Phase III

Review of Technology Specialists supporting Research & Education (Phase III)

(Ongoing)

Terms of Reference

The purpose of the group is to review the areas listed below and make recommendations to the Academic Strategy Committee on proposed changes to role profiles, job titles, progression processes and use of fixed term contracts.  This work will be informed by research into practice within relevant Russell Group, other UK and global Universities and will build on work already undertaken.

  1. Identify roles1 within scope across the College, including Technology Specialists supporting Research & Education including Learning Technologists, Research Software Engineers, Instrument Specialists, Clinical Trial Specialist, Facility Managers, Statisticians
  2. Review the existing role profiles, job titles and progression processes.
  3. Review how any proposed changes to titles and progression processes would interact with the proposals made for new titles in the Research and Teaching job families.
  4. Make recommendations on how any proposed changes should be implemented and identify any implications for other structures and whether further work is required, which falls outside of the scope of this phase of work.

The Working Group will build on Phase 1 &2 and review the contract types of staff employed on long-term grant/project funds. Plus, the use of fixed-term contracts for all job families

1 Identifying criteria: roles that require knowledge gained through specialist training/qualifications, and drive development and innovation within their field.

 Approach

The existing cross-College Working Group will undertake the review, alongside a new workstream reflective of the areas under-review.  The approach to this work will be collaborative and inclusive of diverse views.

Group membership

Professor Peter Haynes

Professor Peter Haynes
Vice-Provost (Education and Student Experience)

Professor Mary Ryan

M Ryan

Professor Mary Ryan
Vice-Provost (Research and Enterprise)

Leila Guerra

L Guerra

Leila Guerra
Vice Dean (Education) Business School

Daljeet Birdy

D Birdy

Daljeet Birdy
Academic Progression and Job Evaluation Manager

Professor Jason Riley

J Riley

Professor Jason Riley
Vice- Dean (Education), Faculty of Engineering

Professor Ramon Vilar Compte

Professor Ramon Vilar Compte
Professor of Medicinal Inorganic Chemistry & Vice-Dean (Research), Faculty of Natural Sciences

Lynne Cox

Lynne Cox headshot

Lynne Cox
Director of Research Office

Dr Chris Watkins

Chris Watkins headshot

Dr Chris Watkins
Faculty Operating Officer, Faculty of Medicine

Professor Clare Lloyd

C Lloyd

Professor Clare Lloyd
Vice-Dean (Institutional Affairs); Faculty of Medicine

Matthias Heger

M Heger

Matthias Heger
School Manager (School of Public Health)

Dr Liz Elvidge

L Elvidge

Dr Liz Elvidge
Head of Postdoc and Fellows Development

Professor Martyn Kingsbury

M Kingsbury

Professor Martyn Kingsbury
Professor of Higher Education, Centre for Higher Education Research & Scholarship (CHERS)

Dr Vijay Tymms

V Tymms

Dr Vijay Tymms
UCU representative

Ahlam Khamliche

Blank profile picture

Ahlam Khamliche
Unite representative

Tanya Hunt

T Hunt

Tanya Hunt
Unison representative

Professor Jonathon Mestel

Professor Jonathon Mestel
Senior Consul & Professor of Applied Mathematics

Dr Julia Makinde

Dr Julia Makinde

Dr Julia Makinde
Honorary Lecturer, Department of Infectious Disease

Workstream Members

Review of Technology Specialists Workstream Members

Peter Haynes - Vice Provost (Education and Student Experience) (Joint Chair)

Mary Ryan - Vice Provost (Research and Enterprise) (Joint Chair)

Daniel Mitelpunkt - Digital Media Laboratory

Jeremy Cohen – Research Software Engineers

Alan Spivey – Associate Provost (Learning and Teaching)

Pat Evans - Facilities Managers

Patrick Brown (Instrument Engineers)

Liz Elvidge (or her representative) - Early Career Researchers

Finn Giuliani, Professor of Structural Ceramics/Academic Facility Manager

Julie King Centre of Academic English

Ana Costa-Pereira, Centre for Languages, Culture & Communication

Richard Fitzjohn, Principal Architect Research Software Engineer

Daniela Olivera Mesa, Technical Analyst.

Laura Lane, Graduate School

Richard Banks – Director of the IDEA Lab (Business School)

Beatriz Jiminez - NMR Facility Manager (FoM)

Nik Matthews - Genomics Facility (FoM)

Tim Venables – Faculty Operating Officer (FoE)

Nicholas Johnson – Research Fellow (FoM)

Support to Co-Chairs and Working Group

  • Audrey Fraser – Deputy HR Director, (Strategic Partnering and Reward)
  • Angela Kehoe - Head of HR for Faculty of Natural Sciences
  • Ellie Robinson – HR & Reward Co-ordinator

Meeting Summaries

February 2024

During the February meeting, the Working Group discussed what the common characteristics of specialist roles should be.  These characteristics will make up the Guiding Principles to identify, both fairly and transparently, which roles fall within scope of this job family across Imperial. The Working Group reviewed some of the requirements of current job descriptions to aid this discussion.

Characteristics agreed upon so far included:

  • The job requires knowledge that has required specialist training/qualifications, which are specifically recruited for and cannot be learnt on the job.
  • The individual has expertise, which they use to drive development and innovation within their field with independence (as opposed to following protocol).
  • In connection with their drive for innovation, roles may make a significant contribution to the writing of grant proposals and may also publish.
  • This job family would likely encompass roles at levels 3b to 6.

The Working Group stated that specialist roles can include researchers who are not necessarily PIs or running a research group, but still demonstrate the above characteristics.

The Working Group also discussed ensuring the job family is developed to fully recognise those with vital and specialist skills and work of the individuals within it to optimise their development at Imperial.

The meeting ended with discussions around the Workstream membership.