Vitae researcher development conference 2008

The Vitae Researcher Development Conference 2008: realising the potential of researchers took place on 8-9 September 2008 at the Novotel London West Hotel. Download the conference report which provides an overview of the keynote presentations, workshop and conference outcomes and next steps.

Over 430 participants took part in the first Vitae conference on 8/9 September in London. This first Vitae Researcher Development Conference focussed on a new era of professional and development support for researchers in the UK. Significant and rapid changes in the global environment create both opportunities and challenges for building the skills base of UK researchers during the next five years.

From the discussions and interactions during the conference, five overarching themes emerged to inform practice and developments in the coming years:

• engaging in the wider environment
  In a global and competitive area, universities have an increasingly strategic role to play in the knowledge economy; with responsibility for, and as custodians of, knowledge for the public good. Universities need to remain focussed on the changing external drivers and avoid the risk of too much introspection.
• sustaining the development of researchers
  With potential changes in Roberts funding in the next government spending period, institutions need to be focussing on strategies for sustaining researcher development activities; demonstrating the centrality of researcher development to HE missions; and embedding activities within normal practice.
• building further evidence
  The need to demonstrate the difference researcher development is making remains a key theme; but there was an acknowledgement that real impact will only be seen in the longer term. The Concordat benchmarking process will be an opportunity to review activities relating to research staff on both an operational and strategic level.
• enhancing employability
  Discussions focused on seeing postgraduate researchers as graduates with three or four years professional experience and the importance to employers of bringing both depth and breadth of experience. Further work needs to be done around exploring career pathways and collaborations with non-HE employers
• empowering researchers
  Creating inclusion and representation through researcher-led activities was seen as having wide-ranging benefits. Areas for further focus also included exploring social enterprise and intrapreneurial skills development, and the 'planned happenstance' approach to careers support.

Workshop outcomes are available through these Vitae conference pages. For participants and workshop groups who wanted to continue discussions after the event, you will be able to post further comments, thoughts and ideas as well as any personal reflections about the conference overallon the ‘Background' , ‘Contributor's'  or 'Workshop programme' pages.

The next Vitae Conference is taking place on 8-9 September 2009 in Warwick; we hope you will join us.


The Researcher Development Conference 2008 was supported by NESTA.