What those new to researcher development can expect from Vitae '09

03 September 2009

By Paul Spencer

I feel like a seasoned hack when it comes to the Vitae annual conference having attended every one since 2004. Back then I was new to my post as a researcher skills development officer and I have been reminiscing what I took away from that ahead of the #Vitae09 conference.

The first thing that you are likely to notice is the enthusiasm of attendees, even from those who have long been entrenched in the Roberts' agenda; it is invigorating to mix with others who do the same job as you albeit in a different HEI. I find myself a little isolated when in the office and often crave the opportunity to mix and network with colleagues.

This leads me onto a second aspect of the conference that is always in abundance. Ideas. Lots of them! Some people seemingly have loads of resource to put together intricate programmes yet I have found that those with the most meagre of budgets still manage to achieve something almost miraculous. The ingenuity genuinely astounds me.

I notice that for #Vitae09, they have scheduled in pre-conference workshops to cater for new arrivals to the scene, so to speak. I think this is timely, the conference has grown year on year and with a significant number of people like me who have been there, seen it and done it, there's a danger of repeating aspects from previous years without adding anything novel. 

Having said that, it is still possible to interact with colleagues, old and new, in a pretty relaxed environment. So if you are new to this area of development, attending #Vitae09 is a fast track way of getting your head around the pertinent issues that permeate the researcher skills agenda.

For the ol' timers like myself, there's some new fangled technology to get to grips with, but who said that you can't teach old dogs new tricks? I've got myself a twitter account [@paulspencer42] and have even volunteered to help out in the main plenary to send messages from a table.

I look forward to meeting and swapping ideas with some of you next week!

Paul Spencer, UWE

UWE Researcher Development webpage