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Researchers invited to comment on new professional development framework
12 November 2009
By Tennie Videler
At the research staff conference last week one of the workshops was a consultation on the new ‘Researcher development framework’ for the UK (RDF). As a researcher in higher education, you are also invited to comment on the new ‘Researcher development framework’ (RDF) for the UK.
The RDF has been developed from first principles through interviews with researchers in higher education and underpins the importance of recognising research as a profession. Focusing on your professional development can increase your status and recognition as a researcher and improve your career potential whatever you do in the future. We hope the RDF will support you to identify your experiences, skills, behaviours and personal qualities as a researcher and encourage you to aspire to excellence through achieving higher levels of development.
The team developing the RDF believe that it is essential that researchers' views continue to shape any further development of the RDF. They would like your feedback on how well the framework achieves its purpose, suggestions for how it can be improved, and comments on how you see the framework supporting your own professional development. The survey is based on the ‘Researcher development framework consultation briefing paper’ and both can be found at www.vitae.ac.uk/rdfconsultation
Please submit your response by Friday 11 December 2009.
Sarah Davies13 November 2009 at 03:06 PM
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Thanks, Tennie, for raising this - I've been meaning to mention it for a while as I think it's really important that researchers get their voices heard in these debates. I'll be commenting on it on the website - but there is one issue in particular I'd like to get other people's thoughts on. My gut response to the framework is that it looks fine - comprehensive, thought-through, and generally helpful. But surely the key issue for many researchers is not that they do not have the qualities the framework points towards - the "experiences, skills, behaviours and personal qualities" of excellence - but that there are too few established career paths in which to take these. The factors holding researchers back, in other words, are not about their own personal development (though obviously this can always be improved) but university and research structures. Wouldn't research development activities be better off focusing on these as well? - trying to create more fellowships, for example, or permanent posts that aren't teaching positions. I'd love to know what you think...
Neil Walford23 November 2009 at 04:02 PM
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Sarah raises a good point re 'these are the skills needed... to do what? Think Vitae are undertaking some work on what work Post Docs go on to do- data as to actual career paths and this should be really useful. Once people are better informed as to the possibilties, what roles their peers actually go into, then this will better help them plan their careers. Many external roles have a relatively simple one or two page job description / person specification which might be more relevant for researchers to focus on, than 20+ pages on what it takes to make it as a researcher (especially when in some organisations the key thing they really need to focus on is publishing good papers - do this well and apparently many sins are forgiven :)