Training - Research Staff

UCLan awarded prestigious European HR Excellence in Research Award

The award acknowledges our alignement to the Eurpean Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for their recruiment. The UK process incorporates both the QAA Code of Practice for Research Degree Programmes and the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers , to enable institutions that have published Concordat implementation plans to gain the award. The process involves the national evaluation and benchmarking of these plans. Currently there are only 38 universities who have this award.

Supporting the Career Development of Researchers

UCLan is firmly committed to supporting and implementing the Priniciples of The Concordat, which has been designed to support the career development of Researchers and sets out the expectations and responsibilities of researchers, their managers, employers and funders.  The Concordat aims to increase the attractiveness and sustainability of research careers in the UK and to improve the quantity, quality and impact of research for the benefit of UK society and the economy.

By complying with the requirements of The Concordat, UCLan will ensure it’s researchers are nurtured and supported during their career development. By setting out clear expectations for researchers, research managers, research institutions, and funders of research, UCLan aims to enhance and sustain research excellence at UCLan, thereby contributing to the health, economy and well being of the nation. 

In support of the Concordat, the University created a Concordat Implementation Group (CIG) who supported by terms of reference conducted a review of all our polices and practices against the seven principles.  The initial bench-marking process identified both strengths, which are in the majority, and some areas needing further development and a two year action plan has been agreed by the CIG to address these.

UCLan’s Personal Development Framework for Research

The University’s Research Strategy addresses the research ambitions and aspirations of A World-Class Modern University.  At its core, the strategy is inclusive, supportive and ambitious, recognising and responding to the different challenges and opportunities in the research environment.

Above all, we aim to boost the quality, scope and capacity of our research activities; invigorating everything we do with genuine evidence-based claims to be world-class, focusing especially on the enhancement of each member of staff’s abilities.  This will be achieved by developing highly skilled researchers, promoting the value of building a research career upon a sound developmental foundation.

The development approach is based upon the Vitae's Researcher Development Framework (RDF).  Further details are available at Vitae's website.

UCLan is adopting Vitae’s RDF of the five progressive stages of career development for a researcher together with the Research Development Statement (RDS) which sets out the knowledge, behaviour and attributes of effective and highly skilled researchers appropriate fo a wide range of careers.

Please, follow the links in this page to find out more about the framework and training available to support you, and if you have any queries or suggestions, send these to Emma Sandon-Hesketh on ehesketh@uclan.ac.uk

We look forward to seeing you soon.