Vitae Membership Commences 1 January 2015
What does this mean for you?
Website Access
Many areas of the Vitae website will prompt users to log in with their institutional email address. If you have already created a login and password on the new website, they will continue to function. If your institution has not yet joined Vitae and you attempt to access a restricted area, you will receive a message stating the content is for members only. The up-to-date list of Vitae member institutions is available here.
Regional Meetings for Vitae Members
We are finalising the details for our first annual regional membership meetings. The purpose of the meeting is to:
- explore the strategic priorities of higher education institutions
- provide updates from Vitae on international and national developments and key projects
- offer an opportunity to share practice
Vitae will use the input from the regional meetings to shape our focus and activities for the following academic year (2015/16) to meet our members’ needs and priorities.
The regional meetings will be held as follows:
- East of England: 6 March at University of East Anglia
- Scotland and Northern Ireland: 12 March at Stirling University
- Yorkshire and North East: 18 March at Sheffield Hallam University
- South West and Wales: 20 March at Bath University
- South East: 23 March at Southampton University
- London: date TBC at St. George’s, University of London
- Midlands: TBC
- North West: date TBC at University of Central Lancashire
Each institution may send two senior-level representatives. In addition, at each regional meeting there will be space for up to ten researcher developers or other interested individuals to attend. Further information and booking instructions will be sent to members and available on the website shortly.
Elections for Vitae Regional Representatives
In January, each institution will have the opportunity to vote for their region’s representative. Information about the nominees and the election process will be sent to each institution’s named membership contacts in the New Year.
Vitae Online Community
Vitae Community will be the place for members to share practice, ask and answer questions, and support and get support from your colleagues in researcher development. Based on Ning, the online groups will be launched at the end of January and members will be encouraged to actively participate, contribute and create their own discussion threads on all topics related to researcher development. Some of the themes we will be discussing include: best practice in professional development, CROS/PIRLS and HR Excellence. Watch for more information in January!
Vitae RDF Development Cards – New Year’s Sale!
We are offering a New Year’s discount of 15% off the Vitae RDF Development cards to member institutions. Each pack is just £60 plus VAT and postage for all members if you book before the end of January 2015.
The Vitae RDF Development Cards have been designed to support researchers with identifying their skills and planning their professional development. The cards can help you to work with the Vitae RDF to enhance researchers' development in an enjoyable, structured and personalised way. Order your packs online today.
Encourage your researchers to register on the website
The Vitae website has a wealth of resources for researchers, much of which can be accessed only be registering on the website. Here is some sample text that can be adapted to encourage researchers at your institution to register.
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The [institution name] is now a member of Vitae, an organisation dedicated to the professional and career development of researchers. The Vitae website has a wealth of resources and advice designed specifically for researchers, whether your ambition is to stay within or move outside academia, including:
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CROS and PIRLS
From 2015, participation in the Careers in Research Online Survey (CROS) and Principal Investigators and Research Leaders Survey (PIRLS) will be a benefit available to Vitae members. The next wave of these surveys will take place from 1 March – 31 May 2015 hosted on the new Bristol Online Survey (BOS) system. In January, finalised question sets will be put on the Vitae website. Vitae will contact member institutions at that time with further participation instructions. Questions relating to the BOS licences may be sent to this email address. Questions relating to CROS or PIRLS should be emailed here.
