Researcher Development Concordat

The Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, aka, The Researcher Development Concordat, is an agreement between researchers, managers of researchers, institutions, and research funders on the expectations for the professional development and employment conditions of researchers in the UK.

The Vice Chancellor of Wrexham University, Professor Maria Hinfelaar, signed the Researcher Development Concordat on 14th February 2022. Our letter of commitment, alongside our gap analysis, action plans, and annual report, can be seen below.

To ensure we complete our action plan and fulfil our responsibilities to the best of our ability, we’ve formed a Researcher Development Concordat Working Group, consisting of 18 members from across the University at different career stages. Eight members are professional services staff, ten are academics, and many have management responsibilities.

The Researcher Development Concordat Explained

Transcript

Research Training & Development

Training & Events for Postgraduate Research Students, PostDocs, Research Assistants and Academic Staff.

Our Current Actions

Research Culture Cafe, Researching Sensitive Topics

At the beginning of December 2023, Dr Tegan Brierley-Sollis hosted the first-ever academic-led Research Culture Café at Wrexham on researching sensitive topics.

The small group of attendees discussed the challenges inherent in researching sensitive topics - particularly with marginalised groups of people. Some of the points raised regarded what we actually mean by ‘sensitive’, how we can actively listen better and deliver honest interpretations of people’s words.

Next, the group read through a draft document of ‘Guidance for Trauma-Informed Research Practice’, devised by Tegan based on research evidence. Some fascinating insights arose about the sections on language and self-care, and the group benefited from the multi-disciplinary viewpoints of the attendees’ subjects of law, criminal justice, policing, psychology, and engineering.

At the time, Tegan said,

“The Culture Café was a brilliant way to connect with researchers on issues relating to researching sensitive topic areas. The discussion was incredibly helpful and will help in the forming of trauma-informed research guidance”

Following the session, the guidance document is drafted in full and now circulating different committees/groups within the university for further feedback via different lenses e.g. race equality. Once amendments are made based on feedback, the document will be published so that other researchers can use the guidelines.

“The Culture Café really helped to build a foundation on what to include in the document and was an opportunity to feed into the content itself. I think it also gave those who attended the space and time to reflect on their experiences too.”