Getting to Grips: Vitae Connections

Event preview

Vitae's annual professional development event for anyone who has recently taken on responsibility for supporting researchers in their professional development, whether as a full-time role or as a part-time activity.

All presenters/ facilitators were excellent, informative and engaging - just what this type of event needs. 2015 participant

Developing researchers can be hugely rewarding but often challenging. This introductory event will help you to 'get to grips' with your new role and

• navigate the researcher development landscape, seeing it from institutional, national and international perspectives
• gain insights into how to add value in your role, create impact and effectively engage researchers in their professional development
• concentrate on your own professional development, with opportunities to shape the programme on the day through open space and interactive sessions
• meet other professionals who support researchers in this way.

About you

We expect participants to come from a range of roles within the institution, including those who dedicate just a portion of their time to researcher development. For example, the event will be relevant to academics, senior managers, human resources professionals, teaching and learning professionals, and staff from research offices, careers services and libraries, as well as researcher development professionals.

We welcome participants from anywhere in the world who have a new role (less than 18 months’ experience) in supporting the professional development of researchers. For example, you might support researchers' through:

• Training and development
• Research administration
• Research supervision
• Staff development
• Doctoral Training Partnerships or Centres
• Graduate Schools
• Careers services
• Research and enterprise offices.

The opportunity to network and hear about other universities was valuable. 2016 participant

Vitae Connections

The ‘Vitae Connections’ series of events is designed to provide insights, tools and tactics to make you more effective in a researcher development role and to support the continuing professional development of staff supporting researchers.

Vitae CPD certification is available for this event and would provide appropriate evidence against the Careers Framework for Researcher Developers (CFRD), for example, in ‘Training and Development’, ‘Planning and Strategy’ and ‘Underpinning Knowledge’.