The Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers
(also known as the 'Researcher Development Concordat')
The University is proud to have been awarded the European Commission’s HR Excellence in Research badge.
The University’s journey in the implementation of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers started in 2008, when the original 2008 Concordat was published. In 2010/11, the university was awarded the HR Excellence in Research award in recognition of our commitment to and the implementation of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers.
Since the original award, the University has successfully renewed it’s badging following a biennial review process. The next renewal of the award, marking the 12-year anniversary, will take place in 2024. In 2021, the university re-confirmed it's continuing commitment to the Principles of the Concordat by becoming a signatory to the new 2019 Researcher Development Concordat.
Renew and refresh: 2019 Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers
In 2019, following a sector-wide consultation a new ‘Researcher Development Concordat’ was launched to update and refresh the original 2008 version. The Concordats are agreements between stakeholders involved in supporting research staff and aim to improve employment and support for researchers and research careers in UK higher education.
The 2019 Concordat sets out 3 guiding Principles and outlines the key responsibilities for four main stakeholder groups. The ambitions of the Concordat are and always have been to facilitate a research culture and environment that has greater transparency and stability and support for the researcher community.
The University published it’s ongoing commitment to the Principles of the Concordat, in a letter signed by the Vice Chancellor committing to our implementation of the 2019 Researcher Development Concordat.
In 2021, the Research Staff Group commissioned a RAG analysis on the institutional readiness to the new 2019 Researcher Development Concordat. A Task and Finish Group comprising researchers, academics and professional service staff utilised the findings of this RAG analysis during their research and writing of a new forward facing action plan and strategy. To support the implementation of the Concordat we will continue to publish an implementation strategy (2022-2026, 2024-2027) alongside an implementation action plan (2022-2024, 20224-27).
We will continue to report on the implementation of the Concordat, through a review process commissioned by the institutional Researcher Academy Research Staff Committee, which will be presented to Council annually.
Researchers at the University can read more about the Concordat implementation and evaluation processes on the Researcher Academy’s Research Staff SharePoint site.
Concordat Implementation
As part of our commitment to the implementation of the Concordat the University produces a biennial progress report and renewed implementation action plan. These review documents can be viewed below:
12 year evaluation 2024
2023 annual progress report
10 year evaluation 2022
8 year evaluation 2020 (peer review)
Read the report | 1 document - contents:
- Summary and progress report (published January 2020)
- Progress and Update on the Concordat Action Plan 2017-2019
- Concordat Action Plan 2019-2021
6 year evaluation 2018
Read the report | 1 document - contents:
- Summary and progress report (published January 2018)
- Progress and Update on the Concordat Action Plan 2015-2019
- Concordat Action Plan 2018-2020
4 year evaluation 2015 (peer review)
2 year evaluation 2013
Original Action Plan 2011
Our 12 year evaluation of Concordat implementation will be undertaken in January 2024.