Professor Paul Allain and Dr Alison Charles, with Divisional and central colleagues, will be holding a webinar on ‘Responding to the challenge of the Researcher Development Concordat at Kent’, on 15 February from 2-3pm.

As a signatory of the Researcher Development Concordat since June 2020, the University supports its principles as part of our commitment to create the very best culture for our researchers.

The session will consist of a short overview of the context, progress to date and our current plans, followed by a discussion and Q&A about how we might implement the Concordat principles, including 10 days’ professional development pro rata per year for staff who research.

Dr Alison Charles, Researcher Developer (Academic), said:

“Please join us to learn about the wide-ranging work which is being undertaken to realise the Concordat aims. This is also an opportunity to contribute to the debate about how best to implement the Concordat principles across Kent.”

All academic and research staff and professional services staff who support them are very welcome.

There is no need to book – access the Microsoft Teams link via SharePoint (Kent staff login required.)

We look forward to seeing you there.

The Graduate and Researcher College (GRC) is pleased to publish expanded information about the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, which is available via our Concordat web page and new KentNet page (Kent staff login required).

The content includes a description of each Concordat principle, which is accompanied by:

• details of recent developments
• highlights of current work
• practical information and links for each one.

Dr Alison Charles, Researcher Developer (Academic), said:

“Our newly released information about each Concordat principle is one example of the wide-ranging work, which is being undertaken to realise the aspirational aims of the Researcher Development Concordat. We trust this new content will further demonstrate how we are responding to the challenge of the Concordat at Kent.”

To learn more about the Researcher Development Concordat, including how we are interpreting it at Kent, please join our Concordat webinar on 15 February 2022, from 2-3pm. This will include a discussion and Q&A about how we might implement the Concordat principles, including 10 days’ professional development pro rata per year for staff who research. All staff interested in researcher development are welcome – access the Microsoft Teams link via SharePoint (Kent staff login required).

This new Concordat material is being supplemented by guidance to support your professional and career development, and details will be communicated to academic and research staff shortly. Please email acresdev@kent.ac.uk with any queries in the meantime.

Are you a Postdoctoral Research Associate (PDRA), Research Assistant (RA) or Research Associate interested in developing your project and people management skills? Did you know you can apply to run your own independent project and win funding worth up to £2500 to work with an undergraduate intern for 4-7 weeks on your research?

The Summer Vacation Research Competition will run for the fifth time in 2022 with funding available for 9 different summer vacation research projects, each of which could be associated with a particular Division and/or Signature Research Theme.

The competition models grant writing and application processes, allowing you to design an independent research project, gain a mentor, receive training and be involved with shortlisting, interviewing and managing a RA, project and budget.

Feedback from postdoc participants is extremely positive with one commenting: “This experience has been invaluable and has made a massive contribution to my development as an early career researcher. I feel more confident in writing funding applications, recruitment, supervision, and leading research independently.” Learn more about the competition and hear from other winners by viewing the recording of our recent ‘Valuing, supporting and developing our postdocs’ event – please access the link via SharePoint (Kent staff login required) and scroll down – the SVRC element begins at 00:25.

Reflecting on the benefits of participation, Dr Jennifer Leigh, the event’s co-founder with Dr Helen Leech, said:

“The positive impact on successful applicants is self-evident and can include increased productivity and outputs, non-research skills acquisition and kick-started career planning. One PDRA told us “I got more work done on this project in 6 weeks than I would have done in a year of working in my own time” and many others have credited the competition with the opportunity, practice and support to make successful applications for funding and fellowships, and to apply for permanent roles.”

Details of how to apply, including the application form, are available via SharePoint (Kent staff login required). The closing date for applications is 11 February 2022.

An informal virtual Q&A session about the competition will take place on 03 February, 2022 from 1-2pm (further details in this blogpost) or please email svrc@kent.ac.uk with any queries in the meantime.

Good luck with your application!

The Graduate and Researcher College (GRC) and the Researcher Development Advisory Group (RDAG) are pleased to publish the University’s submission for the Eight Year HR Excellence in Research Award (HRER) external Review.

The submission:

• reports on progress to support researchers since the HRER Six Year Review was published in November 2019
• reviews progress in relation to specific actions in a comprehensive Backwards Action Plan (2019-2021)
• sets out Kent’s agenda for researcher development in an ambitious Forwards Action Plan (2021-2023).

Dr Alison Charles, Researcher Developer (Academic), said:

“Thank you so much to all academic, research and professional services colleagues who provided feedback on progress to date, helped shape our plans and/or examined draft documents. We are also grateful to Vitae for reviewing initial documentation and providing constructive feedback which encouraged us to streamline our submission to make it more readable by researchers.”

Further strengthening the support available to all Kent staff who research is a collective effort by numerous colleagues in Divisional and central teams who are working hard to implement a range of core actions which will have a measurable impact on researchers in the coming two years. Please help us in our endeavours by responding to future requests for feedback, including short surveys, and following our progress as we update you on this valuable work.

For further information about the HRER, Concordat or any aspect of researcher development at Kent, please contact the GRC.

The Graduate and Researcher College (GRC) is pleased to report top-line results from CEDARS undertaken in April and May 2021.

The Culture, Employment and Development in Academic Research Survey (CEDARS) is a biennial, benchmarked survey of researchers working in UK HE which is managed by Vitae, the international organisation supporting the professional development of researchers. Run for the first time at Kent this year, CEDARS replaced the former CROS and PIRLS surveys last undertaken across the sector in 2019 and integrated questions from those surveys with new ones reflecting the Principles of the revised Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers. These covered the environment, culture, professional development and employment of research staff and the experiences, of their managers.

Kent had a 12% response rate from all academic and research staff (10% from postdocs). 37% were senior researchers, 46% were mid-career/established researchers and 15% were ECRs (including postdocs). With 49 institutions participating nationally, CEDARS is a barometer of how well the sector has supported academic and research staff.

Some key results:

• 54% of Kent respondents felt that promotion pathways and processes were clear
• 57% agreed their immediate manager clearly articulates their expectations of them with respect to their role and performance
• 69% feel Kent treats them fairly in relation to access to training and development opportunities
• 71% agreed that they took positive action to maintain their mental health
• 74% have had an appraisal in the last two years
• 88% of research managers feel confident in actively supporting their researchers in working towards their career aspirations.

However, there is room for improvement in areas relating to environment and culture (including wellbeing, time to do research and job security), employment (including progression) and professional, career and personal development (including the expectation of 10 days for development and knowledge of relevant UK sector initiative frameworks).

Professor Paul Allain, Dean of the GRC, said:

“A huge thank you to all colleagues who took the time to complete CEDARS. Thanks to your input, we have up-to-date data reflecting the real-life experience of researchers at Kent over the last two challenging years. Your valuable feedback, together with national benchmarking data, will further inspire the GRC as it expands its work to support all academic and research staff in their professional and career development, and will provide additional leverage for future changes at Kent in relevant areas.”

The CEDARS results have already been used to inform Kent policy and practice relating to researcher employment, management and development. Information generated by the survey provided a clearer picture of Kent’s progress towards implementing the Concordat Principles and results and accompanying recommendations (including key deliverables) have been incorporated into the new Concordat and forthcoming HRER Action Plans.

To learn more: View additional information including a PowerPoint summary of key results on our feedback page on SharePoint (Kent staff login required). Further information is also available on request to Kent colleagues, including data relating to specific questions – please contact the GRC with specific queries.

The Graduate and Researcher College (GRC) is pleased to announce that a range of virtual training and development events are available for academic and research staff to book including five scheduled to take place in October:

Demand management for research schemes and relationships with external stakeholders – 04 October 2021, 10-11am

Who owns what and why: navigating intellectual property – 07 October 2021, 10-11am

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships – getting funding and impact – 13 October 2021, 11am-12pm

Introduction to Knowledge Exchange: External Relationships & Funding Opportunities – 20 October 2021, 11am-12pm

Please see https://www.kent.ac.uk/graduate-researcher-college/academic-and-research-staff/training-and-development/grants-factory-training for further information about these sessions and links to book your place.

Balancing the conflicting demands of academia in COVID and beyond (‘ECRN’ event) – 13 October 2021, 2-3pm

(The GRC is also offering 1:1 Coaching for PDRAs, RAs and Research Associates – 14 October, 04 November, 07 and 08 December – 3 slots each day.)

Please see https://www.kent.ac.uk/graduate-researcher-college/academic-and-research-staff/training-and-development/grc-training for further information about these sessions and links to book your place.

Registration for these sessions is via Target Connect, the GRC event booking system, but please note that you will need to register for an account on Target Connect using your Kent email address before you can book any of these events.

These sessions are organised by the GRC as part of its new remit to support the development of colleagues who research throughout their careers and further information is available on our web pages for academic and research staff.

Professor Paul Allain, Dean of the Graduate and Researcher College, said:

“Our training, development and support sessions for 2021-22 will guide and inspire you on your career journey. You can either join a live session delivered by specialist academic and Professional Services staff from Research and Innovation Services, IS Research Support, the GRC and the Divisions, or catch up with a recording at a time to suit you. So there’s no excuse not to participate!”

Please note that most but not all sessions will be recorded and made available to view after the event.

If you would like to suggest future sessions or to discuss researcher development at Kent, please contact the GRC.

We look forward to seeing you at these and future events.

The Graduate and Researcher College (GRC) and the Researcher Development Advisory Group (RDAG) are seeking your feedback on the University’s continued efforts to support the development of its researchers as part of the eight-year HRER external review process.

The European Commission’s HR Excellence in Research Award (HRER) encourages and recognises best practice in researcher development and support, and Kent first attained this prestigious award in May 2013.

The University is committed to supporting all academic and research staff in their career and personal development, and recently published its Action Plan to implement the Principles of the Researcher Development Concordat. This document is now being expanded to include actions carried forward from the 2017-21 HRER Action Plan and will be submitted as the HRER forwards-looking plan in November 2021, together with an updated backwards-looking plan summarising progress made and an accompanying report.

Dr Alison Charles, Researcher Developer (Academic), said:

“Feedback from academic and research colleagues will be key to creating an accurate, realistic and inclusive HRER submission. I encourage you to share your views on our progress to implement actions listed in the current action plan, as well as on any aspect of our expanded efforts to support researcher development at Kent. All feedback will be anonymised. Do please spare five minutes to tell us what you think.”

How to give us feedback?

Please submit your feedback anonymously via our HRER feedback form, available until 23.59 on 07 November 2021.

Alternatively, please contact the RDAG Secretary or speak to a member of RDAG.

Any queries, please contact the GRC. We look forward to receiving your feedback and thank you for engaging in the HRER review process.