Researcher Development Statement (RDS)

Launched in July 2010, the Researcher Development Statement (RDS) is for policy makers and research organisations that provide personal, professional and career development for researchers in higher education. It sets out the knowledge, behaviours and attributes of effective and highly skilled researchers appropriate for a wide range of careers.

The Researcher Development Statement is derived from the Researcher Development Framework (RDF), a major new approach to researcher development, which aims to enhance our capacity to build the UK workforce, develop world-class researchers and build our research base. Researchers are critical to economic success, addressing major global challenges, and building a leading knowledge economy.

The RDS will contribute to researcher training and development in the UK by providing a strategic statement to support the implementation of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, the QAA Code of practice for research degree programmes and the ‘Roberts' recommendations for postgraduate researchers and research staff.

The RDS is an evolution of the Joint Skills Statement (JSS) which was jointly issued by the UK Research Councils in 2001. It updates the JSS and extends researcher development beyond the doctoral experience. All the skills and attributes of the JSS have been incorporated into the RDS, which will replace the JSS as the key reference for the development of researchers' skills and attributes

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