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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.

Developing research funding applications is a multi-stage process including; refining the question and methods, finding collaborators, identifying appropriate funding sources, knowing what makes a successful application and who to get advice from, costing the bid and writing the application form. This project seeks to address some of these stages. The specific objectives are: 1. To create a series of short video clips/ audio recordings featuring staff from Department of Health Sciences, covering: • Features of successful applications. These will spotlight on senior staff who are panel members for some of the major health research funding bodies. • Staff experiences of applying for external funding. These will contain reflections of staff who have applied for research funding, both successful and unsuccessful. These resources will be stored on the Health Sciences Staff Intranet (on a web page dedicated to the project) with links from both research and teaching related pages. An online survey will give people who access the resource an opportunity to feedback their views on its usefulness. 2. To establish a Learning Set of early to mid career research staff to facilitate the development of skills in writing research funding applications. Early to mid career researchers will present research ideas to the learning set for discussion or commenting on applications in progress. The group would meet once a month and maintain an email list of members that could be contacted for advice when needed. The project team will be supported by two senior members of staff (Karen Bloor and Karen Spilsbury) and has been approved by Head of Department (Professor Christine Godfrey) and Chair of Departmental Research Committee (Professor Nicky Cullum).

The Social Media sessions demonstrated a successful integration of a student-led initiative within a formal graduate training provision. The initiative underlined the importance of engaging PhD students in their own learning and training needs, in both sharing expertise with peers and in contributing to their own professional development. In doing so, it demonstrated to other postgraduate researchers how they might utilise their own areas of expertise to develop further student-led initiatives.

The Jubilee Graduate Centre (JGC) has been exclusively developed for postgraduate students and early career researchers. It works closely with Schools on the Jubilee Campus to develop Faculty-specific training and careers events for PGRs/ECRs focusing on transferable skills, and which reflect the requirements of the Funding Councils.

This is an annual day-long event for PhD students in the College of Science & Engineering. It consists of presentations by successful professionals in the discipline areas of the college and workshops on key employability issues such as "how to get a job" and "how to win research grants". Presenters are often University of Leicester alumni. Presentations are built around a clear brief focussing on opportunities and tips for aspiring professionals. The event incorporates a carefully structured networking lunch where PhD students meet the presenters to discuss career and employability issues, current trends in the professional areas and so on. The events also include exhibitions from research councils, recruitment companies and those providing development opportunities for PhD researchers in parallel with their studies.

This is an annual day-long event for PhD students in the College of Medicine, Biological Sciences & Psychology. It consists of presentations by successful professionals in the discipline areas of the college and workshops on key employability issues such as "how to get a job" and "how to win research grants". Presenters are often University of Leicester alumni. Presentations are built around a clear brief focussing on opportunities and tips for aspiring professionals. The event incorporates a carefully structured networking lunch where PhD students meet the presenters to discuss career and employability issues, current trends in the professional areas and so on. The events also include exhibitions from research councils, recruitment companies and those providing development opportunities for PhD researchers in parallel with their studies.

Major survey of employers, carried out in partnership with VITAE, designed to elicit information about how employers understand, target and interact with the research workforce

Training needs handbook and log for research postgraduates – combining guidance on training needs analysis, space for planning and reviewing personal and professional development and provides examples of training and development activities.

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.