Key messages included:

• The importance of establishing mutually agreed structures and roles early on in the doctorate
• The value of attending to emotional issues around the development of the researcher and their project
• The value that introducing a third party (with focus on emotional development) into supervisory relationships can bring.

Key messages that emerged from the workshop were:

• Legislative developments in the area of fixed-term contracts have increasingly been picked up and reflected in the development of policy such as the Concordat
• Most UK HEIs now have a thought through policy response to these changes in fixed term contract legislation.
• The kinds of responses that HEIs have develop vary considerably in both the nature of practice and in the way that they are presented.
• Liz is currently undertaking a research project (funded by Vitae) to continue to explore these issues through case studies of a number of HEIs that represent different kinds of policy response.

I think one of the most interesting things that emerged for me is whether FTCs remain as important for research staff given some of these changes. It may be that the issue of FTC or open-ended contract is becoming less important than the type of contract that researchers are working to. 

I've been really focused on the amplification aspect of the conference, but there is actually a lot of content that I'm really excited about to. Particularly interesting for me will be sessions on fixed term contracts, the Concordat, CROS and some of the sessions about the use of learning technologies in researcher development. But, #vitae09 is so extensive this year that there is surely something for everyone. What are other people looking forward to?

Right off to set up for my pre-conference workshop on twitter. Follow me and join in with the discussions.

The resource is a set of films, produced in collaboration with icould.com (also managed by CRAC) which profile the stories of 21 people, giving their take on how completing their doctorate and the skills they learnt from doing research have helped them in their careers so far. They talk about the added value of having a research background and how they are using the skills they learnt whilst doing their research in their roles today.

Around the exhibition area at the conference will be some ‘icould pods’, you shouldn’t be able to miss them, where you can view the films by going to: www.vitae.ac.uk/careerstoriesonfilm jen.reynolds@vitae.ac.uk

You can also visit icould.com a free, inspirational resource, offering an insight into real career stories told by real people, containing around 1,000 stories accessible to the user, on film, online. These stories are wide ranging, covering a whole spectrum of experiences, occupations and career and education pathways across all sectors of work, told by a wide variety of people from all kinds of backgrounds. Its purpose is to inspire young people to think differently about their futures, by giving them a vivid insight into the working lives of real people in real jobs.

Happy viewing!

Jen

I chair a session on 9 september where I'm joined by a panel of distinguished speakers to consider the future of doctoral education.  The doctorate has come a long way since its origins in the 9th century  when it provided a "license to teach and issue legal opinions"- what does it mean today and what should/will it look like ten years from now?

Let me know if there are any questions you'd like me to put to our panel and/or give me your views so that I may put them forward to the plenary session (sorry, just seen that it's called a "half-plenary"- I don't know what this means but I promise we won't give you 50% value!)

Jeffrey Defries

I've managed to occasionally Tweet on the move from my phone - just browsed to the mobile Twitter website and tweeted from there. Luckily I'd sussed out that some mobile carriers (like mine) charge you international rates to send your tweet by SMS (might be worth telling others before horrified new Tweeters start sending their mobile phone bills to Vitae...).

However, if I want to send tweets and also keep track of searches (ie keep up with the #vitae09 conversation) what do those of you who are Twitter-savvy recommend as an application for a non i-Phone?

Alternatively, I might bring my new work netbook (promised for Monday!) but that means lugging it round all day.

Or will there be giant screens with the #vitae09 conversation displayed for all to read, 24:7? Or will we be microchipped (like cats) at registration and the data beamed directly into our consciousness? I think we should be told.

Or I could just put away all the toys after the opening plenary, and have lots of good old-fashioned face-to-face chats with all those friends I only meet once a year at the Vitae conference.

And grow it has.

But this year feels different. The #Vitae09 conference is now a large and established event. The staff in universities, research institutes, training companies and other organisations are part of a committed and vibrant community. But despite a quickly changing policy landscape over the last few years, never before has the future seemed so uncertain.

For me, the essence of what the conference is about this year, is resilience. Since that first conference in 2002 many, many people have developed programmes, written strategies, run courses, surveyed views of researchers, shared ideas and cajoaled colleagues, friends, family into getting involved. The aim - to enable researchers to be as effective and accomplished as they can be - in their research, but also in their lives and careers. Now we are starting to see the impact of our work. Tony Bromley's report 'the Rugby Team Impact Framework: a year on', which will be launched on Tuesday and was featured in Times Higher this week demonstrates that the professional development opportunities for researchers provided by universities are improving research.

That's pretty big news!

And I think it does leave us poised for the future. The political landscape will change for sure: the next Vitae conference will be after a general election. At this time we can only forecast, vision, anticipate and plan our way towards that future. But, as ever, the collective input from everyone at the conference next week will create new thinking, new strategies and new models.

If you have thoughts, views, questions; post them here. As Paul Spencer has written, the conference is attended by old hands and those entirely new to this! Either way, whether you’ve been before or not, it will be an exciting two days!

• So you're new to developing postgraduate researchers?
• Pathways - from small beginnings
• Integrating technology into researcher training

The last workshop is my particular favourite as I'm really excited about the use of technologies (especially web 2.0) to enhance face-to-face, online and blended training. I think the potential is huge and using these technologies will help us to measure the impact of our training more easily. I've recently set up a NW Hub blog and I'm on Twitter too @vitaenwhub.

Well that's my thoughts, hope to see you at the conference peeps.

The first thing that you are likely to notice is the enthusiasm of attendees, even from those who have long been entrenched in the Roberts' agenda; it is invigorating to mix with others who do the same job as you albeit in a different HEI. I find myself a little isolated when in the office and often crave the opportunity to mix and network with colleagues.

This leads me onto a second aspect of the conference that is always in abundance. Ideas. Lots of them! Some people seemingly have loads of resource to put together intricate programmes yet I have found that those with the most meagre of budgets still manage to achieve something almost miraculous. The ingenuity genuinely astounds me.

I notice that for #Vitae09, they have scheduled in pre-conference workshops to cater for new arrivals to the scene, so to speak. I think this is timely, the conference has grown year on year and with a significant number of people like me who have been there, seen it and done it, there's a danger of repeating aspects from previous years without adding anything novel. 

Having said that, it is still possible to interact with colleagues, old and new, in a pretty relaxed environment. So if you are new to this area of development, attending #Vitae09 is a fast track way of getting your head around the pertinent issues that permeate the researcher skills agenda.

For the ol' timers like myself, there's some new fangled technology to get to grips with, but who said that you can't teach old dogs new tricks? I've got myself a twitter account [@paulspencer42] and have even volunteered to help out in the main plenary to send messages from a table.

I look forward to meeting and swapping ideas with some of you next week!

Paul Spencer, UWE

UWE Researcher Development webpage

Firstly I’d like to try and rescue Twitter from being pigeonholed as a tech-geek thing. Twitter is about the simplest bit of technology you will ever have to use. Vitae provides lots of links to how and why to use Twitter from the conference online discussions page. But, if you can type into a box and read from a screen, you can use Twitter.

Why I love Twitter is basically the same reason that I first fell in love with Vitae (or UK GRAD as we used to call it) back in the days before I used to work for the organisation. Both offer me a group of people to talk to, to learn from and to shout about the things that I've done to. When I went to my first UK GRAD conference I realised that I was in a room with hundreds of people who all cared about the same things as me, who were all trying similar things to me (so I could steal ideas off of them) and who could give me useful feedback on the things that I was doing. It was great, but conferences ended and I went back to my HEI and tried to maintain my enthusiasm. I was sustained by Hub steering group meetings and good practice events, but day to day I was on my own.

However, with Twitter you can tap into the network of like minds whenever you want. You can share ideas, swap tips, moan, debate and gossip for a little bit every day – it is like a conference that never ends. But, thankfully it is also like a conference that you can turn off or ignore when you are too busy. This is why I’ve tuned into Twitter and why it has been invaluable for my work since I found it. 

However Twitter only works if you’ve got someone to talk to. So I thought I’d point out some of the researcher development movers and shakers to follow. If you want to get started on Twitter follow these people and you should get a steady stream of useful information. If you want more have a look at who these people are following and then follow them.

1. Vitae_news: Usually this is the Vitae newsbot, picking up things from our website and posting them on Twitter. However, during conference it will acquire a personality and be posting news and announcements.
2. vitaenwhub: Emma, Hub manager of the Vitae NW Hub will also be at the conference and will hopefully be twittering from time to time.
3. Timeshighered: A lively Twitter stream from the Vitae conference's media partner the Times Higher.
4. AminderKNijjar: Careers blogger and twitterer Aminder will be attending the Vitae conference.
5. victoriawilby: Vicky is the Vitae web manager and will be keeping an eye on all things amplified during the conference.
6. research_inform: Sarah from the Research Information Network will also be twittering from the Vitae conference.
7. duncanmann: Senior manager at Vitae and leading on this conference Duncan will be twittering when he gets the chance.
8.  Vitae_SE_Hub: Vitae South East Hub manager Ross is a regular twitter and will be attending the conference.
9. ManPGCareers: This is the twitter feed associated with the  Manchester PG Careers Blog. Well worth following.
10. SalfordPGRs: A very useful feed of all things PGR training related from Salford.
11. research_uk:  The official twitterfeed from RCUK.

Oh, and of course, you can always follow me, did I mention I'm a twitteraholic?

This list isn't meant to be definitive, it is just a start. If you are also planning to twitter at the conference let everyone know by using the comments on this article - or even better, write a blog post explaining why you are planning to tweet at #vitae09.

With four plenary sessions, more than 50 workshops, plus the exhibition stands, fringe sessions and practice sharing activities, there is a huge amount to digest and discuss in our two days in Warwick.  This blog is your opportunity to start the discussions early, and keep them going right through the conference and beyond.  To post your own entry or make comments, you just need to be logged in to the site.  Whether you are speaking or exhibiting at the conference, coming as a participant or even if you can't make it this year please add your views to the blog!

So, I've been asked to kick things off by picking out my personal highlights from the programme. With such a packed programme it is difficult but here are a few of the things I am particularly excited about:

The update from the Researcher development framework project (through workshops and the exhibition) is a first chance to see progress and give initial feedback on a framework that has the potential to have a big impact on every conference participant - definitely not to be missed!

With 100 different organisations proposing 190 different projects, the first round of funding though Vitae innovate has clearly captured a lot of people's imaginations - Professor John Wood's announcement of the funded projects on Tuesday evening will be a must see

Finally, a year on from the publication of the Rugby Team Impact Framework, I'm really looking forward to seeing the new report on what evaluation activities are happening across researcher training and development.

So that's what I'm most looking forward to - but what about you?  What are you making your must-see parts of the conference?  Are there workshops you couldn't bear to miss, speakers you can't wait to hear from or maybe there's a fringe session that's going to change your life?