University signs the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers
On 4th February 2020, the University of Edinburgh signed the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers.
Research staff play a vital role at the University, and the signing of this document demonstrates the University’s continued commitment and ongoing support of research staff careers. It also commits the University to working in partnership with other institutions and funders to explore more systematic changes such as security of employment and understanding of career destinations.
The University was one of the first eight UK universities to be awarded the HR Excellence in Research Award and have a comprehensive Code of Practice for the Management and Career Development of Research Staff.
What is the Concordat?
The Concordat, also known as the Researcher Development Concordat, aims to improve the environment and culture within which research is conducted, and support researchers careers within higher education in the UK. It is structured around three key principals:
- Environment and culture
- Employment
- Professional and career development
These principles are underpinned by obligations for the four key stakeholder groups, funders, institutions, researchers and managers of researchers, to realise the aims of the Concordat.
The Researcher Development Concordat is a vital component of our approach to supporting the career development of our outstanding research staff. The University is most warmly supportive of this important initiative.
Next steps
To implement the Concordat Principles, the University will convene a Concordat Implementation Group. Its immediate priority is to write a two year action plan which will set out how we will embed Concordat actions in our core practices and consider them alongside other University initiatives.
The Institute for Academic Development (IAD) are currently approaching research staff, support services, Schools and Colleges and research staff societies to nominate staff to join this group.
It is vital that researchers’ voices are at the heart of our planning and actions, so a series of consultation events are currently taking place across the University to raise awareness of the Concordat and gather suggestions for the action plan.
If you would like to attend one of these events, or want to feed your thoughts into the Concordat Implementation Group, please contact Nicola Cuthbert (n.cuthbert@ed.ac.uk) from IAD.