Academic CV Template: What to Include and How to Format Yours for 2026

An academic CV template looks very different from a standard job-application CV — and using the wrong format for the wrong context is one of the most common mistakes graduate students make. Applying for a PhD programme, postdoctoral fellowship, or research position with a two-page industry CV will often result in rejection before the content is even considered. Academic CVs are comprehensive, structured documents that prioritise publications, research experience, teaching, and scholarly contributions over the work-history-and-skills format of a standard resume.

This guide provides a complete academic CV template, section-by-section guidance on what to include at each career stage, formatting rules, and common mistakes to avoid. Whether you are applying to your first masters programme or your third postdoc, the structure here applies.

Academic CV vs Standard Resume: Key Differences

Academic CV Template: Full Section Structure

Contact Information and Header

Use your institutional email address, not a personal Gmail. Include your ORCID iD if you have one — it is free to register at orcid.org and increasingly expected in academic applications. Include a link to your institutional profile, Google Scholar page, or personal academic website if you have one. Do not include a photo, date of birth, or nationality unless specifically requested (conventions vary by country — UK and US do not use photos; France and Germany traditionally do).

Education Section

Education always comes first in an academic CV — this is universal. List degrees in reverse chronological order (most recent first). For your PhD or master’s, include: thesis title (or “working title” if in progress), supervisor name, and expected or actual submission/award date. For bachelor’s degrees, include class of honours or GPA only if it is strong (2:1/First in UK; 3.5+ GPA in US).

Research Experience

Include all research roles — laboratory assistant, research assistant, research intern, independent research projects. For each role, list the specific research activities: “Conducted semi-structured interviews (n=24) and analysed data using NVivo” is far more informative than “Assisted with data collection.” Committees want to see your hands-on research competence.

Publications

List publications in your discipline’s citation style (APA for social sciences, Vancouver for biomedical, Chicago for humanities). Use subsections if you have multiple publication types: peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, conference proceedings, working papers, preprints.

If you have no publications yet (common for master’s students), omit this section entirely rather than listing “publications in preparation.” Include conference presentations instead — these demonstrate academic engagement. As Resumelab’s academic CV guide advises: “You can make your name bold to highlight your authorship” — this is standard academic practice.

Teaching Experience

Include all teaching experience: undergraduate tutorials, lab supervision, online instruction, guest lectures. For each, list the course name, your role (Teaching Assistant, Graduate Teaching Fellow, Seminar Leader), the institution, and the date range. If you received positive student evaluation scores, these can be noted briefly.

Awards and Funding

Include scholarships, research grants, bursaries, prizes, and named fellowships. You may include the monetary value for significant awards — this contextualises their competitiveness for reviewers unfamiliar with specific programmes. List in reverse chronological order.

Conference Presentations

Distinguish between paper presentations (you spoke), poster presentations, and panel discussant roles. All are valid academic activities and worth including. Note whether the conference was international, national, or institutional.

Formatting and Design Rules

• Font: 11–12pt serif (Times New Roman, Georgia) or clean sans-serif (Calibri, Arial)
• Margins: 2.5 cm on all sides; 1.5 cm for longer CVs
• Spacing: Consistent throughout; use white space to separate sections clearly
• Headings: Bold, all caps, or larger font — consistent across all section headings
• No graphics, columns, or icons — academic CVs are plain text documents; design elements interfere with ATS parsing and look out of place
• Save as PDF — always submit as PDF to preserve formatting
• File name: LastName_FirstName_AcademicCV_2026.pdf — never “CV_final_v3_revised.pdf”

Academic CV by Career Stage

Final-year undergraduate / applying to masters (1–2 pages): Education, any research experience (dissertations, summer projects, lab work), relevant employment, skills, references.

Masters student / applying to PhD (2–3 pages): Education, master’s research project, any publications or conference presentations, teaching if any, awards, skills.

PhD student / applying for postdoc (3–5 pages): Education, research experience, publications, teaching, conference presentations, awards, service, skills, references.

Postdoc / applying for lecturer/assistant professor (5–8+ pages): Full academic record; research statement may accompany CV separately.

Once your CV is ready, pair it with a strong application for a relevant scholarship or graduate programme. Our guide on scholarship application tips and our overview of US graduate school applications cover the full application context. For help writing your research statement or personal statement, Tesify provides academic writing assistance tailored to exactly this kind of high-stakes document.

Frequently Asked Questions