Coaching has benefits to both researcher developers and to researchers. The power of coaching lies in the opportunity it affords to work across a range of levels, from specific skills development, to focusing on key areas of performance, to more generalised development of the researcher. It can therefore add value as part of an institution's overall provision for researcher development.
Vitae has launched a new web section showing how coaching techniques could be used to enable researchers to be more productive, motivated and confident, and to enhance their research and overall research experience. It also gives examples of how to set up a coaching programme within an institution and how you might address evaluation.
Both this new section of the Vitae website and Vitae’s recent report ‘Coaching for research in UK higher education institutions’ are a result of Vitae Connections 2010 where an e-community of staff supporting researchers formed a collaborative special interest group focusing on coaching in researcher development. Both the web section and the report highlight how coaching has the potential to enhance the doctoral and researcher experience, benefiting the economy, delivery of high quality and high impact research, employability, health and well-being, and retention of researchers.
www.vitae.ac.uk/coaching