Consultation

A major consultation with the HE sector, researchers and other stakeholders took place during autumn, 2009. We received, in total, 242 responses. 72 researchers responded to the researcher survey. There were 151 responses to the main survey and and 19 non-proforma responses. Of these, 87 were on behalf of organisations (65 HEIs) and 74 were from individuals working in institutions or related organisations.

The 'Researcher development framework: summary of the analysis of consultation responses' presents the results of the consultation, subsequent actions and next steps.

Consultation process 

The consultation opened in the beginning of November 2009 and sought views on the proposed new Researcher development framework for researchers in the UK.  Anyone could respond to the consultation, but we were particularly keen to receive responses from: 

• Researchers: anyone conducting research in a UK higher education institution (university or research institute) whether or not this is their primary role
• Supervisors, Principal Investigators and managers of researchers within HE
• Higher education institutions (HEIs)
• Other staff in HEIs including senior managers, trainers, developers, HR and careers advisors        
• Employers who currently or potentially will recruit researchers from UK HEIs
• Individuals considering becoming a postgraduate researcher or research staff member
• Organisations with an interest in developing researchers

The consultation allowed people to comment on any or all of the following aspects of the framework:

• as a national framework for researcher development
• meeting the development needs of individual researchers and the needs of organisations which support them
• the current and future skill needs of researchers

Before responding to the consultation we invited people to read the 'Researcher development framework consultation briefing paper'. 

Responses were made through an 'Online response form' or using a 'Consultation proforma', which could be downloaded and submitted to rdf@vitae.ac.uk. Researchers could choose to respond to the full consultation or to a survey specifically designed for individual researchers.

The deadline for responses was Friday 11 December 2009.

Consultation documents

Consultation briefing paper

Researcher development framework consultation briefing paper (pdf)

Full consultation response form

Online response form (full) | Consultation proforma (MS Word)

Consultation response form for individual researchers

Online response form (individual researchers) | Researcher consultation proforma (MS Word)

Consultation Researcher development framework

Researcher development framework (draft version for consultation)