The Vitae RDF Planner for professional development

Research Development Framework Planner

The Vitae Researcher Development Framework (RDF) Planner has been developed by Vitae as an interactive, straightforward way for researchers to manage their professional development using the comprehensive Vitae Researcher Development Framework (RDF).

The Planner enables researchers to:

  • keep a record of professional development activities in one place
  •  identify expertise and capabilities to plan professional development
  • print reports for discussions with mentors, supervisors, career advisors etc.
  • identify learning and development needs and monitor progress 
  • upload files such as CVs, conference details, testimonials to record achievements.
  • view the attributes of successful researchers through a ‘lens' on employability, enterprise, leadership and more

Read the RDF Planner Evaluation report. 

How to access the RDF Planner

The RDF Planner was developed and piloted with a number of UK and international institutions and is available for institutions on subscription. If you wish to explore the RDF Planner and all its features, as an institution, with a small group of your researchers, you can trial it in for a limited period without any obligation. Please contact .

If you are a researcher and wish to explore the RDF Planner please check with your institution, in the first instance, to see if they have taken up a subscription. If your institution does not have a subscription you can take up an individual subscription.

Further subscription information can be found here. [link to relevant page]

Benefits to institutions

The Vitae RDF Planner enables your institution to:

  • underpin policies to support the professional development of researchers
  • signpost your development resources to researchers
  • encourage researchers to take charge of their professional development and increase their employability
  • monitor organisational use through a straightforward interface
  • generate reports for benchmarking and evaluation
  • improve the researcher experience
  • join a community of HE institutions to share best practice around the Planner and the internationally recognised RDF.

Benefits to researchers

The RDF Planner provides researchers with:

  • insights into a range of attributes and competencies of successful researchers
  • the opportunity to recognise, reflect upon and evidence current expertise, capabilities and achievements against career goals
  • a place to store and organise evidence of achievements, in a variety of formats
  • links to institutional and Vitae resources in one place
  • an easy way to download reports, monitor milestones and celebrate progress
  • a way to inform discussions with managers and supervisors.

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