumsfond Post-doctoral fellow (Research in autoimmunity)

1996-01 – 1997-01	KI; CMM	Dept of Medicine Post-doctoral fellow (Research in autoimmunity)

1994-04 – 1995-12	KI; Microbiology & Tumor Biology Centre (MTC) KI Guest Researcher (Research in parasite immunology)

1994-04 – 1996-04	KI; MTC	Wellcome Trust Travel Fellow	(Research in parasite immunology)

1991-06 – 1994-04	London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine	Medical Research Council (MRC) Post-doctoral fellow (Research in parasite immunology)

1990-01 – 1991-06	University College London (UCL) MRC Post-doctoral fellow	 (Research in neurochemistry)

Specialties: Scientific research - neuroimmunology, cell biology, protein chemistry, vaccinology
Doctoral education - pedagogy, teaching, administration

Robert Harris

At age:
18 - I left home for University
21 - I finished my B.Sc
24 - I finished my PhD
27 - I moved to Sweden
28 - I learnt to speak Swedish
31 - I became an Associate Professor
33 - I became a research group leader
39 - I became Study Director in my department
42 - I became Central Study Director at the university
47 - I became a Professor
48 - I won the KI prize for pedagogy
53 - I became Dean of Doctoral Education
58 - I won the FEBS Education award
59 - I learnt to speak German
59 - I got my driver’s licence
 
What is my view on all this?
 
·     LIFELONG learning means learning throughout your life – there is always something new to learn.
·     Some things you wait longer for than you think you should.
·     Some things happen when you think they should, or even faster.
·     Some things surprise you.
·     Each step is a step forward, a new experience.
 
Don’t spend time looking back with regret – your history is already written forever.

Don’t only focus on where you are today – it won’t get you anywhere long-term.

Don’t look to the future with fear of the unknown, but rather with peaceful anticipation.
 
Follow this discussion of doctoral education via #MADBob
If you are interested in personal or group leadership training for academic supervisors/leaders, check out my website. I have taught over 8000 supervisors to date.

#MADBob #PhDsupervision #AcademicLeadership #DoctoralEducation #ResearchLeadership

Academic leadership training I Professor of NeuroImmunotherapy l Dean of Doctoral Education l Empowering professional leadership and shaping PhD education l Have trained 8000+ PhD supervisors l #MADBob

PhD students just need to toughen up


This argument appears in my comments regularly. And I want to engage with it properly.

Yes, the world is demanding. Yes, research involves difficulty, rejection and sustained uncertainty. Yes, a PhD should develop people who can navigate all of that.

But there is a fundamental difference between challenge and abandonment.

We do not train surgeons by putting them in an operating theatre alone and waiting to see if they figure it out. We do not train pilots by telling them to find resilience at 30,000 feet.

We expose them to increasing difficulty within a scaffolded structure, with support nearby, with feedback that helps them understand what is happening and why.

That is how competence is built. Not by removing support, but instead by making support available while gradually increasing independence.

When PhD students struggle under current conditions, too many people interpret it as evidence of insufficient resilience. I interpret it as evidence of insufficient scaffolding.

Preparing people for complexity means teaching them how to navigate it. Not placing them in it and calling their difficulty a character flaw.

Toughness built on a foundation of support is durable. Toughness built on survival of neglect is brittle, and usually has a cost that we never see.

Follow this discussion of doctoral education via #MADBob

If you are interested in personal or group leadership training for academic supervisors/leaders, check out my website.

I have taught over 8000 supervisors to date.

Universities spend a LOT of money recruiting PhD students


Advertising. Outreach. Open days. Scholarship packages.

And then, once the student is enrolled, the investment in their experience drops sharply.

There is no systematic check on whether supervision is working. There is no structured mid-point review of the relationship. There is no real consequence for a supervisor who is routinely absent or harmful to their PhD student

We recruit with great care and then manage with almost none.

It is the equivalent of a company investing heavily in hiring and then doing nothing about keeping employees.

The talent arrives. The conditions drive it away.

And we act surprised when dropout rates are high, or when students finish their PhDs without wanting to remain in academia.

The question universities need to ask is not only: how do we attract the best students?

It is: what kind of experience are we actually them providing once they arrive?
These are very different questions.

And in my experience, only one of them is being asked seriously.

'MAD' means 'Making A Difference,' and nothing else. PhD supervisors have both the professional responsibility and the wonderful possibility to empower their PhD students to be MAD themselves in society. 

Follow this discussion of doctoral education via #MADBob If you are interested in personal or group coaching for academic supervisors/leaders, write me a DM. I have taught over 8000 supervisors to date.

#MADBob #PhDsupervision #HigherEducation #DoctoralEducation #AcademicLeadership

You are lowering PhD standards!


How many times have I heard this:
“If we structure things more, support students more, or treat them like professionals, the standard of the PhD will drop.”

Let me be clear.

Training is not lowering standards.
Clarity is not spoiling students.
Support is not a sign of weakness.

High standards without guidance do not necessarily produce excellence.
But I think they may induce anxiety and silence instead.

True rigor should not be about how hard things feel.

I think it is rather about whether mutual expectations are clear, skills are taught and if critical judgment develops over time.

If a system only works when people are confused, unsupported and exhausted, then I do not think the problem is with the student.

It is rather the system that needs fixing.

Follow this discussion of doctoral education via #MADBob

If you are interested in personal or group leadership training for academic supervisors/leaders, check out my website. I have taught over 8000 supervisors to date.

#MADBob #PhDsupervision #DoctoralEducation #AcademicLeadership #HigherEducation

MAD vs BAD PhD supervisors


A BAD supervisor sets expectations once at the beginning and never revisits them. A MAD supervisor knows that expectations need to evolve as the student does.

A BAD supervisor gives the same supervision to every student. A MAD supervisor adapts their approach to the person in front of them.

A BAD supervisor sees a missed deadline as a discipline issue. A MAD supervisor sees it as a signal worth investigating.

A BAD supervisor is always the expert in the room. A MAD supervisor knows when to step back and let the student lead.

A BAD supervisor's students graduate despite the supervision. A MAD supervisor's students graduate because of it.

A BAD supervisor does not think about legacy. A MAD supervisor understands that their students are their most important contribution to their field.

More important than any published paper. More important than any won grant. More important than any received award.

The people you develop will outlast everything else you do.

That is worth taking seriously.

'MAD' means 'Making A Difference,' and nothing else. PhD supervisors have both the professional responsibility and the wonderful possibility to empower their PhD students to be MAD themselves in society. 

Follow this discussion of doctoral education via #MADBob

If you are interested in personal or group coaching for academic supervisors/leaders, write me a DM. I have taught over 8000 supervisors to date.

#MADBob #PhDsupervision #DoctoralEducation #AcademicLeadership #ResearchLeadership

Why aren’t we training PhDs to be leaders?


We already start developing the skills that shape our careers in kindergarten.
That is where we first learn to collaborate. To communicate. To solve problems together.

These are the so-called 5C skills of the 21st century:
·     Critical thinking
·     Collaboration
·     Communication
·     Creativity
·     Character

I don’t think that these skills are ‘nice-to-have.’
I prefer to see them instead as necessary career-defining skills.

But it seems to me that somewhere along the academic pathway, we stop intentionally teaching them.

Undergraduates are not systematically trained in leadership.
Master’s students rarely are.
PhDs? Almost never.
Postdocs and junior faculty? They are expected to ‘figure it out’ for themselves.

But I think that this is the reality:
The higher you move up in the academic hierarchy, the more leadership responsibility you will have:
·     You lead research groups
·     You manage budgets
·     You supervise students
·     You shape institutional culture
·     You influence strategy and direction
·     You head a Department
·     You lead a University

And too often, leaders are appointed based on criteria such as:
·     Strong publication records
·     ‘It’s your turn’
·     Administrative necessity
·     Metrics unrelated to leadership competence
 
But I don’t think that research excellence automatically equals leadership excellence.

Leadership is a skill set.

Just like any skill set, leadership can be taught, practiced and refined, again and again.

Imagine if leadership development were embedded early in doctoral training.
By the time someone became a Professor, Departmental Chair, or Dean, they would have already spent years developing their self-awareness, communication skills, conflict management abilities and strategic thinking.

The stakes get higher as careers progress.
Should this preparation not grow accordingly?

Leadership programs still represent a relatively small investment in most universities.

If we want better academic cultures, healthier research environments and stronger institutions, I think that perhaps it is time we stop assuming leadership is developing organically, and start teaching it deliberately.

Follow this discussion of doctoral education via #MADBob

If you are interested in personal or group leadership training for academic supervisors/leaders, check out my website. I have taught over 8000 supervisors to date.

The lasting impact of a spontaneous conversation with a PhD in the corridor
 

I was walking between buildings at a university where I had been running a PhD supervisor training workshop.

A PhD student stopped me.

She had not been in the workshop, but she had seen my name on a poster outside the room.

She asked me: "Are you the person doing the supervision training?"
I said yes.

She said: "Do the supervisors actually change? Or do they just go back and act the same as before?"

I did not give her a reassuring answer. I told her the truth.

Some change significantly. 
Some change a little. 
Some do not change at all.

But the ones who change do so because something in the training made them see their student differently.

Not as a project to be completed. 
But instead as a person whose experience they are responsible for.

She nodded slowly.
Then she said: "I hope my supervisor was in the room."

I did not know if they were.
But I thought about her for the rest of the day.

And I thought about all the students standing in corridors hoping that someone, somewhere, is helping the person who holds their future to understand what that responsibility actually means.

This is why supervisor training matters.
 
'MAD' means 'Making A Difference,' and nothing else. PhD supervisors have both the professional responsibility and the wonderful possibility to empower their PhD students to be MAD themselves in society.
 
Follow this discussion of doctoral education via #MADBob If you are interested in personal or group coaching for academic supervisors/leaders, write me a DM. I have taught over 8000 supervisors to date.
 
#MADBob #PhDsupervision #DoctoralEducation #HigherEducation #AcademicLeadership

The PhD supervisor who changed
 

I ran a training workshop in Portugal several years ago.

On the second day, a professor in his late fifties came up to me during the break.

He had barely spoken during the sessions. I had assumed he was sceptical.

He said: "Can I show you something?"

He pulled out his phone and showed me a message from a former student. Sent that morning.

He had texted her after the first day of the workshop to ask how she was.

They had not spoken in two years.

Her reply was long. She described how the final year of her PhD had been the hardest period of her life. How she had felt completely alone. How she had never told him at the time because she did not think he would want to know.

He stood there holding his phone and he said:
"I thought I was a good supervisor. I was present. I gave feedback. I came to her defence."

He paused.
"But I never asked her how she was. Not once. Not really."

He came back the second day, and he asked more questions than anyone else in the room.

It is never too late to become a better supervisor.

But the students who needed it from you yesterday cannot wait.
 
'MAD' means 'Making A Difference,' and nothing else. PhD supervisors have both the professional responsibility and the wonderful possibility to empower their PhD students to be MAD themselves in society.
 
Follow this discussion of doctoral education via #MADBob If you are interested in personal or group coaching for academic supervisors/leaders, write me a DM. I have taught over 8000 supervisors to date.
 
#MADBob #PhDsupervision #AcademicLeadership #DoctoralEducation #ResearchLeadership

How to build a research culture in which doing wrong and owning up in a safe space is the key to repair.

I came across this nice reflection by a group leader at Karolinska Institutet. (Elena Raffetti).

There are 2 key messages I focus on:
Allowing people to make mistakes without shame, and that independence does not mean abandonment.

Great inspiration for us all.

https://lnkd.in/djTmNqDh

Why the EU should care about Neurotechnology

In a recent 'Science Business viewpoint' (see comments for link) a case is made for the need for investment in Neurotechnology within Europe, and 3 major points are made:

1. Europe should maximise pre-competitive collaboration to ensure that synergies are created across research efforts and that innovation opportunities are fully realised further downstream. 
2. A dedicated neurotechnology funding board should be established to better coordinate, adapt and optimise funding instruments. 
3. Europe must develop neurotechnology-specific healthcare reimbursement models and enable willing member states to pool resources.

When we founded NeurotechEU, the European University of Brain and Technology, 7 years ago, these were some of the foundational principles - to promote the development of education, innovation and research collaboration between European Universities within the field of neurotechnology. 

With a Masters program, a doctoral network and an extensive network of neurotechnology biotechnology companies soon all in place, NeurotechEU is poised to address the important issues raised in this article.

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