What is Vitae?
How does Vitae work?
Support and career development
Ellen Pearce, Vitae
[email protected]
What is Vitae?
– Background, UK context
– Development of Vitae
– Aims and structure
How does Vitae work?
– The UK national approach
– Work with RCs, HEIs and industry
Support and career development
– Principles, strategies and activities
– Career destinations, career stories
– Researcher development framework
Background
1968: first GRADschool run by CRAC
1996: Research Careers Initiative
2002: SET for Success report, by Sir Gareth Roberts
January 2003: UK GRAD Programme launched (PGR)
October 2003: ‘Roberts’ money for first year PGRs and all
research staff
October 2005: full Roberts money allocated
June 2008: Concordat and Vitae launched (all
researchers)
March 2011: end of ‘ring-fenced Roberts money
December 2012: end of current Vitae contract
About Vitae
Five-year contract, led by CRAC: The Career Development
Organisation in partnership with eight Hub host institutions
Formally launched in June 2008, alongside the Concordat
Vitae builds on the work of the UK GRAD Programme and UKHERD
(now Vitae Research Staff Development Advisory Group)
Now all researchers in HE (UK GRAD was doctoral researchers)
Focus on innovations, research, impacts (UK GRAD had more direct
delivery of training)
Vitae is about professional development and careers for doctoral
researchers and research staff
Vitae aims to raise the profile of researchers and their contributions to
society
Vitae will achieve its aims primarily by working with universities
Vitae also works with researchers, employers and other stakeholders
Vitae vision and aims
“For the UK to be world-class in supporting the personal,
professional and career development of researchers”
Build human capital by influencing the development and
implementation of effective policy relating to researcher development
Enhance higher education provision to train and develop
researchers
Empower researchers to make an impact in
their careers
Evidence the impact of professional and
career development support for researchers
National organisations:
Funding Councils,
Research Councils,
Universities UK, British
Council, Vitae and others
2004
Quality Assurance
Agency
2008
Research funders and
universities
Roberts funding
£20m+ per year for
skills and career
development
Maximising investment
120 researchactive
institutions
90,000
doctoral
researchers
New government; changes of Roberts funding; European initiatives
Networks, information,
policy and practice
40,000
research
staff
Vitae structure
National team based at CRAC
– 12 staff
– policy and strategy development, work with institutions,
research and evaluation, learning materials and programme,
courses and workshops, master-classes, website, networks
– Research staff development advisory group, Impact and
evaluation group, External Advisory Board
Eight regional Hubs based in universities
– Full-time Hub manager
– Senior support from Coordinator funded by the HEI
– Advisory/steering group of all research active HEIs
– Work on regional level to embed researcher development
What is Vitae?
– Background, UK context
– Development of Vitae
– Aims and structure
How does Vitae work?
– The UK national approach
– Work with RCs, HEIs and industry
Support and career development
– Principles, strategies and activities
– Career destinations, career stories
– Researcher development framework
How does Vitae work?
Encourage cultural change
Combination of national drive and regional/local ownership ‘Hubs’
– Work with all stakeholder groups, researchers, principal investigators,
staff in universities, policy makers, non-HE employers
– Develop strategic relationships with other stakeholders and relevant
networks
– Collaborative development of resources and courses
Embed researcher development for long term sustainability
Grow the Vitae community engaging with strategy, policy, practice
and development
Enhance benchmarking and monitoring and evidence through Impact
and Evaluation Framework
Inclusive approach to support all HEIs, all researchers and all
researcher careers
A UK approach
HEI provision
Legacy of
Roberts
Strategic
commitments
HR Excellence
badge
Practice sharing
Policy Fora, events
Regional hubs
News, reports, feedback
Capacity building
Vitae courses
Masterclasses
Networks
Research,
evaluation
Framework
The Concordat
Roberts Recommendations
QAA Code of Practice
Researcher Development
Framework
Impact framework
The Concordat to Support the Career
Development of Researchers
The future for researcher careers in universities
Sets out expectations and responsibilities of researchers, their
managers, employers and funders
7 key principles for support and management of research careers
Endorsed by Universities UK, Research Councils and others
Consistent with EU Charter and Code
Increase attractiveness and sustainability of research careers in
the UK
Improve quantity, quality and impact of research
Benefit of UK society and the economy.
Concordat implementation
High level Strategy Group, chaired by Sir Ivor Crewe
Benchmarking process
–
–
–
–
–
Support the implementation by all stakeholders
Careers in Research Online Survey
Survey of HEI implementation
Principal Investigator and Research Leader survey
Funders’ implementation
Review of progress after three years
Vitae role in sharing practice and enhancing the
capability of the sector – briefings for senior managers,
HR specialists, staff developers, careers specialists
research managers, researchers
Process linked to EC ‘HR Excellence in Research’
The UK approach to
‘HR Strategy for researchers’
Concordat implementation linked to EC HR strategy
– Careers in Research Online Survey (CROS)
– Survey of HEI responses to the Concordat
– Principle Investigator and Research Leaders
survey (PIRLS)
Coordinated timescales for Concordat and HR
excellence
– HEI survey in 2012/13
– External evaluation 2014/15
– Researcher surveys to run 2011 and 2013
Current themes in UK
approach
Major change in UK higher education
Changes to Roberts funding
– End to ring-fenced funding
– Fund through PGR fees
– Fund as indirect cost of grants
Research Council delivery plans
Sustainability of researcher development
Transitions to new models
Vitae work with RCs
Vitae provides:
– Independent strategic input to policy development
– Collective expert sector input policy
– Leadership of European Policy areas, eg HR Excellence
badging
– Leadership around implementation of RC researcher
development strategy, ability to target specific aspects
– Translation of policy into practice
– Activities for specific agendas, eg Careers in Focus
– Maximise infrastructure for other agendas eg Concordat for
Public Engagement
Vitae work with HEIs
Collective input to policy development
Access to provision
– high quality, flexible resources for use by all UK HEIs, eg ‘Effective
researcher’, ‘Broadening horizons’, PhD planner, ‘Balanced
researcher’
– Vitae innovate programme
– databases of practice, resources, trainers and developers
‘Benchmarking’ provision
– Careers in Research Online Survey (CROS)
– Postgraduate Researchers Experience Survey (PRES)
– Concordat HEI strategies survey
Professional development for practitioners
–
–
–
–
national and regional networks
national conference and regional events
community of practice
series of masterclasses for trainers and developers
Vitae work with
employers
Vitae provides:
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
News, information, briefings
Translation of skills/competencies
Input to policy
Surveys of employer views
Destinations, impact and career stories of researcher careers
Resources to empower researchers as intermediaries
Courses and programmes, eg Careers in focus
– Vitae Employer Advisory Board
– Map landscape of studentships, internships and placements
– Case studies on working partnerships, employers, researchers,
academics
– Case studies on researcher recruitment and retention
– Case studies on HEI programmes linking researchers to employers
– Special interest groups – sectors (academic-employer
communities)
What is Vitae?
– Background, UK context
– Development of Vitae
– Aims and structure
How does Vitae work?
– The UK national approach
– Work with RCs, HEIs and industry
Support and career development
– Principles, strategies and activities
– Career destinations, career stories
– Researcher development framework
Researcher careers
strategy
Equal validity of career choice
Individual needs based
Experiential learning, DOTS model
Resources for individuals (website, publications)
Resources for HEIs (programmes, trainers, information)
Employer engagement
Evidence base on researcher careers
Evidence base on impact of training and development
Underpinning frameworks, Joint Skills Statement/Researcher
Development Framework
Activities for researchers
Online portal
Researcher news and views
– Research staff blog
– GRADBritain magazine
– Overview magazine
www.vitae.ac.uk/rsblog
Induction materials, eg PhD planner
Publications
–
–
–
–
Researcher booklets
PGR resources
Regional ebulletins
Concordat briefings
www.vitae.ac.uk/researcherbooklets
www.vitae.ac.uk/concordat
Activities for researchers
Courses and programmes
• National GRADschools
• Leadership in action
• Local GRADschools
• Poster competitions
• Careers in academia
• UK Research staff Association
• Sector-specific events
• National research staff conference
• Digital researcher
www.vitae.ac.uk/courses
Programmes for HEIs
Programmes to impact the effectiveness of researchers
Managing your academic career: career development for women
Leadership, social enterprise, advancing in academia
Effective Researcher for
PGRs
A two-day, non-residential programme for postgraduate
researchers who are 3 -12 months into their doctoral studies
Uses experiential learning activities to help them be more effective
as postgraduate researchers
Flexibility to be delivered to postgraduate researchers working in
similar academic subjects or to researchers from a mixture of
disciplines
Programme designed to run with up to 40 participants
Freely available resource for UK higher education institutions
Programme has been developed as a resource for organisers of
researcher development programmes
Programme aims
Enhancing the effectiveness of postgraduate researchers by providing
an opportunity to build their understanding, skills and confidence in:
Communication
Planning and time management
Problem solving
Leadership
Assertiveness
Building a greater self awareness of individuals’ learning and
working styles, which is done by focussing on the core areas of:
PhD project planning and time management
Working effectively with others in the research environment
Collaboration and negotiating
Culture within research groups, institutions and countries
Programme – Day 1
Day 1 – Making the most of your PhD as a project
Getting to know each other
Establishing common ground
First team project (problem solving)
Project management 1: Tuning into your PhD
Second team project (resource management)
Project management 2: Planning your PhD
Third team project task (applying planning tools)
Working effectively with others: project approaches
Review and close of day 1
Programme – Day 2
Maximising your impact and working with others
Creativity session
First working effectively with others task (research
collaboration)
Working effectively with others
Second working effectively with others (respecting
and recognising cultural differences)
Third working effectively with others (managing
professional relationships)
Making the most of my PhD
Review and close
Delivery
Support materials and resources
Vitae can provide manuals with all the information needed to organise and
deliver the programme. These include:
Administration manual with details of how to plan the programme
Programme leader manual with details of how to lead and debrief the
programme and individual activities
Participant learning journal – to capture thoughts, feelings and anything
they have learned
A kit of resources – available through your local Hub
Access to a network of experienced external trainers who can deliver the
programme; train the trainer programme
Taster sessions
Broadening horizons
A two-day, non-residential programme for early career
researchers
Programme uses group based activities to discuss areas of
career [HE and non-HE]
First pilot ran at Oxford University in 2007. Second pilot ran
at Warwick University in 2008
Aims to enable participants to:
Gain a clearer self-orientation of where they are within
their careers
Consider options and next steps
Programme aims
Day 1: Where are you now and where do you want to be?
To challenge career assumptions, and map personal needs and
considerations
To consider significant points in your life and consider what you can
learn about yourself and how to apply this to your career planning
Day 2: How will you get there?
Explore personal motivations and definitions of career success
To translate these into potential jobs for further investigation
To consider any potential barriers between their aspirations and ‘reality’ as
they perceive it and identify ways to overcome these barriers
Review effective CVs
Commit to an action plan for personal and career development
Independent evaluation of the
Vitae Effective Researcher
ER used by over 30 HEIs and 3000 researchers since 2005
95% of HEIs indicated that it had made a positive impact in delivering
against the Robert's Agenda
HEIs value Vitae support:
– Vitae Hubs effective at supporting delivery (95%)
– Links between research and training (73%)
Significant impact on participants, especially in terms of project and time
management (86%), quality of research (79%), confidence (84%), and
improving relationships with their supervisors (71%)
Ongoing delivery of ER at some institutions is threatened if Roberts funding
is reduced or stopped
‘The evidence of how the Effective Researcher programme adds value to the
postgraduate researcher experience is consistent across all levels of the evaluation,
and the delivery approach clearly demonstrates value for money when considering
the reach this programme has had in the past five years’
Researcher careers
What do researchers do?
–
–
–
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First destinations by subject
Career profiles
Career profiles of doctoral entrepreneurs
Doctoral graduate destinations and
impact three years on
– Video narratives
Career stories portal
– database of careers stories
– Career stories on film with icould
Researcher experience
– PRES and CROS
Impact of training and development
WDRD? three years on
Experience of research degree programme
Value of the doctorate (82% requirement or important)
Employability
– 2% unemployed
– 54% have changed jobs
– £34,000 median gross annual salary
Satisfied with career to date (93%)
Undertaking research (40% most of the time)
Use of research (82%) and generic skills (91%)
Impact on employment (94%) and beyond (89%)
Unique doctoral occupations
Distinct doctoral occupation clusters
86% employed in 5 occupational clusters
HE research occupations
Research (not in HE sector)
Teaching and lecturing in HE
Other teaching occupations
Other common doctoral occupations
Other occupations
0%
Doctoral graduates
10%
20%
30%
Masters graduates
40%
50%
60%
First degree 1st/2:1
70%
Occupational cluster by
discipline
Other common doctoral occupations:
Health professionals (18%); Functional and production managers and senior officials
(25%); Engineering professionals (14%); ICT professionals (10%); Business, finance
and statistical professional and associate professional roles (15%)
Importance of doctorate, skills and
competencies for current employment
DOCTORAL QUALIFICATION
All
HE research
Other research
HE teaching and lecturing
Other teaching
Com m on doctoral occupations
Other occupations
SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES
All
HE research
Other research
HE teaching and lecturing
Other teaching
Com m on doctoral occupations
Other occupations
0%
Formal qualification
10%
20%
Important
30%
40%
50%
60%
Not very important but helped
70%
80%
90%
Not important
100%
What do researchers do?
Career profiles
40 career stories
1000 first destination occupations
Two emerging themes:
significant impact on employability
influence on career journey
I have ‘drawn on my experience as a doctoral student in virtually all the jobs I
have had since leaving university.’
Andrew Hann (history), English Heritage
‘My doctorate changed my life. It opened doors, and it also opened my mind.
I take on challenges now, in my life and my career, because I have faith in
my own abilities.’
Cora Beth Knowles (Latin literature), Open University
www.vitae.ac.uk/wdrd
Postgraduate Research Experience
Survey (PRES)
Measures research postgraduates experiences of their doctoral
training. Specific analysis of skills and career development scales
for Vitae
108 HEIs have participated in PRES since launch in 2007
– 82 HEIs in 2009, 18,644 responses, 29% response rate
Skills development scale has seen the largest improvement
– ‘There are adequate opportunities available for me to further develop
my research skills’ (2009: 70% agree; 9% year on year
improvement)
– ‘There are adequate opportunities available for me to further develop
my transferable skills’ (2009: 65% agree; 7% year on year
improvement)
Professional development and career scale
– Lowest score from six scales
– Students who are more career focused agree they are encouraged
to think about their career and professional development
http://www.vitae.ac.uk/CMS/files/upload/Vitaeconference2009-A1-PRES.pdf
CROS survey
Researchers: Careers in Research Online Survey
(www.vitae.ac.uk/cros)
Provides a benchmark and voice for UK research
staff
Enables HEIs to respond to local needs
51 institutions took part; almost 6000
researchers
57% were aware of the Concordat
Impact of researcher
development
Impact Framework as evaluation tool and and framework
High sector engagement
Clear evidence of impact:
– significant distance travelled
– cultural change: supervisor awareness and
engagement
– employability; employer awareness
– research outcomes: grant income, publications
– researcher experience, submission rates
– life changing
Maturing agenda: reflection and enhancement
Researcher Development Framework
•
Major new approach to researcher development
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–
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evolution of the Joint Skills Statement for PGRs
and research staff
describes knowledge, behaviours and
attributes of researchers at different stages
of development
providing a language for communicating
researcher qualities
•
Researcher Development Statement
endorsed by key stakeholders
•
RDF website
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resources, FAQs
researcher profiles
JSS mapping
•
Professional development tool
•
RDF lenses
www.vitae.ac.uk/rdf
Researcher Development Framework
Literature survey – definitions of research and research roles
Literature review - competency frameworks for academic and
related professions
Empirical data from analysis of audio-recorded, semi-structured
interviews with experienced researchers
– >100 interviews: range of experiences, institution types,
geographical context, disciplines and demographics
– >1000 characteristics and variants, clustered into common
groups
Sector- wide national project groups
Broad consultation - 242 responses
– workshops and presentations
– external advisory group
– employer validation
www.vitae.ac.uk/rdf
Researcher feedback
‘I have always though of myself as being quite ambitious, driven
and focussed on what I want, but the framework made me realise I
can have a much larger vision’
‘I found it very user friendly. It was useful to reflect on it because it
helps to identify your skills and think about them in a more reflective
manner’
‘I thought I didn’t have the time to fill in the RDF but it is really
important to get a sense of what it is I want to achieve and why I’m
doing all the other things and what my ultimately goal is’
Dr Kristina Hultgren, postdoctoral researcher in Sociolinguistics,
University of Copenhagen and Edge Hill University, UK
Next steps
Sustainability of researcher development
Focus on employers, leadership, collaborative working
Embed the Researcher Development Framework
International collaborations
– DOCENT project, Italy, Malta, Spain
International newsletter
Resources, researcher booklets, links etc
Vitae conference, 5-6 September 2011, Manchester
[email protected]
Useful links
Vitae: www.vitae.ac.uk
What do researchers do? www.vitae.ac.uk/wdrd
Career stories www.vitae.ac.uk/careerstories
CROS survey www.vitae.ac.uk/cros
Impact and evaluation www.vitae.ac.uk/impact
Courses for researchers www.vitae.ac.uk/courses
Researcher booklet series
www.vitae.ac.uk/researcherbooklets
DOCENT project http://docentproject.eu
[email protected]