Vitae policy forum 201006 January 2010 - 07 January 2010

Details

Programme Date/time

Thursday 07 January 2010

Start time

09.05

End time

09.20

Programme Rooms

George 1

Presenters

Prof David Gani - Deputy Principal for External Affairs and Advancement, University of Strathclyde

Info

Presentation outcomes

Prof David Gani - Deputy Principal for External Affairs and Advancement, University of Strathclyde

David set the scene by outlining the Scottish, UK and EU policy context and landmarks of the last fifteen years, illustrating the great distance travelled in the recognition of the value and needs of researchers. He contrasted the 1996 Concordat, a ‘loose identification of issues', with the high profile 2008 UK Research Concordat for the Career Development of Researchers.

The intervening years have seen: changing researcher expectations; changing responsibilities of funders and HEIs (such as legislation on fixed-term contracts); great improvements in co-ordination between UK Research Councils (eg harmonised grant terms and conditions); the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers. More recently, new drivers include the need to improve public engagement in science policy, and ethics and integrity in research to ensure user confidence.

In the 2008 Concordat we have achieved:

• a set of principles for the future support and management of research careers

• a statement of the signatories' collective expectations for support and management of researchers

• an explanation of how best to embed in institutional practice

• a guide emphasising researchers' responsibility to take control of their own career development.

All signatories are responsible for implementing and embedding the Concordat. 2009 progress against key elements of implementation included:

• UK Strategy Group: work included agreement of a ‘light touch' process for European Charter and Code institutional alignment

•  Raise awareness/increase momentum: several individual and joint HEI events across the UK

•  Promote and support HEI implementation:

·         Vitae supported the sector with best practice forums, workshops and briefing materials

·         Implementation Co-ordinator in post

·         in Scotland the Scottish Researcher Career Development Forum was established with broad representation

• Redevelopment of CROS to support the Concordat: there was good coverage of research-led institutions in CROS 2009 survey across the UK

• Ensure links to the EU Charter and Code implementation: The Funders Forum approved proposals of Strategy Group in December 2009. The HEI Strategies Survey (January 2010) includes provision for HEIs to demonstrate alignment with the EU Charter and Code

Priorities for advancement are:

• take up of European Charter and Code institutional alignment, leading to a continued high quality UK experience and attractiveness to both home/overseas researchers

• more joint HEI events, awareness raising and best practice sharing across the UK

• broader coverage of HEIs in CROS 2010 survey (particularly smaller institutions)

• full integration of training in research ethics and integrity to maintain public confidence.

The last point relates Concordat implementation to the RCUK working group on research ethics chaired by Professor Janet Finch. The Concordat should embrace this area of researcher development, Vitae profile it and support HEI training and development to ensure that any shortfall in research integrity (eg a piece of research based on poor methodology) is not due to the quality of the training the researcher has received.

Implications of research ethics training

There was concern about how issues around ethics and governance were being distinguished in the work of the Concordat Strategy Group. David Gani agreed that governance (responsibility) must remain with the employing organisation. Implementing a research ethics training protocol throughout the UK to demonstrate how the UK works to ensure ethical research was compatible with this.