This blog comes to you from the interdisciplinary Researcher Professional Development team at the University of Sheffield. We’ll be updating on researcher issues, national news and trends, key achievements for the team, and other things that research staff, and staff development professionals will find of interest.
As a re
searcher developer I often support early career researchers who are interested in applying for a fellowship with the Higher Education Academy which allows an individual to demonstrate their commitment to professionalism to learning and teaching in higher education. A key challenge researchers have is to understand all the different opportunities that count as relevant experience that can be used in an application. Many initially think that teaching experience is simply standing in front of a lecture theatre full of undergraduate students and that if they haven’t previously gained that experience then they can’t demonstrate teaching in a University. This isn’t the case as relevant teaching comes in all forms for a HEA fellowship including delivering tutorials, seminars, small group facilitation, research supervision, essay setting and marking, mentoring, online module development etc. etc. Read the rest of this entry »
Each Friday we post a new v i s t a profile, a career beyond the academy story (use the tags at the bottom of the post to find the entire list). These posts accompany our curated events to support post-PhD career transitions, v i s t a mentoring, and also #sheffvista on Twitter.
Job title and company: Operational Research Analyst – Home Office
Approximate salary range for your type of role: £30-£40k
At 18, I took what now seems like the hopelessly quaint view that if you could, you should go to university and study something that interests you (admittedly, this was when tuition fees were a grand a year, and maintenance grants were still a thing). I ended up studying Biochemistry, and then, keen to experience my field from the front line of research, I stayed on at the same University and did a PhD. Read the rest of this entry »
I am back from holiday, gearing up my mindset to face the next academic year.
I have just started to review the uptake on a writing programme we have organised for Research Staff in early September. The writing programme is called “Facing the challenge of effective writing” and is run over 4 days (11-14th September); Read the rest of this entry »
Each Friday we post a new v i s t a profile, a career beyond the academy story (use the tags at the bottom of the post to find the entire list). These posts accompany our curated events to support post-PhD career transitions, v i s t a mentoring, and also #sheffvista on Twitter.
Job title and company: Assistant Departmental Administrator (Projects), University of Cambridge
Approximate salary range for your type of role: Grade 7 (£29,000-£34,000)
I completed my PhD in History at the University of Sheffield in August 2015 and moved straight out of academia. I submitted my thesis on the Friday and got my first job on the Wednesday following! I’d worked on a lot of different projects in public engagement and on studentship boards during my doctoral studies and I was keen to see where these different paths could lead. Read the rest of this entry »
My work in designing mentoring programmes naturally covers mentor ‘training’. I’ve been at it again this morning, meeting one of my groups incoming onto the September to March Researcher Mentoring Programme.
Actually I prefer to say mentor development, because training is too directive a notion to be a good way of describing how we use workshops to get to grips with the practices of mentoring — which is itself a very non-directive activity. As with all types of learning & teaching, there’s not a ‘right way’ to do mentoring, each mentor chooses their own approach, style and practices, and applies them in different situations and contexts. Read the rest of this entry »
Each Friday we post a new v i s t a profile, a career beyond the academy story (use the tags at the bottom of the post to find the entire list). These posts accompany our curated events to support post-PhD career transitions, v i s t a mentoring, and also #sheffvista on Twitter.
Job title and company: Online Content Developer for the Centre for Academic Practice Enhancement (CAPE) at Middlesex University.
My academic career began as a Lecturer in Languages at Coventry University. I also tutored in Business for Cambridge Education Group in Coventry, and I complemented this experience with further roles as a research assistant at University of Warwick and research associate at University of Leicester and juggled all these roles whilst I studied for my PhD. Read the rest of this entry »
As the Bank Holiday Monday approached I wondered how I would spend this wonderful free extra ‘me’ time. I had to stop to think about it as the week before my son came home on leave from the army and found himself with a day free and said he didn’t know how to spend it. It didn’t happen that often and it was a problem! In the end he came round to our house and played some old video games with his sister and they both really enjoyed it. They laughed and chatted and remembered old times. Perhaps that is one idea, to take time out to reconnect and do things that make us happy with people we care about. Read the rest of this entry »
Each Friday we post a new v i s t a profile, a career beyond the academy story (use the tags at the bottom of the post to find the entire list). These posts accompany our curated events to support post-PhD career transitions, v i s t a mentoring, and also #sheffvista on Twitter.
Job title and company: I think my job title is ‘freelance training consultant’ or it could be ‘company director’. Either way, I am self-employed as someone who goes around running training workshops for clients, and my company is called Cambridge Training Associates.
Approximate salary range for your type of role: The salary for someone who does what I do and is self-employed is hard to predict but to give you a ballpark number, let’s say £35 – £55k.
I do have a company webpage and a Twitter account: And because I’m self-employed, I created and run them all myself – I hope you like them! Website for my company. Twitter – @camtrainingassoc And LinkedIn. Read the rest of this entry »
This is a guest post by Saima Eman, PhD Commonwealth Scholar, Psychology, University of Sheffield and Lecturer in Psychology, Lahore College for Women University, Lahore, Pakistan
Since technology is the main source of information diffusion, it goes without saying that the online presence and online interaction of researchers is indispensable. Below follow some ideas from my own experience, for joining in global discussions, and for expanding the reach of your research.
In addition to looking for a new job or position, maintaining a researcher profile online is equally essential for career progression and reputation. Websites such as Researchgate, Linkedin Facebook, Google scholar, and a personal university webpage Google sites and Wixsite are very useful in recording the research work including published research, research projects, and achievements as a researcher. Read the rest of this entry »
What happens after you’ve participated in a development event? Do you put together an action plan to implement what you have learned or do you take your time and apply your knowledge/skills as and when they are required? I know that I’ve been guilty of completing an evaluation form immediately after a workshop, identifying three things I will do as a result of attending and then months later I haven’t actually followed through with my grand plans. Sometimes this is because priorities change and other times it’s because I haven’t taken the time to properly reflect on the outcomes of an event and whether or not I will ever put them into practice. Read the rest of this entry »
