Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers

The Researcher Development Concordat 2019 is based on three key principles:

1. Environment and Culture – Healthy working environments attract and develop a more diverse workforce, impact positively on individual and institutional performance, and enhance staff engagement.
2. Employment – This principle recognises the importance of fair, transparent, and merit-based recruitment, progression and promotion, effective performance management, and a good work-life balance.
3. Professional and Career Development – Researchers must be equipped and supported to be adaptable and flexible in an increasingly diverse global research environment and employment market.

Each Principle is underpinned by obligations for four stakeholder groups: institutions, funders, managers of researchers (usually Principal Investigators) and researchers.

The University became a signatory in 2021 to the 2019 revised Concordat and has established the Concordats Implementation Working Group which reviews career development, researcher development, fixed term contracts, researcher managers development and also has remit to review the Concordat Supporting Research Integrity to ensure that both Concordats are discussed in parallel with common strands being interwoven. The Concordats Implementation Working Group, chaired by Professor Nigel McLoughlin, includes representation from senior researchers, professors, principle investigators, early career researchers, fixed-term contract researchers, research student and professional service staff. Itwill be responsible for the implementation of our Action Plan 2023 which was created in collaboration with researchers and professional support staff as part of a rigorous internal concordat consultation process.

Who will it benefit

It will primarily benefit those who are employed to conduct research on a fixed-term contract. However, the aims of the national Researcher Development Concordat Strategy Group is for the Concordat to benefit the whole research community within the UK to improve the environment and culture within which research is conducted and is supported by Universities UK.

Signatory organisations who are implementing the three key Principles are required to produce an Action Plan that outlines how the Principles will be implemented, we arrived at this having conducted a gap analysis exercise which resulted in the creation of our new 2023 Action Plan.

To view our 2023 Annual Report and 2023 Action Plan please see documentation below.

View 2023 Concordat Action Plan

View 2023 Concordat Annual Report