Poised for the future.... #Vitae09

04 September 2009

By Ellen Pearce

It's 2002 and around 80 people are drinking coffee and making small talk in a hotel in London. They are awaiting speeches from, among others Janet Metcalfe and Sir Gareth Roberts. Following the publication of Sir Gareth Roberts' 'SET for Success' [and the Funding Councils' Improving standards in postgraduate research degree programmes] and heralding the launch of the UK GRAD Programme, this seemed like the small start of something that would grow.

And grow it has.

But this year feels different. The #Vitae09 conference is now a large and established event. The staff in universities, research institutes, training companies and other organisations are part of a committed and vibrant community. But despite a quickly changing policy landscape over the last few years, never before has the future seemed so uncertain.

For me, the essence of what the conference is about this year, is resilience. Since that first conference in 2002 many, many people have developed programmes, written strategies, run courses, surveyed views of researchers, shared ideas and cajoaled colleagues, friends, family into getting involved. The aim - to enable researchers to be as effective and accomplished as they can be - in their research, but also in their lives and careers. Now we are starting to see the impact of our work. Tony Bromley's report 'the Rugby Team Impact Framework: a year on', which will be launched on Tuesday and was featured in Times Higher this week demonstrates that the professional development opportunities for researchers provided by universities are improving research.

That's pretty big news!

And I think it does leave us poised for the future. The political landscape will change for sure: the next Vitae conference will be after a general election. At this time we can only forecast, vision, anticipate and plan our way towards that future. But, as ever, the collective input from everyone at the conference next week will create new thinking, new strategies and new models.

If you have thoughts, views, questions; post them here. As Paul Spencer has written, the conference is attended by old hands and those entirely new to this! Either way, whether you’ve been before or not, it will be an exciting two days!