The election purdah affects communications from Vitae, including communications related to the new researcher development framework (RDF). Once the new government is formed we will:
- launch an analysis of the researcher development framework consultation
- provide a revised summary of the researcher development framework for those institutions who are keen to incorporate the high-level framework into their strategic planning
- publish a timeline for further project developments.
We look forward to resuming full communication after the new government is formed.
Restrictions on Vitae activities during purdah
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This ongoing project aims to create a framework which will be a tool for planning, promoting and supporting the personal, professional and career development of researchers. It will describe knowledge, skills, behaviours and personal qualities acquired by researchers and will encourage researchers to aspire to excellence through development to a high level.
The proposed framework is an evolution of the 2001 Joint Skills Statement (JSS); whilst the JSS took a snapshot of the skills we would expect a researcher to have acquired by the end of a doctoral degree, the researcher development framework covers a longer period of the research career and broadens the range of descriptors to include skills, knowledge, behaviours, qualities and attitudes.
The intention is that the framework will be aspirational yet realistic, offering descriptors of good researchers and identifying how an individual might progress to the next level in a given area. The framework acknowledges that all researchers will be at different positions in terms of their current development, activities and aspirations so may be selective in how and why they use it.
An initial outline framework has been built from empirical data collected through interviewing researchers to identify the characteristics of good and excellent researchers. Insights from a review of literature on comparable frameworks have also been used in shaping this initial outline.
The initial outline framework is structured around four comprehensive domains containing 'descriptors' and associated 'sub-descriptors', with five levels of development for each.
The final framework will describe a good researcher at a given level of development for any particular descriptor, and will encourage researchers to aspire to excellence through achieving higher levels of development.
The project is funded and project-managed by Vitae and builds upon initial work by the Rugby Team and two precursor projects at the University of Manchester and Glasgow Caledonian University.