Have your say at a national level with CROS 2013

Time is running out to have your say in the Careers in Research Online Survey (CROS) 2013! Organised by Vitae, CROS is a unique opportunity for you to express your thoughts as a research staff member at a national level. The simple twenty-minute survey allows you to feedback to both the University and Vitae on issues such as working conditions, career aspirations and researcher support and development. 

If you participate, you’ll have a chance of winning one of six iPad Minis in the prize draw which will take place each week until CROS closes on Friday, 31 May!!

The link to the CROS survey is:  https://www.survey.bris.ac.uk/manchester/2013cros

So sit down with a cup of tea and spend time expressing your thoughts to the people who can make a difference in the support, development and workplace of research staff across the UK.

 

Incite Issue 15

Issue 15 of Incite is ready and should be landing on a coffee table/news stand near you, packed with relevant information and updates! Our lead article covers the Researcher Led Initiatives, which includes the RSA led project to extend access of research staff to University e-infrastructures and the recently held Manchester Mini Sandpit. If you are interested in engaging with your research staff community and expanding your skill set, this issue provides details  on how to do just that through Post-Doctoral Research Staff Representatives/Ambassadors. We also extend a warm invitation to join our team and become and Incite editor, including enticing quotes from editors past and present! We also take a closer look at research staff contracts through an informative interview with Pam Thompson, the membership and organising secretary for UMUCU, in addition to presenting a first-hand perspective on 3 month extended notice periods.

We hope you enjoy the issue, which can be accessed by clicking on the link to the left. As always, if we are not covering the topics that are important to you please let us know by sending an e-mail to incite@manchester.ac.uk.

Kate Meade, EPS

Call for INCITE editors: Closes 16 October 2012

THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER

Call for INCITE editors: Closes 16 October 2012

The Editorial Board of the University’s Incite Newsletter is seeking to recruit an editor from across all four faculties.

Incite is a high profile University–wide Newsletter that focuses on personal and career development essentials for research staff (latest edition available at: http://manchesterincite.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/incite_issue_14.pdf).

It is written by research staff for research staff and contains up-to-date news on topics such as funding opportunities, skills training, conferences, events and opportunities to enhance research careers.

The Newsletter is distributed to research staff across the University and to all central training and service providers (such as Careers, Library, MEC and UMIP) and the University’s senior management. An Editorial Team made up of research staff and postdocs recruited from each Faculty publishes the newsletter three times a year.

The benefits of becoming an Incite editor include:

• Add ‘Editorial experience’ to your CV
• Raise your own profile;
• Get excellent hands-on experience to develop your team work, negotiation and communication skills;
• Influence and report on research staff training and development opportunities, both local and national;
• Familiarise yourself with the deeper context of researcher development at the institutional and national level;
• Help build a community voice for research staff at Manchester;

The expectations of an Editorial Team member are to:

Work closely with other members of the Editorial Team (up to two research staff from each Faculty) to undertake all aspects of publication including:

• Generating ideas for content;
• Writing/commissioning/conducting interviews for articles;
• Editorial appraisal of submitted contributions;
• Proof reading;
• Laying out the first proof and liaising with external designers and printers on matters of design, format and printing;
• Attending Editorial Team meetings (up to 4 per year of 2 hours duration)
• Positively promote the Newsletter in your Schools & Faculty;
• Help to identify and attend promotional opportunities e.g. the annual Research Staff Conference, induction events, Pathways etc;
• Contribute to the Incite blog (see http://manchesterincite.wordpress.com/)

 

Other points of information include:

• We estimate that each Editor will need to contribute approx. 2 hours per month over and above the time need to attend Editorial meetings;
• An editor will make a commitment of at least 6 months following their appointment.

Interested?

Applications, including a statement of why you are interested in becoming an Incite editor, any relevant experience and the skills you would bring to the post, should be submitted by midnight Tuesday 16 October to Dr Mark Leech, mark.j.leech@manchester.ac.uk

Shortlisted candidates will be interviewed in the following week.

Manchester Mini Sandpit event, 5th Nov 2012 – book now!

The Research Staff Association (RSA) and Incite invite you to play in the first ever Manchester Mini Sandpit; a compressed version of the interactive, multidisciplinary workshops used by funding bodies to drive lateral thinking and radical approaches to research challenges.

As research funding becomes more competitive and inter-disciplinary, the need to develop and improve grant writing, creative thinking and cross-discipline communication skills is ever greater. This one-day event aims to inspire innovative and ground-breaking thinking through the inter-disciplinary collaboration of research staff from all four faculties.  Participants will gather into multi-disciplinary groups where they will then work together to formulate novel ideas to overcome real issues currently faced by the City of Manchester, as presented by Jessica Bowles (Head of City Policy, Manchester City Council). In addition to providing the opportunity to improve their skill sets to real-life problems, attendees will also be advised on grant writing and the art of creative thinking. Speakers sharing their expertise and experience of Sandpit events and successful grant writing include Professor Terry Brown (Faculty of Life Sciences – Computational and Evolutionary Biology Research Group), Dr Herve Boutin (Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences), Dr Paul Chan (Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences) and Dr Lynn Clark (Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences).  At the end of the day teams will give a brief five minute presentation, with the group with the best proposal winning High Street/Amazon vouchers!

The event will be held on the 5^th November and is specifically designed to appeal to and benefit research staff from all four faculties. It is an exciting opportunity to explore what you can contribute, conceive and achieve outside your current research project.

Lunch and refreshments will be provided. Please register for the event by following the link: Manchester Mini Sandpit Registration

Latest issue of incite

Issue 14 of incite is all about the themes of this year’s research staff conference, which explored how you can influence others, get inspiration, and extend your impact to ensure a successful research career.

We learn more about each of these themes across the University through articles, including a Q&A with Dr Adrian West who tells us how we can be more creative, and an article about mythbusting the impact agenda, written by Liz Venn. We also hear from selected research staff who have influenced, inspired and impacted both within and outside the University. In addition, we welcome our newest incite editor, Dr Kate Meade, from the School of Materials in the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences.

Click the link on the left to download the current issue. We hope you enjoy it! As always, if you have any suggestions for articles or content for the next issue, please get in touch with us at incite@manchester.ac.uk.

Congratulations to… Incite and RSA! “Manchester Mini Sandpit” event coming soon

Incite teamed up with the Research Staff Association and won the University’s Researcher-Led Initiatives Competition 2012. The winning proposal aims to hold a ‘Manchester Mini Sandpit’ event. Sandpits are often organised by funding bodies to facilitate research grant applications. A sandpit is an interactive workshop involving a highly multidisciplinary mix of participants, some being active researchers and some being potential users of research outcomes, to drive lateral thinking and radical approaches to addressing particular research challenges (see e.g. EPSRC).

The Manchester Mini Sandpit event will provide researchers with training in developing research proposals and working collaboratively in an interdisciplinary environment. Focussing on a theme relevant to Greater Manchester, it will also help to raise awareness of social responsibility and the impact that such collaborations can have on issues concerning the local community.

The event will be held in autumn 2012 and is open for all research staff across all four faculties of the University. We’ll post more details and the event date here when these are available.

New University Research Staff Handbooks

The University has recently launched the Research Staff Handbook, which is now available to both new and existing research staff. The booklet, which comes in four Faculty versions, contains faculty specific and institutional information regarding facilities, departments, policies and procedures designed to support research staff and aid their personal and professional development.

The handbook serves as a reference point that researchers can turn to for key information and contacts as they progress through their career. The booklet provides details of the Performance and Development Review Process and describes the Researcher Development Framework. Information regarding training and development opportunities at faculty, University and national levels are also provided ensuring that researchers are fully aware of what is available to them.

Printed copies of the handbook are now available from your Human Resource team, and online from the following links:

MHS: http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=12975
EPS: http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=12976
HUM: http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=12977
FLS: http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=12978