Call for content

The workshop submission date has now passed but you can still submit a special interest session - deadline 22 July 2016; or poster submission - deadline 22 August 2016.

Background

The established Vitae Researcher Development International Conference, now in its sixteenth year, is the largest dedicated conference bringing together all those with a strategic and operational professional role in developing researchers across the world. The annual conference in 2016 will bring together over 300 UK and international participants for a two-day programme of networking and discussion about policy, strategy, learning and practice, inspired by a range of keynote speakers. We invite proposals for workshop sessions, special interest sessions and posters that excite, challenge and engage participants with novel approaches, innovative solutions, policy and practice approaches, and research into the impact of researcher development.

Discounted participant rates are available for successful contributors - see below.  

The conference will broadly address the strategic and practical implications of the following themes:

• policy developments relating to doctoral education and the effective talent management of researchers
• enhancing institutional capacity to provide innovative professional development to maintain research excellence
• being at the forefront of researcher development to meet the future development needs of researchers for a wide range of careers
• demonstrating the value of researcher development on research outputs, researcher careers, economic prosperity and society

Workshop themes

Taking account of the conference themes, proposals should address at least one of the following areas:

• Engaging research leaders, principal investigators and supervisors to transform professional development of researchers and embed professional development in the research environment
• Developing a pipeline of research talent, including widening participation, strategies to attract and retain research talent, and approaches to mainstreaming equality and diversity for researchers in the research environment
• Leadership development of early career researchers including researchers’ as leaders in different disciplines 
• Evaluation and impact studies of researchers’ careers to further our understanding and knowledge of the researcher career landscape in UK and internationally
• New and successful ways of supporting researchers’ mobility including international, inter-sectoral, interdisciplinary and virtual mobility
• Researcher development within structured doctoral programmes, including perspectives on doctoral training centres/ partnerships, Innovative Training Networks (ITNs) and other cohort based models; including European and international collaborations and organisational benefits and challenges in managing diverse researchers’ experiences
• Researcher development across boundaries including international collaborations, inter-cultural competences, international researchers’ experiences, business/industry collaborations and engaging society through open research.

Workshops 

Workshops proposals must:

• Demonstrate planned, structured, interactive sessions
• Provide a short clearly written abstract (maximum length 50 words) that will be used in conference publications
• Clearly state aims and intended learning outcomes for participants
• Show how the workshop addresses one or more area of policy or practice outlined above.

We encourage novel and creative approaches to delivering workshops, such as: world cafés, open spaces or panel sessions. Workshops will be 55mins or 80mins. Workshops proposals that provide opportunity for in-depth analysis and discussion, or have several presenters from different organisations will be considered for 80 minute sessions. Workshops with different international perspectives on one of the themes are especially welcome.  Proposals with a commercial focus should be submitted as a special interest session, poster or  an exhibition stand.

Special interest sessions

Special interest sessions last 30 minutes and offer an opportunity to explore an area that: 

• relates to the workshop themes, but is a specialist topic of interest to only some participants
• has a flexible, exploratory structure for example of an initial or undeveloped idea or includes a commercial product
• shares emerging outcomes/ results from a project that you would like to discuss with other interested participants

Submit a special interest session

Posters - submission deadline Monday 22 August 2016

Posters can be presented on any of the workshop themes and used to showcase innovative practice or research. They should stimulate discussion, gather feedback, provide an overview or explore a theme in more detail. Posters of research into researcher development are especially welcome.

Poster presenters will be expected to attend on Monday 12 / Tuesday 13 September 2016 in order to respond to any interest or questions on their poster. Posters are limited to one poster per presenter. Poster format: Maximum size A0 (841mm by 1189 mm).

Submit a poster

Exhibition stands

A limited number of exhibition stands are available please contact events@vitae.ac.uk to find out more.

Discounted rates for presenters

• Workshop presenters are entitled to a full residential conference place at a discounted rate (33%). The reduced rate is restricted to a maximum of two workshop presenters per workshop.  If a third workshop presenter wishes to attend they will be charged the appropriate full conference rate.
• Special interest session and poster presenters are entitled to a 10% discount on the conference rate. The reduced rate is restricted to a maximum of two presenters per special interest or poster session.  If a third presenter wishes to attend the conference they will be charged the appropriate conference rate.
• these discounts cannot be combined. However, Vitae membership discounts will still apply.

Key deadlines

The deadline for proposing a workshop is 17.00 on Friday 17 June 2016 and we will let you know whether your proposal has been successful by Friday 8 July.  If successful, the information you have provided will be published for participants.

The deadline for proposing special interest sessions is 17.00 on Friday 22 July 2016. If you submit a proposal by Friday 22 July, we will let you know whether your proposal has been successful by Friday 5 August.  If successful, the information you have provided will be published for participants.

The deadline for poster submissions is 17.00 on Mon 22 August 2016. If you submit a proposal by Mon 22 August, we will let you know whether your proposal has been successful by Wed 31 August.  If successful, the information you have provided will be published for participants.

All proposals are subject to approval by the conference Advisory Board. Please complete the relevant application form to submit a proposal.