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Researchers are key members of academic staff. They are central to the College’s status as the leading centre for veterinary research in England, as well as its global aspirations. Beyond this, the College recognises that researchers make many other important contributions, for example in undertaking valuable research support, teaching and supervision duties, and as a vibrant group within the wider RVC community.

Following the launch of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, the College developed a Concordat Code of Practice and Guide which demonstrates the Colleges commitment to the provision of timely and effective support for Research Staff and their chosen career paths.

The courses and workshops outlined in our programme are designed to meet the needs of all groups of staff within the College and offer a wide variety of development opportunities in five key areas:

 

• Health & Safety

• Information Technology

• Leadership & Management

• Skills & Knowledge

• Wellbeing

 

In our 2009/10 training programme, we introduced a section specific to the development of researchers, in response to principle 4 of the Concordat. This section has continued to develop following feedback received from research staff, line managers and principal investigators.

 

Research staff may also attend any of the other Staff Training & Development courses offered in the programme.

Visiting schools and outreach events to give students the opportunity to meet the public and be the face of BAS.

An overview of TST courses in the Graduate School of Life Sciences addressing the entire Roberts agenda, and run across the whole school or within individual Departments and Institutes; but run for the individual student rather than for the yeargroup or the course.

A 2 hour interactive workshop for science and technology postgraduates in the final stages of their PhD, to help them decide whether a postdoc is the right career move for them.

The University's Business and Management Training programme comprises a wide range of short courses aimed at professionals working in other organisations in the county/region. Through Roberts funding, research staff have been able to pursue a three day project management course which is offered as part of the BMT programme.

Career Pathways is a collection of case studies outlining the careers of Essex PhDs and research staff. It is available from our web pages as a pdf and some of the case studies are used in our career and professional development courses. The case studies were based on telephone interviews, which were subsequently transcribed and written up.

The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute PhD programmes provide research opportunities and training for graduate students and clinicians.

In this 3 hour session, we invited an expert panel comprising journal editors, funders, academics, journalist and a science communication charity to discuss peer review with our PhD students and postdoc - looking at peer review from the academic community’s point of view and how the public gauges if scientific evidence is robust or not.

The Researcher Development Programme delivers a range of themed sessions and supervisor-led activities designed to support researchers' skills development, increase their personal effectiveness and provide advice on planning and managing their careers.