Vitae commissioned an independent review, by Oxford Research & Policy, of key national and international stakeholders with an interest in, or responsibility for, researcher development. 55 semi-structured interviews were conducted, equally divided between international and UK stakeholders. Most interviewees were in leadership/senior positions.
Stakeholders were asked their views on:
- their impressions of Vitae, what it does and the value of its work
- Vitae's role in raising the profile of the issues and challenges relating to researcher development
- Vitae's impact outside the UK (for international stakeholders)
- the value of some of Vitae's activities and resources (for UK stakeholders).
A key outcome from the review was that Vitae has a positive and transformational impact on the researcher development agenda. In particular, international stakeholders believe that the UK is benefiting from a reputation for being world-leading in providing professional and career development for researchers, both in attracting researchers to the UK and benefiting from better trained, more innovative researchers.
‘Vitae is an unique and valuable organisation whose work has placed the UK into a leadership position in the area of researcher development'.
Stakeholders' views of the impact of Vitae, 2010
All stakeholders felt that developing researchers and encouraging them to think more about careers was important, particularly in times of economic pressure.
There continues to be a significant role for Vitae in supporting, driving and embedding cultural change in HEIs. Furthermore there is still an ongoing coordinating role for a national organisation beyond embedding culture change.
The report contains recommendations based on the feedback from stakeholders around three main areas:
- the importance of Vitae's role in ensuring and promoting that the UK is world leading in researcher development
- evidencing and communicating the value and impact of researcher development and Vitae to demonstrate the excellence of UK provision
- opportunities for Vitae to extend its reach, activities and funding through working more closely with other UK groups and beyond the UK.