Individual Development Plan

National Institutes of Health

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) strongly encourages institutions funded by NIH awards to develop and use Individual Development Plans (IDPs) for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. IDPs provide a structured opportunity to plan career development activities as part of graduate and postdoctoral training. Annual grant reports to NIH must include “a description of whether the institution uses IDPs or not and how they are employed to help manage the training and career development of those individuals.” (NOT-OD-114-113)

Although IDPs were originally used for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars in the sciences, the IDP can be a valuable addition to any student/postdoc’s career planning. It facilitates a self-evaluation of skills and goals that should lead to a career plan and implementation of that plan. The IDP is an interactive process and, ideally, should include collaboration between the student/postdoc and their mentors or advisors. It can be used to positively affect the relationship with committee members or mentors so that there is a plan everyone can support that will lead to a better training experience.

Individual Development Plan

An Individual Development Plan (IDP) is a valuable planning document that gives students and scholars an opportunity to effectively set goals and identify career paths for the future. The planning process serves an ideal communication tool between student and mentor. IDPs help identify professional development needs and career objectives; this is of great benefit to students as it allows students to monitor their progress throughout their programs and/or appointments. Furthermore, it is important to note that Individual Development Plans are flexible. The Graduate College encourages students and scholars to revisit and refine their plans regularly to meet their career goals.

The following IDP tools are provided for free and accounts are private and independent of ASU: 

• myidp.sciencecareers.org (created by Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology for those in science fields) 
• chemidp.acs.org (created by American Chemical Society for those in chemical sciences fields)
• imaginephd.com (created by Graduate Career Consortium for those in humanities & social science fields)