UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX
SCHOOL OF LIFE SCIENCES
Appraisal Review Document
Name:
Name of Appraiser
Role:
For the period from:
to:
Parts 1 and 2 of this record are confidential to the appraiser, the appraisee, the Head
of School and HR. If they wish to, individuals may use material from these sections as
part of their case for promotion.
Part 3 of this form will be reviewed by the Head of School with the Director of
Research and Knowledge Exchange as part of the school’s research planning.
PART 1 – REVIEW OF PREVIOUS YEAR
Record your achievements in these areas over the past 12 months. You may include
evidence from existing quality assurance tools in use in your school, such as relevant
reports from the QAA process, module assessment forms, module comment forms,
relevant feedback from staff-student liaison meetings as well as the more traditional
indicators of performance (publications, awards, research grant approval etc).
1
RESEARCH AND SCHOLARSHIP
Leave blank if your role does not include research. Provide a summary here. Academic
faculty (teaching and research and research-only) should give full details in the Research
Planning Template (Part 3).
Objectives & outcomes
Any comment on success, difficulties, evidence,
impact
1
2
TEACHING, COURSE PREPARATION AND EXAMINING
(Leave blank if your role does not include teaching. Eg, list modules and assessment
results, development of teaching materials and courses of special significance, examining
and assessing for undergraduate and taught postgraduate degrees, examining for research
degrees, other teaching activities and distinctions, supervision.)
Objectives and outcomes
3
Any comment on success, difficulties, evidence,
impact
SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATIVE
RESPONSIBILITIES
Responsibility/role
Briefly comment on success, evidence, impact
2
4
EXTERNAL ACTIVITY
(Eg, consultancy, training and CPD, widening participation and outreach activities, schools
liaison, services, prototype production, supply of goods, material transfers, course
evaluation, membership of editorial boards and learned societies)
Activity
5
Task
6
Briefly comment on success, difficulties, evidence,
impact
ANY OTHER TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES TAKEN ON IN THIS PERIOD
Briefly comment on success, evidence, impact
Note any particular factors that contributed to you performing well or
hindered your performance
3
PART 2 – PLANS FOR FORTHCOMING YEAR
1
RESEARCH AND SCHOLARSHIP
Objectives
2
Desired outcome
TEACHING, COURSE PREPARATION AND EXAMINING
Objectives
3
Desired outcome
SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATIVE
RESPONSIBILITIES
Objective
Desired outcome
4
4
EXTERNAL ACTIVITY
Objective
5
Desired outcome
OTHER TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Objective
Desired outcome
6
CAREER DEVELOPMENT, ASPIRATIONS, GOALS, PROMOTION (SHORT, MEDIUM
AND LONG TERM)
7
DEVELOPMENT NEEDS IDENTIFIED AND HOW THESE ARE TO BE DELIVERED
Signature of Head of School (or appointed appraiser)
Signature of appraisee
5
PART 3
FIVE-YEAR RESEARCH PLANNING TEMPLATE
(This section is to be completed by faculty on teaching and research and research-only
contracts. It will be used by the Head of School and Director of Research and Knowledge
Exchange for school research planning)
Name:
Date:
The purpose of this exercise is to provide you with an opportunity to think ahead, prioritise
and plan your research.
The form is divided into two parts. The first (Section A) is designed to facilitate you to think
about what you want to achieve with your research in the next five years, where you see
your contribution and what would help you to make the most of your research time. The
section (Section B) is a stock take of publications and other outputs that will be added to
annually as you come to review your progress towards the goals you’ve set for yourself.
SECTION A: CURRENT AND FUTURE RESEARCH PROJECTS
This section is designed to provide a space for reflection on the projects that you are
currently engaged in or finishing, and those that you are developing or would like to begin.
The aim of this process is to help you take a step back and reflect on strategy, to prioritise
and to identify what might help you to improve the quality, reach and impact of your work. It
should be written in narrative form, responding to the suggestions below. Ideal length
would be a couple of pages, using the headings below as a guide.
1
Establishing your goals
Begin with a statement of what you’re hoping to achieve with your research overall: what is
it that defines what you’re doing and why you’re doing it?
2
Taking stock of what you’re doing
Then for each of your current research/writing projects:
 Details: title, duration, funding
 What do you want to make of this project – where are you thinking of publishing, is
there impact potential and how do you see yourself developing it, what are you
doing now to foster impact?
 What help might you need to realise your ambitions for this project, whether in
terms of publication (improving the quality of your outputs, advice on publication,
etc.) or impact (planning, strategising and – crucially - monitoring impact)?
3
Identifying priorities - what’s going to make the difference?
Looking across your various projects and initiatives, which ones strike you as having the
most potential? Which ones are you currently giving the most energy to? What would need
to be done to make your work 4* quality? What would help you to really have a big impact?
Are there any projects or publications that you might drop or wrap up quickly, so as to
focus more on the ones that you think are really going to make a difference?
4
Future plans
What do you plan to do in the next few years? Sketch out your ideas for continuing what
you’ve been doing or opening up new research and writing avenues – and for impactrelated work that can help you shift discourse, policies and practice. List everything you’re
thinking about at the moment and why you think it’s worth pursuing, then look over it to
decide what ought to be your priority. Register that on the form, perhaps as a summary at
the end of this sub-section.
6
5.
Bringing your plans to fruition
How will you create the time to make these plans happen? This might include applying for
funding, research leave, recalibrating teaching terms, taking short periods of time off
between terms to focus on writing etc. Think about what works for you, and what’s helped
you in the past, and outline what you might need to do – and need support in doing – that
will help you to achieve the highest quality in your work, and to have the biggest possible
impact.
6
Overcoming obstacles, clearing the decks
The last step in the reflection is to think through what might get in the way of you achieving
your plan. Do you have any current research projects or unfinished publications that have
become a millstone around your neck? Provide details, including possible exit strategies.
Are you encountering any particular obstacles to achieving your research goals? What
would work for you to mitigate or address these obstacles? List what’s worked for you in
the past and how you might make use of these strategies again.
A: CURRENT AND FUTURE RESEARCH PROJECTS
7
SECTION B: STOCKTAKE OF RESEARCH OUTPUTS, IMPACT AND ENVIRONMENT
Note: This information will remain in the School.
Research Outputs 2014-19
One lesson from the last REF was that it was more of a struggle to gather information than
anyone expected. We want to be prepared. We also don’t want to be obsessed by the
REF, especially since no-one yet knows what the metrics are going to be. But we want to
be prepared. See this exercise as an ongoing inventory that you can update, revise and
use to reflect on and plan.
1. Please list all accepted, published and planned academic outputs, giving:
 A full reference (author(s), title, publisher, date, pages, etc.).
 Details of its open access status (gold, green, none).
 Any factual information on the prestige/importance of the output.
 Detail on dissemination, including whether you have a dissemination strategy.
 Your assessment of whether it is a likely or potential candidate for REF 2020.
Reference and additional information
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Non-Academic Engagement and Impact 2014-19
Please list all non-academic engagement since January 2014 that builds upon research
completed at Sussex since 1999. This should include e.g. individual reports for and
presentations to non-academic users, media work, blogs, pieces of consultancy work, etc.
For each item, please give:
 Details of the publication, event, etc.
 Details of the underpinning research relating to the engagement activity.
 Any information you may have about the impact of this engagement activity.
Details of engagement activity and additional information
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
8
Major Environment Activity 2014-19
Please list all major environment activity since January 2014. This should include e.g. funded
research projects, workshops and conferences organised, visiting fellowships, journal
editorial roles, etc. There is no need to list completed PhD students. For each item, please
just provide brief summary information.
Brief summary of environment activity
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
SECTION C
This section is to be completed during or following your meeting with your appraiser and is
a place to record any helpful suggestions, reflections and actions emerging from the
process of discussing this planning document.
9