Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers

Committed to supporting the good management and support of researchers and their careers.

Principles

The Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers is an agreement between the funders and employers of researchers in the UK, representing a significant development in national policy to support good management of researchers and their careers.

Recognition of the importance of recruiting, selecting and retaining researchers with the highest potential to achieve excellence in research
Researchers are recognised and valued by their employing organisation as an essential part of their organisation's human resources and a key component of their overall strategy to develop and deliver world-class research
Researchers are equipped and supported to be adaptable and flexible in an increasingly diverse, mobile, global research environment.
The importance of researchers' personal and career development, and lifelong learning, is clearly recognised and promoted at all stages of their career
Individual researchers share the responsibility for and need to pro-actively engage in their own personal and career development, and lifelong learning
Diversity and equality must be promoted in all aspects of the recruitment and career management of researchers
The sector and all stakeholders will undertake regular and collective review of their progress in strengthening the attractiveness and sustainability of research careers in the UK

Our Research Community

AU recognises there is a diverse community of researchers to be supported by our action plan including early career staff, postdoctoral staff and in fact all research staff.

Composition of our research (and teaching) staff as of March 2019:

156 Research Only
300 Teaching and Research
155 Teaching only (in Academic departments)

Of the Research Only Contracts

	Number
Research Assistant	45
Research Associate	71
Research Fellows	32
Senior Research Fellows	8
Total	156

Aberystwyth Researcher Concordat Group

The Aberystwyth Researcher Concordat Group is Chaired by the PVC Research. The group oversees the annual review of the Policy Statement and manages the implementation plan. Should you wish to pass any comments, or require further information, please contact Dr Dafydd Roberts, Research Development Officer
MEMBERS 2018-2019
Prof Chris Thomas, PVC Research Knowledge Exchange and Innovation - Chair of Concordat Group
Dr Jennifer Deaville, Research Development Manager and Research Development Officer: Social Science - Alternate Chair of Concordat Group
Prof Rayer Zwiggelaar, Head of the Graduate School
Dr Ian Archer, Centre for Development of Staff and Academic Practice
Joy Arkley, HR Business Partner
Dr Dafydd Roberts, Research Development Officer: Arts and Humanities
Heather Hinkin, Deputy Director: Human Resources
Beverley Herring, Careers Adviser:Careers
Sarah Wydall, Associate Dean, Research Knowledge Exchange and Innovation
Dr Marie Neal, Research Development Officer: Science
Dr Charlotte Jones, PDRA representative

Additional Support Information

Internal support includes:

Research, Business & Innovation- providing points of contact and resources for researchers, including the Research Grant Application Toolkit

Postdoc Network-is a platform for all non-permanent, post-doctoral research and teaching staff. Informal meetings once a month

Research Good Practice sessions – A program of training for new researchers

Research Supervision.

Staff Development Programme - Information regarding broader training provision in the University.

Welsh Language Researcher Development Courses - Information about the Welsh medium research courses provided by the Coleg Cenedlaethol.

Welsh Crucible - Professional and leadership programme for future research leaders in Wales.

Athena Swan - Recognising advancement of gender equality: representation, progression and success for all. Its charter extends beyond STEMM to include arts, humanities, business and law.

External support:

Leadership Foundation. Aberystwyth is a member of the Leadership Foundation and has free access to many of its reports and resources, and also receives a 25% discount on the full price of training and courses. Some of their events are also free. Please see here for more details.

Vita e- A programme, network and web resource that supports the development of researchers in the UK. Aberystwyth University is a member of the Vitae network. Researchers and staff can now access the Vitae web resources by creating a login using your @aber.ac.uk email address.

UK and European Policies to

Support Researchers

EU Charter for Researcher Staff

Vitae's Researcher Development Statement and Framework

‌ Concordat for Engaging the Public with Research

Concordat to Support Research Integrity

Implementation and Review Documents:

2010	2012-2014	2014-2016	2016-2018	2018-2020
Action Plan - 2010	Report 2010-2014 Action Plan - 2012-2014	Report 2014-2016 Action Plan - 2015-2016	Report 2018 Action Plan 2017-2018	Action Plan 2020

2010

2012-2014

2014-2016

2016-2018

2018-2020

Action Plan - 2010

Report 2010-2014

Action Plan - 2012-2014

Report 2014-2016

Action Plan - 2015-2016

Report 2018

Action Plan 2017-2018

Action Plan 2020

Case Studies of Effective Practice

Case Study 1

Women in Research Network (developed by Dr Marie Neal, Research Development Officer, Research Business and Innovation)

(Diversity and Equality (Concordat Principle 6), Recognition and Value (Concordat Principle 2), Support and Career Development (Concordat Principle 3-4)

Read the full Case Study here

Case Study 2

Fixed-term Fellowship project (developed by Sian Davies, European Funding Officer, Research Business and Innovation)

Recognition of the importance of recruiting, selecting and retaining researchers with the highest potential to achieve excellence in research (Concordat Principle 1)