There are a wide range of opportunities to support your development and progress your career. These include a range of workshops mapped to Vitae’s Researcher Development Framework, and signposting to resources and support networks.
The Curriculum and Education Development Academy (CEDA) team helps translate university educational strategy into excellent teaching practice and student learning experience at Lancaster and its strategic partners. Visit the CEDA webpages to find out about teaching development programmes and qualifications, curriculum design advice, and teaching development workshops.
The Head of Department (HoD) development programme aims to equip new HoDs, through a tailored programme of blended development interventions, with the knowledge, underpinning understanding and associated skills and behaviours aligned to the role.
The programme is appropriate for newly appointed HoDs, existing HoD’s, deputy HoDs and academics who may be considering applying for the role within the next year.
On appointment, all new HoDs will have a meeting with an Organisational Developer to discuss their development needs, outline the development offer available and agree a tailored programme of activities.
The development programme comprises the following elements outlined in the .
HoD Workshops
This workshop series covers the essentials that incoming HoDs need to know. Dates and times are shown below. HoD’s will be invited to these workshops by Organisational Development. The workshops are also appropriate for colleagues who may be considering the role of HoD, if you have a colleague they might be suitable for please ask them to contact OD.
For session descriptions, please see the .
HR System Demonstration - There are no sessions currently scheduled, a recording is available upon request. Please contact OD.
Health and Safety - The Health and Safety team will be in touch with HoD’s directly to arrange this session.
Academic Promotions - TBC
Academic Probation - Tuesday 8th October 2024, 2pm-3pm (Online)
Student Support Structures - Tuesday 25th February 2025, 1pm-2pm (In-Person)
Finance and Budgeting - TBC
Legal Responsibilities - Corporate Governance - Friday 17th January 2025, 1.30pm-3.30pm (In-Person)
Legal Responsibilities - Staff and Students - Wednesday 23rd April 2025, 10am-12.30pm (In-Person)
Research Support
The Research Support Office provide Information and Guidance specifically for HoD's, please see the useful documents linked from this webpage.
For specific advice and guidance please contact your Faculty Contacts. The Faculty Research Development Partnership Manager will conduct an induction with all new HoD's.
For general enquiries regarding HoD development, please email OD.
A Managers Handbook has been developed to support senior academic and professional services leaders and managers to feel effective in their role, with appropriate signposts for further information and support. The handbook will be useful if you are a new Head of Department and will be a key point of reference beyond.
There is a comprehensive range of resources available in the Management Resources - self-directed study section.
The Leader@Lancaster programme recognises that leaders are found across the University in different roles and at different levels.
The Leader@Lancaster programme aims to develop leaders to:
Do you lead a defined area of work, activity or project that requires you to delegate to others who are not necessarily in your team? Does your role require you to influence others across your department, faculty or the institution? If you answer yes to these questions, the Leader@Lancaster programme is likely to be appropriate.
The programme is typically (but not exclusively) aimed towards leaders in grades 6 and 8.
If you are looking to develop your management skills then you may like to consider the Manager@Lancaster programme designed for managers with operational line management responsibilities for staff, typically (but not exclusively) aimed towards managers in grades 6 - 7/8 and is appropriate for both Professional and Academic staff.
The programme consists of the following elements:
A one-and-a-half-hour introductory workshop
The completion of a 360 degree appraisal and personal feedback of the results
Four half day workshops
Three one-hour small group discussion forums between the workshops to reflect on the learning from each workshop. These groups will be facilitated by the course tutor and will enable more detailed discussion of the topics that have been covered.
Applications for this cohort are now closed. To express your interest in future cohorts, please contact OD.
Introductory workshop: 9th January 2025 9.30am - 12pm (Face to Face)
Workshop 1- The Leadership Challenge: 6th February 2025 9.30am - 1pm (Face to Face)
Discussion Groups: 26th February 2025 (Online) Time slots will be allocated to you once the programme has begun.
Workshop 2- The Inclusive Leader: 11th March 2025 9.30am - 1pm (Face to Face)
Discussion Groups: 27th March 2025 (Online) Time slots will be allocated to you once the programme has begun.
Workshop 3- Leading Change: 15th May 2025 9.30am - 1pm (Face to Face)
Discussion Groups: 3rd June 2025 (Online) Time slots will be allocated to you once the programme has begun.
Workshop 4- Leading with Impact and Influence: 17th June 2025 9.30am - 1pm (Face to Face)
Coaching session - This will be about a month after the final workshop. Time slots will be allocated to you once the programme has begun.
Consolidation Event – 17th July 2025 10am-12pm (Face to Face)
Applications will be open from the 30th September - 26th October 2024.
To find out more about the programmes and have your questions answered please come to one of the briefing sessions:
This workshop is appropriate for anyone that may need to have one-to-one conversations such as about poor performance, student conduct, or negative attitudes.
At the end of the workshop you will be able to:
The sessions are to be held online via MS Teams. Please click on one of the links below to book your place.
Thursday 19th September 2024, 10am-12.30pm (Online)
Wednesday 13th November 2024, 10am-12.30pm (Online)
Monday 20th January 2025, 10am-12.30pm (Online)
Tuesday 4th March 2025, 10am-12.30pm (Online)
Thursday 22nd May 2025, 10am-12.30pm (Online)
There is a comprehensive range of resources available in the Management Resources - self-directed study section.
Manager@Lancaster is a development programme with a difference. Tailored to the needs of Lancaster University managers the programme supports and challenges managers to develop the knowledge, skills and behaviours required to build and develop high-performing teams.
The programme incorporates a range of activities that are practical and highly relevant to the managers role. The programme has been running for several years and has consistently received excellent reviews and has supported managers in enhancing their practice and finding solutions to common management challenges.
Manager@Lancaster is designed for staff with operational line management responsibilities, typically (but not exclusively) aimed towards managers in grades 5 - 7/8. and is appropriate for both professional services and academic staff.
Your responsibilities should include formal line management of staff that typically includes the recruitment and induction of staff and conducting PDRs.
For team supervisors and those aspiring to be a line manager in the future there is a Stepping into Management workshop.
Please ensure that you have the full support from your line manager before applying for this programme. There is a significant time and effort commitment, to attend workshops and to complete the variety of activities associated with the programme. However, the payback is equally as great, as the phrase goes… ‘you get out what you put in’. Please note that you will have to do some work outside of the workshops in order to complete the presentations, we recommend you start this as soon as possible after starting the programme.
Consolidation event: 21st January 2025,10am-12pm (Face to Face)
Applications for this cohort are now closed. To express your interest in future cohorts, please contact OD.
Workshops
Project
Consolidation event: 8th July 2025,10am-12pm (Face to Face)
Applications will be open from the 30th September - 26 October 2024.
To find out more about the programmes and have your questions answered please come to one of the briefing sessions:
One of the key facets of professional and academic success, is to help to develop and empower those around you. Moreover, it is also vital for us to seek out the right people to help support and challenge us as we develop. Some development occurs formally, through training and supervision, but some happens in perhaps a less organised form, via mentoring and coach-like support.
In this session, we'll explore what mentoring is (and is not) and how to build developmental relationships to help realise an individual’s potential.
We will also consider the skills of mentoring and coaching - such skills as consciously designing an alliance, listening, questioning and goal setting that can help you in your role as you develop and manage others.
Dates:
How do we organise events in this new and ever-changing climate? While a number of the key principles of events management remain in place, we have had to adapt our working practices to plan, deliver and evaluate successful online events.
Join Dr Anna Mackenzie, lead for the University’s central Events Team to discuss events management (for any size and all types of events, whether for academic or professional services purposes), share experiences, learn about new innovations to events at Lancaster, and above all hopefully gain some confidence! We will introduce you to the cross-University Events Network, signpost you to resources to support planning, and answer as many questions as possible. Bring your questions, musings and challenges to workshop with the group in a supportive environment and learn from each other.
Wednesday 29th January 2025, 1pm-4pm (In-Person)
Wednesday 14th May 2025, 1pm-4pm (In-Person)
There is an events network Teams group for advice and guidance and to post your questions on event management questions.
The role of the PI (and CoI) is a vital one, both for the success of the University itself, but also in enhancing and supporting the career development and personal growth of the researchers, postdocs and PhD researchers employed within any given research project.
The new concordat to support the career development of researchers (Sept 2019) identifies three areas to which PIs (and universities more generally) must pay specific attention:
To support our PIs a specifically tailored session which offers a practical mix of Lancaster-based information and leadership considerations is being held. This will be linked both to the new Concordat, grounded in good research practice and based on feedback from existing PIs about the needs and gaps that they have identified in their own practice.
Tuesday 25th February 2025, 9.30am-4.30pm (In-Person)
Programme outline:
This re-designed programme has been developed around the UKCGE framework and will help you consider student-supervisor relationships and explore how to manage them more effectively. It will focus on the expectations of both parties; how to build and maintain supervisory relationships and strategies for dealing with potential problems.
Your questions and concerns will be addressed, and you will be provided with a toolkit for proactively managing your side of this important relationship.
We will encourage you to reflect on your existing skills and to share best practice with others, building a support network for the future.
You will need to commit to both the full-day workshop and the follow-up peer coaching activity.
Covering all stages of academic, research and teaching progression, Preparing for promotion: academic, research and teaching staff offers a range of interactive activities including, case studies from each of the relevant promotional pathways, workshops on the relevant faculty processes, and support available to individuals as they navigate their careers and prepare for promotion.
For more information visit the Preparing for Promotion Webpages.
Please contact OD if you have any queries or would like to register your interest.
For researchers, much professional development and advancement is linked to successfully delivering projects. Any post-doctoral or early–career researcher will have had to organize, analyse and present an enormous amount of information, set goals, reviewed progress - and probably worked with others to encourage them to do the same. However, for many researchers and research leaders, these actions are not often contained within a cogent Project Management framework.
This programme offers two linked sessions (and a small amount of preparatory and interim work) that will equip researchers with practical tools and new ways of thinking to help them manage projects with confidence. At all times the programme will be contextually rooted in the realities of academic research management.
This focused programme will equip delegates with professionally applied project management skills and an overview of various project-planning tools and techniques. The phased sessions will help participants to build a toolkit and an approach to projects that they can use with their own work and teams immediately and in any future projects. However, we will not be addressing issues specific to the administrative and financial systems at Lancaster.
In the first session, we’ll tighten up the essential elements of Research Project Management and equip participants with a series of tools to help with:
In the second session we’ll build on the material covered in session one, and explore
Wednesday 15th and 22nd January 2025, 9.30am-12.30pm (Online)
Thursday 5th and 12th June 2025, 9.30am-12.30pm (Online)
Please note to get maximum value out of the programme you are required to attend both sessions. Therefore your registration will sign you up for both sessions.
This bespoke researcher and academic induction and development programme is for all those new to research at Lancaster. This interactive session will cover the essentials of working at Lancaster and follow with the opportunity to network with other new researchers to create connections for the future.
From attending this session, you will come away with:
*Please note this programme does not replace any faculty or departmental induction but will enhance any local offering by giving direct access to support networks available to you.
Tuesday 19th November 2024, 10am-12.30pm (In-person)
Wednesday 5th February 2025, 1pm-3.30pm (In-Person)
Thursday 8th May 2025, 10am-12.30pm (In-Person)
The research funding: what you need to know for success series is of relevance to early career researchers, research staff, academics and PIs who are new to Lancaster or those who wish to have a reminder of best practices and support available.
Research funding: what you need to know for success
From exploring the research funding landscape and identifying relevant opportunities to adhering to funder requirements and conducting your research with integrity, this series offers an overview of the research lifecycle and ensures you are connected with key contacts who can help you at Lancaster. The series is of relevance to early career researchers, research staff, academics and PIs who are new to Lancaster or those who wish to have a reminder of best practices and support available.
There are currently no dates scheduled for this workshop. Please contact OD to register your interest.
This workshop is designed for any member of academic or research staff from any discipline. This session will expose you to:
There are currently no dates scheduled for this workshop. Please contact OD to register your interest.
All sessions will take place in person.
Workshops 1 and 2 are independent of one another however we recommend applicants attend each session where possible to understand the full range of support and advice available to them with the research grant application process.
We are running termly information sessions for Research Grant Holders to support you in navigating the internal processes associated with running a research grant.
We will be joined by colleagues from across professional services teams, and we will be covering a range of topics including:
Please note that you are required to attend both workshops, therefore you will only need to register once.
There are currently no dates scheduled. To register your interest in future session, please contact OD.
A new series of reflective and interactive events to inspire and motivate those who lead research at Lancaster. They look at leadership at different levels and complement existing programmes.
Designed as a pathway with options for those with a variety of experiences, the series starts with a reflective workshop aimed at those just moving into research leadership, and those aspiring to leadership roles, helping them to explore their personal ambitions and create a development plan. There are two ‘stories’ sessions with input from a range of research leaders and a bespoke session for Lancaster’s Professoriate.
These sessions are aimed at different audiences, if you are in doubt as to which might be most appropriate for you, please contact OD for further information.
All those aspiring to move into leadership in a research environment and those who have already started their journey.
Providing researchers with the space to reflect on, consider and develop their personal research leadership development plan. Drawing on a range of experiential and interactive activities, the workshop adopts a values- and strengths-based approach to help researchers identify how developing effective research leadership can benefit them within their personal research environment.
Note this workshop is heavy on the self-reflection and is not intended to provide information pertaining to leadership funding or awards, although such information might be shared by attendees.
Tuesday 10th September 2024, 9.30am-4pm (Online)
Wednesday 12th March 2025, 9.30am-4pm (In-Person)
Who for? All Professors
Lead by the Senior Leadership Team including Vice-Chancellor, Pro-Vice-Chancellors and other guests.
Come together with other senior members of the institution and share thoughts on the key strategic priorities. Each session will be hosted by a member of the senior leadership team, giving them a chance to share with you the latest priorities for their areas. With time for discussion and idea sharing this is an opportunity for you to explore how you might increase your influence and impact.
Research Culture - with Malcolm Joyce: Thursday 14th November 2024, 1.30pm-3.30pm (In-Person)
The workshop will provide attendees with a space to reflect on, consider and develop time management strategies for themselves. Drawing on a range of experiential and interactive activities, the workshop adopts a values- and strengths-based approach to help attendees identify how developing effective time management can benefit them within their personal research environment.
While the exact content of the workshop will partly depend on the needs of attendees on the day, we aim to ensure that after attending the workshop, attendees will:
The University’s aim is that all candidates have a positive and equitable experience at all stages of recruitment and selection process.
This workshop aims to ensure that participants are equipped with the understanding, knowledge and skills to undertake fair and equitable recruitment and selection, ensuring that all candidates have a positive experience, and the best candidate is ultimately selected.
All panel chairs and all members of the recruiting panel are required to participate in Recruiting the Best training prior to engaging in any recruitment activity at the University.
Panel chairs need to attend the Recruiting the Best workshop. The workshops are held throughout the year. Panel chairs that have previously attended a workshop are required to take the Recruiting the Best online refresher course every three years to be kept abreast of best practice and legislative changes.
Panel members can participate in Recruiting the Best training in one of two ways. They can either attend the Recruiting the Best workshop, if places are available, or they can complete the Recruiting the Best online refresher course as an alternative.
The refresher online training is to be completed every three years to be kept abreast of best practice and legislative changes.'
This workshop ensures that all those involved in recruitment:
The sessions in 2024/25 will be a full day and held face to face. Please click on the links below to book your place. Please note that places on these events are limited and in high demand. We ask that you only book a place if you have recruitment activity coming up in the near future.
Thursday 3rd October 2024, 9.30am-4.30pm (In-person)
Wednesday 6th November 2024, 9.30am-4.30pm (In-person)
Wednesday 22nd January 2025, 9.30am-4.30pm (In-person)
Thursday 6th March 2025, 9.30am-4.30pm (In-person)
Wednesday 14th May 2025, 9.30am-4.30pm (In-person)
Wednesday 18th June 2025, 9.30am-4.30pm (In-person)
You are recommended to read the Lancaster University Recruitment & Selection Guidelines, available on the people section of the staff intranet and prepare any questions this raises – there will be a short opportunity with a HR Partner within the workshop to help you answer these.
In an increasingly competitive academic environment, having a social media presence is a valuable source of engagement and promotion of your scholarly work. Despite the endless possibilities, using social media for your scholarly communications can be a challenging task. Andy Tattersall, an Information Specialist at The School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR) at The University of Sheffield, will bring you up to speed with essential skills and offer top tips for using social media in a scientific context.
This programme is open to all LU academics and research staff who have an existing social media presence:
These sessions are designed to work as standalone workshops but can also be attended as a programme.
In this session we will begin by looking at Twitter as a tool to reach new audiences that include your academic peers, publishers, members of the general public and anyone else who would benefit from hearing about your research. We will explore the number one tool for communication by academics and go beyond the basics to show you how to navigate the Twittersphere and maximise your efforts using tips and tools to increase your impact. Finally, we will look at the thorny issue of reputation management and how to stay on the right side of social media and research communication. Following sessions will build upon this by showing you how to make professional-looking content to share across your social media platforms.
(Online)
Tuesday 14th January 2025, 10am-12pm
In this session we will build on the Workshop 1, we will go beyond Twitter and help you decide which other platforms to invest your time in. We will look at how you can make improvements to your various online profiles to increase your visibility and maximise your networks. For the majority of the workshop we will explore the more creative elements available to academics and research support staff when communicating their work. We will look at the possibilities of using video and animations as a way to create new outputs that can be accessed by wider audiences as well as showcase a few free and low cost tools that can be learned easily and applied to most research outputs
(Online)
Tuesday 21st January 2025, 10am-12pm
In this session we will look at some of the creative ways academics can proactively engage with wider audiences. The session will begin by showcasing how podcasts can be a cost-effective way to communicate a myriad of different outputs. The session highlights free tools that you can use to record, edit and host your very own podcast as well as the technical and ethical implications for doing so.
The second part of the session will cover writing for blogs and lay summaries and how to turn your complex academic paper into a short form, easier to digest article that can potentially gain media attention. We will also look at how AI might be able to help with these kinds of activities. Finally we will show how best to communicate your research across the media, the importance of owning the conversation. The session will teach academics and professional support staff how to engage with these mediums in a way that will demystify and build their confidence.
(Online)
Tuesday 28th January 2025, 10am-12pm
In this final of four sessions we will explore infographics and how they can be used to help disseminate research. We will look at a few platforms for creating illustrative and eye-catching static and interactive content and show how easy it is for someone to create their very first eye-catching data driven or qualitative poster. Finally, we will tie things together by looking at altmetrics and how they can be employed to get a better understanding of how your research is being received across the media and social networks among other avenues of communication.
(Online)
Tuesday 4th February 2025, 10am-12pm
Delivered by colleagues from our in-house communications team, this information session will provide you with a comprehensive overview of the types of service and processes in place to support academic media engagement. This session will cover:
(Online)
During this interactive online workshop you will reflect on your career choices and progression to date and consider how to strategically position yourself for success in the future.
This academic and researcher career development session will cover
(Online)
Visit the Career Management microsite to take stock of where you are now in your career and help you to plan for the future.
Researchers are expected to take ownership of their career, identifying opportunities to work towards their career goals and cultivate their independence. This includes engaging in a minimum of 10 days professional development (pro rata) per year as stated in Vitae’s Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and the University’s Code of Practice.
Prosper’s ultimate goal is to open up the huge talent pool that exists within the researcher community, by using an open-access portal to offer career support and guidance. It is a new approach to career development that unlocks researchers’ potential to thrive in multiple career pathways
Prosper is an interactive tool co-created with employers, and has resources, to help you:
This resource is open to all researchers and those who support them.
Find out more about this partnership between the Universities of Liverpool and Manchester and Lancaster University, see the Prosper website.
Lancaster University is fully committed to the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers. Our vision is for a fully integrated research community within which our exemplary research staff are provided equally exemplary opportunities to contribute, develop and progress. This is underpinned by a Code of Practice for Lancaster’s researchers, researcher managers and for the Institution itself.
The Concordat Implementation Group is the body that promotes and champions the Concordat agenda and monitors the delivery of Lancaster’s action plan. Lancaster's commitment to the Concordat has received European recognition in the form of the prestigious HR Excellence in Research award, first awarded to the institution in 2011.
The Curriculum and Education Development Academy (CEDA) team helps translate university educational strategy into excellent teaching practice and student learning experience at Lancaster and its strategic partners. Visit the CEDA webpages to find out about teaching development programmes and qualifications, curriculum design advice, and teaching development workshops.
The Engagement learning and development portal features toolkits, digital guides, videos and case studies to support the engagement activities of Lancaster University staff.
Aimed at researchers and professional services staff with a responsibility in this area, the portal is a one-stop-shop to support staff in delivering engagement and partnership activities including how to run events, working with the media, communicating research findings, influencing and negotiating and engaging with policymakers. It demonstrates how engagement can help further your career and has signposting to the teams and individuals at the University who can support your engagement activity.
An online course in Ethical Research for staff is available. The full course explores the theory of research ethics before taking you through the practical application of ethics in research.
You are required to complete the course if you are a new member of staff on a research or teaching & research contracts and are within five year of completing your PhD. It is expected that the course will take up to one hour to complete and you will need to do this within 3 months of your start date.
Completion of the core modules will be reflected in your HR record (PeopleXD) and you will receive a digital badge. The training is highly recommended for all staff involved in research and particularly for Principal Investigators and Doctoral Supervisors. A range of modules is available so you can select those most appropriate to your research.
The Ethical Research - for postgraduate researchers course has different requirements. Courses are also available in Research Integrity and Research Impact.
The courses collectively support the enhancement of research culture at the University.
An online course in Research Integrity for staff is available. The course supports the upholding of the highest standards of rigour and integrity in research.
You are required to complete the course if you are a new member of staff on a research or teaching & research contracts and are within five year of completing your PhD. It is expected that the course will take up to one hour to complete and you will need to do this within 3 months of your start date.
Completion of the core modules will be reflected in your HR record (PeopleXD) and you will receive a digital badge. The training is highly recommended for all staff involved in research and particularly for Principal Investigators and Doctoral Supervisors. A range of modules is available so you can select those most appropriate to your research.
The Research Integrity - for postgraduate researchers course has different requirements. Courses are also available in Ethical Research and Research Impact.
The courses collectively support the enhancement of research culture at the University.
LinkedIn Learning provides access to over 21,000 online learning courses, taught by industry experts. It is available to staff at Lancaster Bailrigg, Ghana and Leipzig campuses. LinkedIn courses support skills and personal development across a broad range of topics, particularly in the areas of technology, business and creative skills.
Courses vary in length from a few minutes to several hours and are broken down into bite-size video modules. There is no limit to the number of courses you can take, and you can pause a course at any point, picking up where you left off when you next login.
For information, please see LinkedIn Learning guidance.
Dr Kay Guccione (Glasgow University) writes an open-access blog for doctoral supervisors.
Requesting and tracking the 10-development day entitlement for those on a research-only contract. For example Indefinite with an end date.
Lancaster has launched a new centralised reporting mechanism for requesting and tracking the 10-development days researchers are entitled to, under the Researcher Development Concordat. This will replace any local systems and help with reporting under the terms of the Concordat action plan.
All researchers, research managers, PIs, CoIs etc should make themselves and their staff aware of the new process. Researcher staff will be able to request a development day using the HR self-service portal ‘PeopleXD’ and for managers/PIs to approve these development days.
These instructions will help you use the new reporting system.
Please see the Researcher development days guidance for guidance on how to make the most of your 10 Researcher Development days.
This personal professional development activity falls outside of any agreed development for researchers to undertake their roles and should be discussed as part of their PDR conversation focussing on longer term career objectives.
The Lancaster Code of Conduct shows the responsibilities of the 3 stakeholder groups – the Institutional commitment, the responsibilities of the research manager and the expectations of the researcher, under each of the Concordat themes.
Any questions to OD@lancaster.ac.uk
A new collection of essays provides valuable insights into the lived experiences of early career researchers and potential solutions to the difficulties they face. Written by early career researchers and published by the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) and the British Academy, they cover such topics as parenting as an early career researcher, chronic illness and disability, intersectionality, and the importance of supportive networks and mentors. As a collection, it adds new layers of complexity to our understanding of precarity and reinforces the importance of recent work by the Universities and Colleges Union (UCU) on Support for Research Staff.
Please see the time management section of our all staff page
