Vitae News: June 2022

Welcome

Welcome to the June edition of the Vitae News. As we start to ramp up plans in readiness for the Vitae International Researcher Development Conference 2022, we have made this month’s edition a ‘conference special’. We also bring you other Vitae and sector updates.

Speakers announced

We are delighted to announce our first keynote speakers for the conference:

David Sweeney, Executive Chair of Research England, UK Research and Innovation
Professor Rachael Gooberman-Hill, Co-Chair of UK Committee on Research Integrity (UKCORI)
Professor Linda Lua, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Director of Researcher Development, University of Queensland, Australia

We very much look forward to hearing their policy perspectives and forecasts for researcher development.

Programme

Check out our conference programme for more additions as we draw closer to both the online and face-to-face elements of the conference. We hope to see many of you at the in person segment taking place on the afternoon of Monday 26 September 2022 and morning of Tuesday 27 September at County Hall, London, UK, but places are limited so we advise you to book soon.

Call for content update

We received a great variety of stimulating online, on demand and in person submissions during our Call for Content. Selected submissions and session topics that will feature in the programme include:

• Improving research culture for all
• Tailoring development for postdocs
• Cross-institutional mentoring
• Regional collaborations
• Wellbeing and creative flow

Look out for sessions to be announced over the next few weeks!..

Ten is Zen: Counting 10 days of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) blog

A new Vitae blog has been published following our member event ‘Ten is Zen: Counting 10 days of Continuing Professional Development (CPD)’. Follow-on sessions and conversations will be taking place on this topic at the Vitae International Researcher Development Conference 2022, bridging the conference themes of research culture and the Researcher Development Concordat implementation.
 
 

Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition

We are excited that Dr Jamie B Gallagher, award-winning science communicator and engagement professional, will be hosting the Vitae 3MT® competition this year, sponsored by Taylor & Francis.

Competing Vitae members need to submit their finalists’ video and slide, if they haven’t done so already, by WeTransfer to events@vitae.ac.uk by the end of the day on Friday 1 July 2022 and complete the details about their winner using the form below.
 
Voting for the People’s Choice Winner 2022 will be open access to all, including researchers, and will take place on Thursday 15 September.

Developing and sustaining effective researcher networks – toolbox, panel discussion and blog

Vitae’s Researcher Networks working group has been  gathering examples from the community to create a toolbox including examples of good practice to help nurture and sustain researcher networks. 

The toolbox will be published in Autumn 2022 and there will be an open access panel, made up of representatives who submitted case study examples, to discuss the resource on Thursday 15 September. Anyone involved in the development of researchers is invited to join the discussion and we especially welcome researchers at the online event. This will take place as part of the Vitae International Researcher Development Conference 2022 programme, and we are excited to make it open access so that we can welcome participants from beyond the conference audience to enable a broader discussion.

Dr Angela Midgley, Research Staff Developer, University of Liverpool has written a blog providing more information about the toolkit.

Together tackling the under-representation of early career Black scientists in the UK

With support from the Elsevier Foundation, Vitae is excited to be working on a new project, ‘Together tackling the under-representation of early career Black scientists in the UK’. This work aims to establish the right priorities for support to enhance the progression of Black early career researchers, through identifying effective practice and interventions.  

If you are interested in being involved in this project or have ideas around initiatives and would like to find out more, please register your interest and we will keep you updated as more announcements are made.

Research Culture and Practice Forum 2022

Universities UK will be hosting the Research Culture and Practice Forum on Tuesday 5 July. The event is open to all those with research-related roles, especially those who have a stake in the Researcher Development Concordat and/or the Research Integrity Concordat.

Professional development opportunity 

Emerald Publishing is inviting applications for the position of editor for the journal Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education.
 
Applications should be sent to Danielle Crow (dcrow@emerald.com) and Karri Holley (kaholley@ua.edu) by the deadline of 30 September 2022 for a start date in January 2023.