Narrative CV Guide

A practical introduction for EBF UK researchers preparing narrative CVs for European, national, and church-affiliated funders.

Slovenská verzia: Príručka k naratívnemu CV.

What is a narrative CV?

A narrative CV is a short, structured account of your research career written in continuous prose rather than as a list of publications, positions, and grants. Instead of ranking achievements by metric, it asks you to tell the story of your contributions: what you worked on, why it mattered, how you collaborated, and what changed because of your work.

The format is spreading quickly. It is required by UKRI (United Kingdom Research and Innovation), it is the preferred format in the Horizon Europe participant portal, and it is increasingly expected by Slovak funders — including APVV — where “impact narratives” are becoming part of the application template. For researchers in theology, biblical studies, and the humanities more broadly, the narrative CV is usually more favourable than a traditional bibliometric CV, because it rewards depth of engagement over citation counts.

Why are funders requiring them?

Narrative CVs emerged from a wider shift in research assessment driven by the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), which many European funders have signed. DORA calls for evaluation based on the content of research, not proxy metrics such as journal impact factor or h-index.

Concretely, you are most likely to encounter narrative CVs in:

UKRI Résumé for Research and Innovation (R4RI) — the current UK standard; the Royal Society maintains a widely cited template.
Horizon Europe — the participant portal increasingly expects structured narrative statements, particularly in ERC, MSCA, and Cluster 2 (Culture, Creativity, Inclusive Society) calls.
APVV and national programmes — narrative sections on societal impact, mobility, and research outputs now appear alongside traditional lists.
Church-affiliated funders (GAW, MLB, SLZ) — less formalised, but proposals benefit from an impact-oriented narrative presentation.

Four typical sections of a narrative CV

Most templates ask you to write under four headings. Aim for roughly equal coverage; do not let the first section swallow the others.

(a) How have you contributed to the generation of knowledge?

Your core research output — but presented as a story. Pick a small number of outputs (articles, monographs, edited volumes, translations, critical editions) and explain what each contributed to the field and why. Include work in progress if it is substantial and verifiable.

(b) How have you contributed to the development of individuals?

Teaching, supervision, mentoring. Doctoral and master’s students you have supervised, courses you have designed, training you have delivered to colleagues, visiting scholars you have hosted. Where possible, point to outcomes — where your students are now, what they produce.

(c) How have you contributed to the wider research community?

Peer review, editorial work, organisation of conferences, leadership in learned societies, contributions to open access and open science, work on research infrastructures, committee work. For faculty in small disciplines, building and sustaining networks often belongs here.

(d) How have you contributed to broader society?

Public engagement, work with churches and denominations, policy contributions, media appearances, public lectures, translations for non-specialist audiences, community partnerships. Theology has a natural advantage here — make the most of it.

Tips for EBF UK researchers

Lean into disciplinary strengths. Theology and the humanities value teaching, public engagement, and long-term community relationships. These are exactly what narrative CVs are designed to capture. Do not apologise for a modest citation count — tell the story of the work instead.
Prefer concrete examples over abstract claims. “Supervised six doctoral candidates, four of whom now hold academic positions in Slovakia and Germany” beats “actively engaged in doctoral training”.
Be explicit about your role in collaborative work. Reviewers cannot infer what you personally did. Use active verbs (“I designed”, “I led”, “I co-authored with X, contributing the analysis of …”).
Quality over quantity. A narrative CV is not a list. Pick the three to five items in each section that best tell your story, and develop them.
Align with the funder’s stated priorities. Read the call text carefully; mirror its language where honest.
Keep it to four pages maximum. Most templates specify two to four pages. Do not exceed the limit. Shorter is usually stronger.
Update it annually. A narrative CV ages quickly. Treat it as a living document, not a one-off deliverable.

Example from practice

This section will include a worked example from a real EBF UK researcher. Contact Michal Valčo if you’d like to contribute yours or to see examples already on file.