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Research Staff Development

Find out about development opportunities for research staff, codes of practice, induction and other support provided by the University.

New to Bath?

There are a many ways that we support you as you start in your new role and throughout your time at Bath. This page provides a summary of all the information you may find useful in your first few months working at the university.

Development opportunities for research staff

The University of Bath is fully committed to creating a productive, supportive and enjoyable work environment for research staff as can be seen in the Vision for Research Staff working at the University of Bath.

Individual researchers must ‘take ownership of their career, identifying opportunities to work towards career goals, including engaging in a minimum of 10 days professional development pro rata per year.' Concordat, 2019

Professional development might include attending a training course or workshop, workplace shadowing, participating in a mentoring scheme (as mentor or mentee), committee membership, participating in policy development, public engagement, or knowledge exchange activities.

To enable you to get the most out of your research activities and your research careers at the University of Bath and beyond, the Researcher Development team offers a variety of development opportunities:

Development opportunities offered by other departments:

Research Associates/Officers and Research/Prize Fellows can also access researcher training opportunities and resources from the other GW4 Alliance Institutions.

We suggest that you have regular discussions with your line manager and colleagues about your development and career. Current UKRI guidelines recommend that as research staff you take part in 10 days of development activities every year. That could be attendance of seminars, conferences but also attendance of skills or career development workshops.

Improving the working environment for research staff

First published in 2008, and revised in September 2019, the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers is a national document that sets out the expectations and responsibilities of researchers, their managers, employers of researchers and funders, with the aim of enhancing researcher’s career development and the research environment. We encourage you take a look at this to see what we are expecting from you and what you should expect in return!

We are fully committed to implementing the Concordat at Bath and have a regularly updated action plan. As a result the University holds the HR Excellence in Research Award.

The Universities Vision for Research Staff and Code of Practice for the Employment of Research Staff aim to create a supportive and active research culture that fosters high achievement. Research staff and managers are obliged to comply with the Code of Practice. It lists the responsibilities of the University and Principal Investigators, but also those of researchers themselves.

Research Staff News

As a member of research staff, you should receive the Research Staff News newsletter every 2 weeks. This provides you with up-to-date information on courses and professional development opportunities, policy changes within Bath and the UK Higher Education sector, and other important information.

Not receiving this? Sometimes there can be a delay in being added to our mailing list through the central HR system. Email Researcher Development Manager to be added.

Have your say about what goes into the newsletter; email with any feedback, comments, or content suggestions.

Departmental Research Staff Co-ordinators

Departmental Research Staff Co-ordinators are responsible for supporting the department in enacting the code of practice for the employment of research staff, and feeding back on progress to the Departmental Research Committee.

Research Staff Working Group

The Research Staff Working Group represents the interests of research staff and aims to improve the working practices, skill levels, job satisfaction and career management of researchers. If you want to get involved, please get in touch.

Induction for Research Staff

As a new staff member you should receive an induction to the University, your new Department/School and your job as laid out in section 3 of the Code of Practice for the Employment of Research Staff.

The Moodle course Induction for Research Staff contains lots of information and documents useful to research staff in their first few months at Bath. You can access the course using your BUCS username and password. You can also to attend the general Introduction to the University of Bath. General information for new starters is available from the HR web pages.

Enquiries

If you have any questions, please contact us.


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