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Recently there has been growing interest in an alternate business model, social enterprise. This is a different way of doing business that trades for a social purpose whereby the social or environmental aims of the business are of equal importance to its commercial activities. Consequently the skills required for running a successful social enterprise combine those typical of enterprise activities generally with a strong motivation and passion for social improvement. We have found that this aspect is useful in engaging researchers because at the heart of social enterprise is a strong commitment to achieving a better society, a motivation that resonates with that which typically drives the research agenda and researchers themselves. This collaborative project with Vitae has been successful in developing written and associated video materials to explore enterprise skills with early career researchers. There are plans to disseminate the resources via Vitae as part of the ongoing move to produce development resources that are freely available to HEIs as part of the research skills development agenda, this is likely to be in January 2011.

This interactive workshop explores the pros and cons of an academic career, looks at individual researcher's strengths and development needs and allows then to plan what needs to be done in order to be a strong candidate for an academic position in the future. (Uses materials first designed by Sara Shinton, Careers Consultant)

A full day conference for research staff from the 5 North East Universities with a programme aimed to help researchers reflect upon their own professional development and focus on the actions they can take to develop and manage their careers

Graduate School engagement with UCL Royal Literary Fund Fellows to provide individual tutorials and writing workshops for students

This is a brief summary of the organisational model that we have adopted in order to work more closely with Schools, Faculties and Departments and 'partner' with them in understanding and providing for the needs of their particular staff in a ‘bespoke’ way where appropriate. This positions us better to target our resource towards meeting real needs, while striving for enhanced alignment between UCL’s research strategy and individual aspirations. This new model also enables us to work more closely in partnership with other key people deployed at a Faculty or Department level, such as Research Facilitators, Research Leaders, HR Consultants, Faculty Managers etc.

Workshops are facilitated by editors of high impact journals who discuss with participants key aspects within the writing process and the aims of the journal. Brief writing exercises on papers published by participants take place during the workshop. In addition, selected published articles from the journal are being discussed highlighting relevant points of interest that inform the writing process.

Building a resource of career profiles provided by research student Alumni, to guide and inspire current research students.