Research Staff Representation

Research Staff Representatives

The MSD Researcher Forum has representatives from all Medical Sciences departments. Department or faculty research staff representatives act as a two-way link between their wider peer group and the University's governance structure.

The role of the Research Staff Representative is to:

1. Act as formal representatives of the researcher community within their faculty/department/the colleges, at divisional researcher fora, and at University level committees and working groups, as required.
2. Listen and seek out views of colleagues in the faculty/department/the colleges so that views expressed in faculty/department, divisional, and college fora are representative of the views of the wider researcher community. In doing so, to encourage two-way communication with the wider researcher representational structure and the research community more broadly.
3. Identify, create, promote, and, where appropriate, drive initiatives, including networking events and opportunities, within the faculty/department/the colleges aimed at community building.
4. Identify opportunities for sharing good practice across the division/colleges and for supporting the efforts of faculty/department/the colleges in the interest of researchers.

Research Staff Advocates

With the agreement of the RSSC and RIC, the divisions have introduced a role of Faculty/Department
Advocate for Research Staff. Faculty/Department Advocates will provide academic strategic leadership
to promote and realise the vision of their respective faculty/department to provide a world-leading
environment for research staff.

Faculty/Department Advocates work with their Divisional Advocate to:

1. raise the profile of research staff and their individual development within the faculty/department by representing and promoting the interests of researchers at faculty/department committees, working groups, meetings, and through their membership of [insert name of any relevant divisional forum];
2. promote the development of faculty/department research staff fora and the selection of a researcher representative to join the divisional Research Staff Forum. Raise the profile of research staff within the faculty/department by working with senior colleagues to enable participation by researchers in faculty/department committees;
3. support and encourage researchers, particularly the faculty/department researcher representative and participants in faculty/department research staff fora, to identify, create, and drive initiatives aimed at community building (including networking events and training opportunities);
4. work with colleagues in the faculty/department to ensure that reasonable financial resources are made available for networking events and training opportunities for the researcher community in the faculty/department. The budget may cover expenses such as external speakers and catering, plus modest administrative support in organising events;
5. drive the ongoing development and implementation of the faculty/departments’ response to the University’s Concordat Action Plan , and to work in partnership with the Researcher Hub to steer local delivery of initiatives to address challenges faced by research staff and to progress delivery of commitments in the Concordat Action Plan, specifically relating to the roles of departments/faculties and academic managers;
6. collaborate with the approaches that the Conference of Colleges may develop on matters of mutual interest for college-only research staff;
7. share information about faculty/department activity to help inform divisional-level strategy and priorities for the career development of researchers, and to inform faculty/departments and researchers about divisional-level and University level initiatives and priorities;
8. work with the Divisional Advocate and other Faculty/Department Advocates within the division to share insights and good practice, and to ensure that the provision of support for research staff is consistent across faculty/departments, whilst taking into account differences in local research culture.

Further information and support:

• Support for researchers
• Researcher Hub
• Coaching and career planning