Sub-Committee on Researcher Career Development

• Terms of Reference: Remit and Purpose

  This entity is the vehicle for a researcher-led approach: a standing group of research and professional services representatives to steer the work of maintaining and enhancing our professional development offer for research staff by:

  • Providing strategic direction for researcher development initiatives across the university.
  • Collecting insight, assessing and highlighting the professional development needs of research staff.
  • Coordinating the sharing of best practice to minimise duplication of effort and leverage resources across members and wider-stakeholders.
  • Monitoring and driving progress against our approved Researcher Development Concordat Action Plan.
  • Developing position statements, policy proposals and working drafts of third-party award/signatory applications and self-assessments (e.g. UK Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers).

• Terms of Reference: Reserved Powers

  Drafting and dissemination of the action plans associated with external awards including HR Excellence in Research and the UK Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers.

• Action Plan

  HR Excellence in Research Forward Action plan for the University of St Andrews 2023-2025

• Meeting frequency

  Quasi-fixed: Core members will be expected to meet three times each year for 2 hours each time.

  For time sensitive activities, the group may spin-out smaller working groups who will dictate their own meeting rhythms and rituals.

• Core membership

  • Chair
  • Academic Lead
  • Executive Director of RSS
  • Two Principal Investigators 
  • Eight research representatives (two per disciplinary area as below, representing a diversity of career stages e.g. Early Career Contract Researchers and Established Independent Researchers):
    • Life Sciences
    • Physical Sciences
    • Social Sciences
    • Arts and Humanities
  • Two School/Dept level research support representatives
  • One Careers Service representative
  • One Human Resources representative

  Other members will be co-opted when needed. We foresee this including staff from Research and Innovation Services, CEED, St Leonard's College and Equality, Diversity & Inclusion, amongst others.

• Past papers and minutes

  No meetings have yet occurred.

• Role descriptions: Chair, Academic lead, Representative member

  Chair role description

  • Is a member of Professional Services staff, selected and/or approved by the Director of the Professional Services Unit that leads on the area within the Remit.
  • Responsible for ensuring that:
    • An Academic Lead is recruited, ideally someone who is a member of, or attends, RIIC
    • The following are written, with co-development and ownership by the Academic Lead:
      • Terms of Reference, including deciding on reserved powers, meeting frequency, core membership, and member recruitment process.
      • Member Role Descriptor.
      • Member Advert.
      • Pro-active horizon scanning is undertaken from within their Professional Services unit on matters relating to the remit and purpose, ensuring the input of others outwith the Unit as required.
      • The production of papers, reports and action plans is undertaken, led and/or coordinated from within their Professional Services Unit, ensuring the input of others outwith the Unit as required.
      • The action plan is updated and presented to each meeting of RIIC
      • Ongoing secretariat function is provided from within their Professional Services unit, including organising meetings in line with the terms of reference and joint decisions of the Chair and Academic Lead, and operating the member recruitment process as and when required.
    • The continued existence and Terms of Reference of the entity is reviewed, at the very least in line with the approval from RIIC (i.e. after 1 or 3 years of operation), but also on an ongoing basis: entities are strongly encouraged to emerge, disband, merge or split as and when needs change, irrespective of the next formal review point with RIIC.
  • With the Academic Lead, co-opts members beyond the core membership - whether permanently or for a certain amount of meetings.
  • Attends and chairs meetings, ensuring that decisions are reached in line with the process described in the Terms of Reference.
  • Attends meetings (most notably RIIC) to which proposals of the group are being presented, and co-presents (and co-owns) those proposals with the Academic Lead.
  • Attends meetings, and is an active member, of the Sub-Committee on Research Culture Coordination.
  • Co-ordinates completion of actions detailed in the action plan, and in doing so, ensures completion of relevant statutory processes (e.g. EIAs, DPIAs etc): to ensure this, Chairs are encouraged to meet with institutional leads on these areas, at the very least on EDI.

   

  Academic lead role description

  • Takes decisions on the following with the Chair, and co-owns those decisions:
    • Terms of Reference, including deciding on reserved powers, meeting frequency, core membership, and member recruitment process.
    • Member Role Descriptor.
    • Member Advert.
    • Reviewing the continued existence and Terms of Reference of the entity, at the very least in line with the approval from RIIC (i.e. after 1 or 3 years of operation), but also on an ongoing basis: entities are strongly encouraged to emerge, disband, merge or split as and when needs change, irrespective of the next formal review point with RIIC.
  • Involved in the operation of the member recruitment process as required, for example assisting in the advertising of roles, and any decision-making required within the process.
  • With the Chair, co-opts members beyond the core membership - whether permanently or for a certain amount of meetings.
  • Actively participates in the production of proposals, reports and action plans.
  • Attends meetings.
  • Chairs meetings when the Chair is unable due to absence or a conflict of interest, ensuring that decisions are reached in line with the process described in the Terms of Reference.
  • Attends meetings (most notably RIIC) to which proposals of the group are being presented, and co-presents (and co-owns) those proposals with the Chair.
  • Attends meetings, and is an active member, of the Sub-Committee on Research Culture Coordination.

   

  Representative member role description

  • Demonstrates clear interest and enthusiasm regarding, and experience of, the matters in the remit and purpose section of the Terms of Reference.
  • Attends, and actively contributes to, meetings, including actively engaging with the papers circulated ahead of meetings.
  • Actively participates in decision-making in relation to exercising the ‘reserved powers’ defined in the Terms of Reference, and the development of proposals produced for presentation elsewhere.
  • Actively participates in the production of proposals, reports and action plans, as required, including consulting with peers whom they represent.

   

• Process for recruitment of representative members

  Click here to for information.