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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.

Official pre-launch of the International Year of Chemistry 2011. An event held in Grand Central Hotel in Glasgow on January 18^th brought together women chemists from 37 countries using modern communication tools; each country/region will arrange its own event(s) and individual breakfasts will be linked together by SKYPE/video, and by using Twitter.  In addition to networking, the aim is to celebrate the pivotal role of Marie Curie in chemistry, and to reflect on the current landscape for women chemists. 

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.

Participants in this programme are drawn from projects funded by Strathclyde University’s EPSRC Knowledge Transfer Account and other cognate projects. The programme runs over three consecutive days and includes two three-hour sessions each day. The sessions are presented by staff engaged in research in the broad area of management studies, focussing on different features of knowledge exchange and innovation. 

This initiative, which seeks to develop potential future research leaders by allowing individuals to gain experience supporting the development of others, is considered an effective way of achieving long term impact and sustainability from investment in researcher development. Derived from existing good practice and responding to feedback from the researcher community, it involves early career researchers being seconded to work in multidisciplinary liaison across the researcher community to develop appropriate training and ensure that the Researcher Development Programme meets the needs of individual researchers.