Since the first time I had to write an (academic) CV, I seem to be getting two conflicting opinions on the subject of including non-academic interests on an academic CV.
(Some examples of such interests would be sports, cooking, etc.)
The "sources" of my advice include professional people in and outside of academia, (not that many) PhD students, a lot of internet searches and observing the CVs of other academics/researchers.
One one hand, I heard that including a section about such interests is important, as it is supposed to demonstrate that you are a "diverse, complete person" and not a solitary scientist/workaholic. This is also one of the more common "don't forget" advice I found on not-academia-specific guides to writing a CV.
On the other hand, a lot of examples of CVs of senior scientist didn't include anything of the sort, which mostly makes sense to me: since I am writing a CV to apply for a position / grant in an academic concept, I should be judged based on my academia-related activities.
So, I would like to know what is actually the convention in academia? I can imagine the answer might depend on several factors such as:
- culture of the country
- culture of the field
- seniority of the scientist (e.g. PhD student vs permanent Professor)
But, then, I am really not sure. Is it a matter of convention depending on some or all of the above, or, if not, what is the global convention for including non-academia related interests in an academic CV?
Answer
The convention in an academic CV is not to include information on non-academic hobbies or interests that are not relevant to your professional skills and qualifications.
You will find this view confirmed on sites that give specific advice on the academic CV. (e.g.: this one).
That's not to say there's never a good reason to include this information; there may be, in some cases. (For example, you might mention your time abroad doing unrelated humanitarian work to explain a chronological gap.) But in academic CVs it's not standard.
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