Overview
The following document provides an overview and narrative summary of the University’s strategy and planned actions until September 2025. The University is currently undergoing a review of its Innovation and Research Strategy, so our action plan is designed to continue progress against the Concordat whilst this evolution is ongoing.
In preparation to commit to the Concordat a detailed gap analysis was carried out to compare University policies and practice against Concordat principles. Here, four strategic areas of action were identified and subsequently developed into four projects to be operationalised under this initial action plan.
1. Researcher communications
2. Development opportunities for researchers
3. Monitoring and reporting processes for quality of research environment and culture
4. Review of internal promotions
These projects are collaborative and are intended to action solutions to the gaps identified.
Project summary details
1. Researcher communications
Communicating information about research opportunities, initiatives and activities in ways that are timely, consistent and effective are key to enabling researchers to maximise their potential. We seek to improve the ways information is disseminated to members of the research community to avoid compartmentalised awareness of key knowledge and aim to use awareness of the Concordat and the 10 days pro-rata staff development allotment as means of testing its efficacy, in addition to raising the profile of the Concordat within the institution more generally.
This project will:
- Describe current practice across the University and in the different Colleges and Themes.
- Understand the perspectives and modus operandi of the academic researchers wanting to receive this information.
- Understand how the new Doctoral College can potentially facilitate new methods of communicating research updates across the University.
- Clarify how the 10 days pro-rata staff development allocation is to be interpreted, operationalised and recorded.
- Release guidance documentation for researchers, research managers, and College Deans about the Concordat’s 10-day development allocation, how it works, and how it can be put into practice.
- Explore viability of also adding information about development allocation to Individual Research Plans (IRPs) and appraisal support documents.
- Identify success measures and monitoring processes.
By September 2025 this project will have completed the review and the new process piloting the dissemination of research information will be taking place.
Alignment with Concordat Principles:
Environment and culture
Institution (1): Ensure that all relevant staff are aware of the Concordat.
Professional and career development
Institution (1): Provide opportunities, structured support, encouragement, and time for researchers to engage in a minimum of 10 days professional development pro rata per year, recognising that researchers will pursue careers across a wide range of employment sectors.
Research managers (3): Allocate a minimum of 10 days pro rata, per year, for their researchers to engage with professional development, supporting researchers to balance delivery of their research and their own professional development.
Researchers (1): Take ownership of their career, identifying opportunities to work towards career goals, including engaging in a minimum of 10 days professional development pro rata per year.
2. Development opportunities for researchers
Researchers have access to central career development and training as well as more research-specific provision and support. We aim to build on this provision by developing a research-specific induction pathway to better manage the integration of our research-active staff of all levels and career stages as they come into the University.
This project will:
- Describe current practice of induction at the University.
- Identify the complementary synergies between central induction and a research-specific pathway in terms of content and scope.
- Work with the University’s recent research hires to understand the needs of academic researchers new to the University.
- Work with research support practitioners to put together a programme of live training and standing resources covering key policies, practices and expectations on how research works at Derby with an emphasis on research quality and integrity.
- Release guidance documentation for researchers, research managers, and College Deans about the induction pathway.
- Advertise induction pathway in central training to relevant individuals and as a route into standing research development provision.
- Identify success measures and monitoring processes.
By September 2025 this project will have completed the review and the new induction pathway piloted to newly recruited research staff.
Alignment with Concordat Principles:
Employment
Institution (2): Provide an effective induction, ensuring that researchers are integrated into the community and are aware of policies and practices relevant to their position.
Environment and culture
Institution (5): Ensure researchers and their managers are aware of, and act in accordance with, the highest standards of research integrity.
Research managers (2): Ensure that they and their researchers act in accordance with the highest standards of research integrity and professional conduct.
Researchers (2): Ensure they act in accordance with employer and funder policies related to research integrity and EDI.
Professional and career development
Institution (6): Monitor, and report on, the engagement of researchers and their managers with professional development activities, and researcher career development reviews.
3. Monitoring and reporting processes for quality of research environment and culture
The University regularly captures the voice of researchers through annual staff surveys released periodically across the academic year. Recognising the importance of this input, the goal of this project is to work out a process for incorporating feedback on the quality of research environment and culture within existing survey mechanisms to better foreground the researcher voice in these discussions. A secondary aim is to best optimise the functionality of the resultant datasets in their ability to facilitate meaningful improvement to institutional practices and contribute to external reporting while minimising engagement fatigue.
This project will:
- Describe current practice across the University and best practice within the sector for collecting this information.
- Understand the research culture and the perspectives of the academic researchers participating in these surveys.
- Understand how the staff survey complements existing information on quality of research environment and culture from other sources.
- Identify questions in the existing question set that will aid in the tracking of changes.
- Set up a process for running data cuts for REF/Concordat reporting purposes.
By September 2025 this project will have completed the review and a modified version of the Staff/Pulse surveys will be in use.
Alignment with Concordat Principles:
Environment and culture
Institutions (6): Regularly review and report on the quality of the research environment and culture, including seeking feedback from researchers, and use the outcomes to improve institutional practices.
4. Review of internal promotions
The University recognises the importance of transparent and merit-based employment processes and is planning to conduct a review of its internal promotions processes and pathways once the current cycle is complete. This review will look at the documentation used for Associate Professor, Professor, and Professorial Progression roles to ensure sufficient transparency to support the diversity of eligible contributions and personal circumstances are embedded in our institutional processes and practices.
This project will:
- Establish current position around internal promotion at the University, including reviewing diversity and inclusivity data for previous internal promotion rounds.
- Understand the diversity of eligible contributions, especially those from non-traditional academic career paths or development trajectories e.g., the Professional Practice route.
- Understand what types of personal circumstances could present challenges to internal promotion, including effects and situations exacerbated by protected characteristics.
- Explore whether current documentation (job descriptions, guidance documentation) is fit for purpose e.g., accurately reflect the characteristics of the role being sought by the institution. Additionally confirm that they are sufficiently transparent and reflective of sector norms and inclusive.
- Identify ways of implementing and communicating any changes to the process and/or documentation, and for success measures for future internal promotion rounds.
By September 2025 this project will have completed the review and any changes implemented ahead of the next promotions cycle in early 2025.
Alignment with Concordat Principles:
Employment
Institutions (3): Provide clear and transparent merit-based recognition, reward and promotion pathways that recognise the full range of researchers’ contributions, and the diversity of personal circumstances.
Research managers (3): Commit to, and evidence, the inclusive, equitable and transparent recruitment, promotion and reward of researchers.