De Montfort University Leicester
HR Excellence in Research Award: Strategy for
Researcher Support & Development, 2015-18
Action Plan, December 2014
1. Preamble
In the accompanying 4-Year Report, De Montfort University (DMU) described its key achievements
under the HR Excellence Award revised Action Plan for 2012-14. Section 3 of the Report provided
updates on that Plan, to show that the main objectives have either been met, or will have been met
by early 2015. Hence whilst many of the underpinning actions described therein will continue [e.g.
the activities of the Researcher Development Action Group (RDAG) in providing for regular
monitoring and review of DMU’s support for its PGR and research staff] we can move on with
confidence, to provide a set of new objectives that build upon strong foundations. Below we
provide a new Action Plan for the period 2015-18, with a focus on the first 2 years. This Plan is also
available on the DMU website at: http://www.dmu.ac.uk/research/research-support/research-staffdevelopment-concordat/).
2. Major initiatives planned for 2015-18
The University is proposing 2 major new initiatives in the period 2015-18, designed to add greater
depth and breadth to its support for early career researchers (ECR). These are:
 The creation of an Early Career Researchers’ Network (ECRN) at DMU to provide a framework for
support, networking, and collaborations. More specifically, it will seek to provide opportunities
and a supportive space for ECRs across the University to meet up and share their experiences.
The ECRN will offer:
 ECR Sessions [Concordat Principles 2-6] – a programme of workshops and socials designed to
offer mutual support and realistic (‘real-world’) advice to researchers at the beginning of their
careers. There will also be an opportunity to meet others informally and share the ‘highs and
lows’ of getting started in academia. The Sessions will also look at careers beyond academia, to
ensure that researchers are fully cognizant of the choices available to them.
 Email Updates [Concordat Principles 2-4] – regular bulletins on research funding news, training
opportunities, etc.
 ECRN Web Pages [Concordat Principles 1-6] – with a range of information on funding and
training aimed at supporting and developing ECRs at the University.
 ECRN Career-Builder [Concordat Principles 1, 3 and 4] – extending DMU’s existing Conference
Grants scheme (for PGR only) by providing basic support for travel and subsistence, e.g. in
connection with leadership development activities.
 ECR Ambassador [Concordat Principles 2-4, 6] (supported by RBI) – a part-time secondment
opportunity for a member of DMU’s academic staff, funded by RBI, designed to raise the profile
of ECRs at DMU and explore what they need on a practical, day-to-day level.
 Social Media (such as Twitter) initiatives [Concordat Principles 2-5], alongside the (non-virtual)
formal and informal networking events noted above.
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 The establishment of a Leicestershire Researcher Training Partnership (LE-RTP) designed to
facilitate the mutual ‘opening up’ of career development/skills training courses for early career
researchers across DMU, Leicester and Loughborough universities (NB. all 3 institutions are
located in, or within a 12-mile/19-km radius of the city of Leicester, with good transportation
links between them). The LE-RTP’s activities will include: the running of joint workshops, seminars
and other events for ECR; removing duplication of effort, by noting which ‘core’ courses for ECR
are common to all 3 universities, and agreeing to offer these as joint activities in 1 location only
(the location will likely rotate between the 3 institutions but the course content and trainer will
be the same); agreeing where the gaps are in current provision and seeking to eliminate these,
where possible using in-house trainers; and scoping the potential to use the combined research
strength of Leicestershire’s 3 universities to bid for external funding for researcher development,
along lines similar to those of the White Rose University Consortium established in 1997 by
Leeds, Sheffield and York – see http://www.whiterose.ac.uk/. [Concordat Principles 2-7].
3. Timescales, ownership and success measures
We envisage that the ECRN will be relatively straightforward to establish, and should be up and
running by the end of 2015. The LE-RTP initiative is more ambitious in scope, and is therefore
designed to be fully operational by the end of 2016. In the table below, we describe how we expect
each initiative to progress over the period 2015-18, but provide deadlines for 2015 and 2016 only.
Action
Owner(s)
Success measures
Deadline(s)
ACTION 1:
Formal launch of DMU Early Career
Researchers’ Network (ECRN)
[Mechanism: launch event with
attendant publicity on web and across
the DMU campus, scheduled for early
June].
RDAG* plus Drs
Rebecca Hames
(Research Councils
and Charities Officer,
RBI) and Lucy
Gregson-Green (P&D
Officer, RBI).
High level of awareness
and good attendance from
ECR at launch. Target: 20%
response rate from PGR
and research staff,
equating to c.150
attendees at the Network
launch.
30 June 2015.
ACTION 2:
ECR Sessions programme established
in the form of bi-monthly events, to
create a stronger sense of ‘belonging’
(community) at DMU [Mechanism:
events programme to be launched in
June 2015, with publicity campaign].
Drs Rebecca Hames
(Research Councils
and Charities Officer,
RBI) and Elizabeth
Lunt (P&D Officer,
RBI); and Kerry
Mason (T&D Officer,
Graduate School).
High and sustained levels
of participation in Sessions
programme. Target: 25%
participation (i.e. 1 in 4
ECRs will attend at least 1
Sessions event during the
year) by 31 December
2015. Aim to increase
participation to 30% by 31
July 2016.
31 Dec 2015
(first review);
31 July 2016
(second
review).
ACTION 3:
Email Updates, ECRN Web Pages,
Social Media, to distribute and share
information across the ECR
community at DMU [Mechanism:
create content for web pages, emails
and social media ‘tweets’].
RDAG members with
central co-ordination
by the RBI (web
editor will be based
in the RBI).
i) Improved levels of ECR
participation in T&D
programmes, ADR and
mentoring schemes.
Greater awareness of
external funding
opportunities. Greater
awareness of career
opportunities outside
i) Annual
reviews, by
31 Dec
each year.
First
review in
Dec 2015.
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ii) Annual
ACTION 4 :
Introduce ECRN Career-Builder and
ECR Ambassador scheme, to
encourage take-up of leadership
development activities [Mechanisms:
extend existing scheme for PGR
(Conference Grants fund) to include
research staff. Supplement with
additional funds from RBI budget, c.
£10,000 p.a. (subject to budgetary bid
being approved in June 2015).
Ambassador: bid for funds for parttime member of staff to be seconded
on 0.4 FTE basis from 1 August 2015].
Dr Elizabeth Lunt,
RBI; Mark Nicoll
(Head of
Organisational
Development, POD).
ACTION 5:
Establish and run a Leicestershire
Universities’ Researcher Training
Partnership (LE-RTP) [Mechanisms:
complete ECR mapping exercise with
representatives from the University of
Leicester and Loughborough
University; agree core provision;
agree which activities will be ‘shared’
events/courses; identify gaps in
provision and fill these by appropriate
means; agree mechanisms for ongoing operation and funding of all
activities badged as ‘LE-RTP’ events;
consider opportunities to bid for
regionally-based Doctoral Training
Partnerships or similar].
DMU: Dr Ray Kent
(Director of RBI); Dr
Elizabeth Lunt, RBI;
Mark Nicoll (POD).
Leicester: Drs Meera
Warrier (Research
Development Coordinator) and
Naomi Irvine (RS
Development
Officer).
Loughborough: Dr
Kathryn North
(Researcher
Development
Manager).
A secondment
opportunity will be
offered on a parttime (0.4 FTE) basis
to a member of
academic staff – to
be recruited.
of academia. Increased
number of visits to
careers adviser in SAAS.
ii) Improved employment
statistics for doctoral
graduates in both
academic and
commercial sectors, as
evidenced by data from
CRAC/Vitae PGR
destination surveys.
reviews,
following
release of
first
destination
reports.
If take-up of grants is low,
RBI will launch additional
publicity. Evaluate take-up
after first 12 months and
adjust budgetary bid for
2015/16 as appropriate. If
take-up is limited, consider
alternative mechanisms to
aid career planning.
31 December
2015 (CareerBuilder) with
further review
(Ambassador
and CareerBuilder) at 31
July 2016.
ECR Ambassador to have
regular (monthly) meetings
with Dr Elizabeth Lunt, to
monitor activities and
progress.
Mapping exercise
completed by 1 May 2015.
Mapping: by 1
May 2015.
Joint provision agreed and
LE-RTP publicity available
at all 3 universities in time
for formal launch of the
LE-RTP’s first set of courses
in October 2015.
LE-RTP-badged
activities run
for first time in
Autumn 2015.
Where appropriate,
further harmonisation of
provision to occur by 31
July 2016.
Bid to establish regional
training programme
modelled on ‘White Rose’.
Additional
courses in
place by 31
July 2016.
Joint bid
submitted to
RCUK by 31
December
2015.
* Membership of RDAG: Faculty Heads of Research Students (x 4); Professor John Young (Graduate
School); Mark Nicoll (POD); Dr Rebecca Hames (RBI); Dr Elizabeth Lunt (RBI); and Ann Baughan
(SAAS).
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