A9 - 10 years on - reflections and strategies for supporting researchers

Workshop overview:

Across the UK sector universities have been identifying, implementing and evaluating interventions to try and improve the career and professional development of researchers. The external drivers and funding to support researcher development have changed significantly but across the sector there is continued commitment to providing researchers with the very possible environment in which to work, develop their skills and talent and contribute to society.

Drawing on a decade of experience at the University of York and the national data available this workshop invites participants to critically reflect on the areas in which real change and tangible differences have been made at their own institutions and to identify the key factors that led to success. In doing so we will collectively draw up a list of the interventions that have made a difference to researchers and consider the extent to which these align with our own institutional strategies and with external drivers (RCUK statement, Concordat, HR Excellence in Research) and identify what this signals about the future of researcher development.

Workshop topics covered:

• Strategic interventions for researcher development
• Evaluation of interventions
• Identification of factors that lead to success
• Alignment of RD strategies with institutional priorities and external drivers
• Recommendations for those providing, resourcing and wishing to influence researcher development in the UK and beyond

Themes covered:

• Researcher development and researcher careers evaluation and impact studies to further our understanding and knowledge of the researcher landscape

Workshop outcomes:

• Recommendations for those providing, resourcing and wishing to influence researcher development in the UK and beyond
• Greater awareness of the factors that lead to successful RD interventions

Format:

Presentation and discussion