Vitae, reflections past and future

14/12/2012
Vitae and the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers were launched together in 2008. This signalled continuation of our work with doctoral researchers under the UK GRAD Programme, and also an expansion of our activities to include research staff in higher education.

The last few years have continued to be very busy. The Vitae Researcher Development Framework was created, consulted on, finalised and is now being used in most universities. We've continued to work with institutions as the ‘Roberts' funding has become embedded. Over 60 UK organisations have achieved the HR Excellence in Research Award.

Internationally, there has been much more interest in researcher development. Innovation Union prioritised researcher capabilities in Europe, the US Council of Graduate Schools published its ‘Pathways through Graduate Schools and into Careers' report and initiatives across the globe have focused on the role of researchers in economic growth and solving societal and environmental challenges.

As we look forward to the new year, the UK HE funding bodies will join RCUK in supporting Vitae. We will continue to work with you to enhance the professional and career development for doctoral researchers and research staff and extend the progress we've collectively made over the last few years.

During 2013, we will:

  • run the Vitae Policy Forum on 30-31 January in Birmingham, the Vitae conference on 4-5 September in Manchester and the Research Staff conference in autumn
  • continue to support local networks through our regional Hubs and managing our newsletters centrally to ensure that our regional contacts get the latest Vitae news
  • focus on implementation of the Concordat and the HR Excellence in Research Award process, including the Every Researcher Counts project
  • embed professional development for doctoral researchers
  • run a range of courses for researchers; details and costs will be added to the website as soon as they are available
  • redesigning the Vitae website, including enabling you to continue to access Vitae publications and resources online; from the summer 2013 hard copies of certain publications will be available for a small charge
  • running a series of one-day events for researchers interested in enterprise, entrepreneurship and impact in February and March funded by BIS, details will be available on the website
  • supporting the RDF Planner, including evaluating the pilot phase and working with the European Commission to move forward on a European version of the RDF

As ever, we'd like to thank everyone for all your input and contributions and we look forward to working with you next year.

Enjoy the holidays!

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