• Carole Mockford Royal College of Nursing Research Institute, School of Health and
Social Studies, Member of the Research Staff Forum - Attending the Vitae Research
Staff Conference, Empowering Researchers through Staff Associations, Institute of
Education, 4 November 2010
“This was Vitae’s second conference and this year the focus was on building and
maintaining successful research staff communities. Presentations and workshops
were delivered by a variety of people who offered their experience and stories on
what was happening in their institution, advice on what works well and why it is
important to have an association which supports research staff. A Research Staff
Association guide will be published in the next few weeks. Plenary speakers included
Dr Iain Cameron, Head of Research Careers and Diversity, RCUK, Dr Diane Berry,
Director of Postgraduate Research Studies and Researcher Development, Dr
Gordon Dalton, President of the Irish Researcher Staff Association and Dr Chris
Thomson, Co-Chair of the UKRSA.
Some other main points which were discussed included the Concordat which is due
for review in 2011, reviewing the Robert’s Agenda which is coming to an end next
year, fixed term and open ended contracts, and the Researcher Development
Framework.
The conference concluded with an informative but light hearted presentation on
portfolio careers from Dr Barrie Hopson (author and hat wearer of many other jobs)
who described the advantages (and sometimes disadvantages) of having more than
one job especially in today’s economic climate.
***As a result of last year’s conference the UK Research Staff Association
(www.ukrsa.org.uk) was formed as a collective voice for UK researchers and whose
aim is to nurture Research Staff Associations and inform national policy. The
research staff blog (www.vitae.ac.uk/rsblog) was launched and this has been a great
way for researchers to keep in touch with each other, to be informed, and to be
heard. Finally, Vitae launched the Researcher Development Framework
(http://www.vitae.ac.uk/policy-practice/234301/Researcher-DevelopmentFramework.html) described as a major new approach to researcher development. All
of these are really exciting developments for everyone involved in research.
The Vitae conference was free to attend and Robert’s funding was available to pay
for travel expenses.”