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The ‘your first three years’ programme for newly appointed research active staff provides training in topics relevant to academic practice, including:

• induction - an introduction to University structures, key people and support for researchers
• good practice in grant writing
• managing projects, project finances and staff
• training for teaching 
• training for supervising research and research degree students

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 University of Strathclyde has a long standing reputation for education, research and teacher training in science, engineering and technology disciplines. In seeking to further enhance that reputation by achieving an Athena Swan Bronze Award, we wish to demonstrate how the university is allying its search for academic excellence with a concern for equality of opportunity and inclusiveness across the institution. The Athena Swan project has been instrumental in awareness raising across the University, and the engagement of staff at all levels within the institution in considering current and future practice.

A UK-wide process enables UK HEIs to gain the European Commission’s ‘HR Excellence in Research’ badge, which acknowledges their alignment with the principles of the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for their Recruitment. The UK process incorporates both the QAA Code of Practice for Research Degree Programmes and the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers to enable institutions that have published Concordat implementation plans to gain the ‘HR Excellence in Research’ badge. The UK approach includes ongoing national evaluation and benchmarking. This award recognises the positive actions that the University has taken to support the career development of researchers and the actions in place to implement the principles of the Concordat to Support the Development of Researchers. 

The document is based on a gap analysis performed in November 2010 which sought to map existing policies and evidence of good practice to the Principles and Clauses of the Concordat.  Actions were then identified where further work was required to ensure complete compliance, and responsibilities assigned. Actions highlighted are where new approaches or changes to existing approaches will be developed, identifying how these will happen and setting timescales.  These new approaches will then be implemented and reviewed at regular intervals.

Following consultation at the Research Staff Forum in March 2011 a programme has been devised and is scheduled to run for the first time in September 2011.  The programme exists as a one day event, but it is envisaged that following the initial event in September online content will be developed to make the Induction Programme available to researchers who need it, when they need it.

The Strathclyde Mentoring Scheme is being developed for Research staff to support their career development.  It will train and support mentors and match them with appropriate mentees who volunteer to be part of the scheme.  It will also offer on-going support for mentors who are part of the Scheme as well as those who are active mentors within the University but carry out this role informally. 

The current provision across the university of generic and transferable skills training was audited and then mapped to the RDF.  This allowed an analysis of provision to be carried out that will be used to inform and guide the effective allocation of resources.

The Researcher Development Programme (RDP) at Strathclyde offers all research students and staff a range of opportunities to continue their personal, professional and career management skills development. The courses, events and information sources aim to help researchers enhance their generic skills and competencies and widen their scope for future employability both inside and outside academia. The Researcher’s Portal is an online resource designed to support the RDP.

A strategy has been developed to support the achievement of the University’s Strategic Plan in terms of its statements relating to researcher development. A parallel operational plan lays out the key actions that have been devised with the aim of achieving the strategic aims.

In March 2011 the first Research Staff Development Forum was hosted by the University’s extended Researcher Development Team: Research and Knowledge Exchange Services, HR, the Centre for Academic Practice and Learning Enhancement (CAPLE), and the Careers Service. This event was aimed at all Strathclyde research staff and provided opportunities for sharing thoughts and concerns, finding out about institutional and national developments, as well as networking with other members of the research community.