Vitae and support for ECRs

Researcher Development Concordat

The Concordat to Support the Development of Researchers, commonly known as the Researcher Development concordat aims to improve the employment and support for researchers and researcher careers in higher education in the UK.
The University is fully committed to supporting and developing our research staff and adheres to the principles of the Concordat:

Environment and Culture – the University strives to create and maintain a supportive and inclusive research culture, taking a proactive approach to creating and maintaining a positive environment in which all researchers can flourish and achieve their full potential.

Employment - researchers are recruited, employed and managed through our People processes and practices. The University’s fair recruitment and selection process includes a transparent process for internal promotion and a comprehensive approach to induction. The performance of our researchers is supported by their line manager through regular discussion, feedback and support. Researchers are given the opportunity for an annual appraisal which includes personal development and career planning. We also enable our research staff to seek a good WorkLife balance through our flexible working practices.

Professional and Career Development - the University recognises that Professional and career development are integral to enabling researchers to develop their full potential. As well as personal development planning discussions through the annual appraisal process, all research staff are given the opportunity to create an annual Individual Research Plan (IRP) through our annual IRP process. Time is allocated for development through workload planning.

Researchers can also access the Researcher Development Framework (RDF) Planner tool for further support to plan and structure their own development, Early Career Researchers in particular are encouraged to utilise the planner.

Researcher Development Options

There are a range of development options available for Researchers to access, arranged centrally, locally in Faculties or by the individual themselves:

• Researcher Development Week - takes place once or twice a year with a week-long focus on researcher development offering a range of ‘live’ development opportunities for staff at all stages of their research career, examples of topics include Publishing Research, Understanding REF, How to Successfully Bid for External Funding and Leading with Influence
• Other synchronous development sessions arranged locally in Faculties for Faculty staff or open session available to research staff across the institution, these sessions focus on building skills and knowledge as we as sharing best practice across the research environment
• Online learning resources – access to LinkedIn Learning and a recommended collection of resources to aid development of personal skills such as time management, delivering an effective elevator pitch, personal resilience, project management and leadership skills
• Online learning platform for PhD supervisors, allowing them to develop their skills in supervision at a pace that works best for them, a learning resource that can be accessed as often as needed
• Research mentoring scheme – early career researchers are prioritised for this scheme but all staff undertaking research can request a mentor, mid-career researchers have also made us of the scheme
• Coaching – an internal coaching network offers the opportunity for individuals to work with a coach to improve confidence, skills and consider their career. Coaching with an external provider is also possible depending on development needs