Performance and Development Review
Guidance notes for Academic Staff - Research Job Family
What is the purpose of a PDR?
The Performance and Development Review (PDR) is intended to help you to perform at the highest
level enabling you to generate world-class research and prepare you for a long term career either in
Higher Education or the global job market.
The PDR is a regular review of your academic activities, in particular it is the forum to agree and
assess personal goals related to your research project and career goals. The process is also about
ensuring that an appropriate level of support is provided when necessary.
What is being reviewed?
You will be expected to write a brief statement which describes career goals for the next 3 year
period. This will help to provide a broad context for PDR discussions and to set specific priorities for
the forthcoming year; in particular please refer to table 1 and 2 below, when completing Part C of
your PDR.
Who carries out the review and when?
PDRs will be undertaken with your line manager/ Principal Investigator or by someone who has been
delegated by the College to do so, soon after Easter.
What career support can I expect?
Researcher Development (RD) at Exeter provides you personal and professional development to
enhance your research and your employability, in academia or beyond. RD can help you through
workshops, courses and careers guidance, funding for you to attend conferences and help designing
your own development programmes.
For more information, please see our Researcher Development web pages.
Other Information:
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The Researcher Development Framework (RDF) is extremely rich source of information can
be used to inform your professional development plan
You can also undertake a range learning and development offered through Staff Learning
and Development
Mandatory Training – please ensure that you have completed any mandatory training
Table 1
Research
 Project goals, intermediate milestones and prioritisation of activities
 Research methodologies
 Publications including co-authorship/ collaborations
 Research proposals
 Development of junior colleagues and PhD students
Table 2
Career Development
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Conference attendance and networking within and outside of the University
Funding awards: small scale research, travel and Researcher Development Awards
Teaching
Fellowships