The CV you use for a PhD application, in Egypt or abroad, is not a job CV. It is an academic CV, and the differences are significant: different sections, a different order, and more length allowed as long as everything is true and relevant. Many supervisors look at the CV before reading your research proposal, so it needs to be clear and well organised.
Core sections in order
- Contact details: name, email (a university address if you have one), phone, current affiliation, and an ORCID or Google Scholar link if you have one.
- Research Interests: one or two lines on the topics you work on or want to work on.
- Education: Master's and Bachelor's, with thesis title and supervisor.
- Research Experience: research and projects you took part in, and your role.
- Publications: if you have any, in a consistent citation style.
- Conference Presentations: oral talks or posters.
- Teaching Experience: teaching assistant roles or training.
- Grants, Awards & Scholarships.
- Technical Skills: analysis tools, lab techniques, programming.
- Languages.
- References: two or three academics who know your research.
Research interests
This line helps a supervisor see quickly whether you fit their group. Keep it specific:
Education and thesis
For each degree, give its name, major, university and year awarded (or expected). For your Master's, include the thesis title in English and your supervisor's name; it shows your research direction. If you have not yet defended, write Expected with the expected year.
Research experience: what exactly did you do?
This is the most important section. For each project, give your role, institution and dates, then two or three bullets on your personal contribution and the methods you used:
Research Assistant, Water Resources Lab, Alexandria University (2022–2025)
- Designed and ran groundwater flow simulations in MODFLOW for a nitrate contamination study in the Nile Delta.
- Processed and validated field data from 30 monitoring wells and co-wrote the methodology chapter of the project report.
Publications: accuracy is not optional
The publications section must be one hundred percent accurate. The rules:
- Use one citation style (APA, IEEE or whatever is standard in your field) for every entry.
- List all authors in their order on the paper and put your own name in bold.
- Group by status: Published, Accepted / In press, Under review. Papers you are still writing can go under In preparation, though it is better to leave them out if you are unsure they will be completed.
- Never list a paper as published while it is under review. This is one of the most serious mistakes on an academic CV.
If you have no publications at all, that is normal for many PhD applicants. Remove the section and strengthen your research experience and thesis entries instead.
Conferences and teaching
List conferences with the presentation title, conference name, city, year and type of contribution (Oral or Poster). Attending without presenting can go in a separate section or be left out if it adds little.
Teaching matters because many PhD students teach during their studies. List the courses you supported, the type of work (tutorials, labs, grading) and the number of students if you know it accurately.
Technical and research skills
A supervisor wants to know whether you can start work in their lab or group quickly. List skills you have actually used in your research, grouped clearly:
- Methods: such as qualitative interviews, survey design or finite element analysis.
- Software & Programming: such as Python, R, MATLAB, SPSS or NVivo.
- Lab techniques: if your field is lab-based, the techniques you have performed yourself.
Do not list a tool you have only watched a video about. If you are a beginner, say so or leave it out. Ideally, every skill listed here should be visible in your research experience, so the supervisor can see exactly where you used it.
Connect your CV to your research proposal
Your CV and research proposal should tell the same story. If your proposal is about groundwater modelling, the supervisor will look in your CV for evidence of related work: a thesis, a project or a tool. Put those experiences first, and keep your research interests consistent with the proposal topic.
References
On an academic CV, referees are usually listed with name, title, institution and email. Choose academics who genuinely know your research, such as your Master's supervisor. Ask their permission before listing them and tell them what you are applying for so they are prepared.
Length and format
- An academic CV can run to two pages or more, but every line must be true and relevant.
- No photo for most universities abroad unless requested.
- A clear font, prominent section headings and consistent date formatting.
To understand how this CV differs from an academic CV for university jobs, read our academic CV guide. If you are still at Master's stage, see our Master's CV guide.
Build and review
Start in the CV builder, write the sections in this order, then run it through the CV checker. If you are applying for a doctoral scholarship such as Fulbright, link your CV to the scholarship's goals and check the official website for requirements.