The FoH Early Career Researcher Committee (FoHECRC; formerly known as MDHECRC or Early Career Group (ECG)) champions the researcher career agenda within the Faculty of Health and steers the work of the Think Ahead programme which is managed by Dr Lucy Lee.
The committee is lead by Dr Silke Fricke and provides strategic thinking in the design of a comprehensive programme to equip junior researchers with skills which meet employers' needs. This committee's research interests include:
training needs analyses
impact evaluation of training and mentoring programmes
the staff appraisal process
This committee aims to ensure that all researchers in the Faculty have access to advice and training to develop their career trajectory.
Our aim is to work in close collaboration with the main ECR stakeholders themselves, namely ECRs within individual departments and representatives of the FoH Research Staff Association (FoHRSA).
We are committed to representing ECR interests in the faculty and more widely. Our overall vision and a definition of what you can expect from your departmental FoHECRC representative/ECR Lead can be found here. Along these lines, we were commissioned by the faculty to produce a policy document to define ECR and Research (Academic) Group Leaders/PI statements to formalise the FoH faculty position in this area. These and other policy documents and supporting statements related to the work of the FoHECRC can be found from the 'Documents and statements' tab above.
The Faculty of Health’s Early Career Researcher Committee's overriding core ideal is to strive to provide the best working environment and high-quality support to exploit opportunities for personal and career development of Early Career Research Staff within the Faculty. This will only be achieved by working closely with and on behalf of all Early Career Researchers in consultation with research group leaders and other senior staff.
The FoHECRC will provide strategic thinking in the design of a comprehensive programme of training & mentoring to equip Early Career Researchers with a broad range of specialised and generic skills. This will not only allow Early Career Researchers to develop and flourish in their current roles (e.g., produce high-quality research outputs), but also will contribute to any future career aspirations within or outside of a University environment.
The FoHECRC will also advocate and represent, in conjunction with the Research Staff Association and Fellows College, the needs, rights and views of Early Career Researchers at School/Division/Section (via Early Career Researcher Leads and attendance at School Research and Innovation committees), Faculty level (via Early Career Group and attendance at Faculty Research and Innovation Committee etc.) and at University level via the University Early Career Researcher Committee (UECRC).
The FoHECRC will ensure that the Faculty supports the implementation of The University Researcher Development Concordat Action Plan.
Research-led focus: Where appropriate the FOHECRC will perform in-depth evaluations of the programme, Early Career Researcher and Research Group leader and other senior staff’s views by various means, e.g. induction, training needs analysis, impact evaluation of training and mentoring programmes, Focus Groups and the Staff Review and Development Scheme (SRDS). This approach ensures that our new directions are research-led and based on robust evaluation information.
Early Career Researcher leads should be established researchers (Grade 8 or above) that are advocates of ECRs and are able to champion for them at School, Division and Faculty levels. The FoHECRC aims to have ECR Leads in all schools and divisions of the Faculty, with larger ones being represented by more than one ECR Lead to facilitate a close link between the ECR Leads and the respective ECRs, and ensure all ECRs are well integrated into the Faculty ECR provision.
Attend meetings and actively contribute to FoHECRC activity
Attend or arrange for a deputy to attend every bimonthly FoHECRC meeting
Actively contribute to FoHECRC activity and act as an advocate for Early Career Researchers-related matters in their schools/divisions/sections.
Examples:
Taking on active roles and challenges that are discussed in the FoHECRC such as producing web-content, contributing to strategic documents, leading activity on current projects
Contributing to ThinkAhead sessions
Becoming mentors
Actively engage with Early Career Researchers in their schools/divisions/sections
Regular meetings with Early Career Researchers and canvassing opinions on key developments, welcoming new starters and ensuring they have an appropriate induction.
Actively encourage ECRs to engage with the SRDS process and highlight the relevant ECR SRDS documentation.
Work closely with the Research Staff Association school/division/section representatives and the Fellows College
Regular meetings and liaising on Early Career Researcher matters
Promote and help advertise the work done by the Research Staff Association and Fellows College, e.g. encourage ECRs to join the RSA.
Streamline the aims and objectives of all three groups to avoid unnecessary overlap.
Champion, communicate and support FoHECRC initiatives and ideals at school/division/section level
sit on and attend School/Division EDI, Research & Innovation Committee and other relevant staff meeting (where there are multiple leads for a division, at least one lead sits on divisional committees/meetings and represents all leads of the division), e.g., regularly table a report on FoHECRC and Early Career Researcher matters that have been discussed in appropriate period OR give FoHECRC updates at research days/ staff development sessions - the FoHECRC needs to stay prominent in Dean of School/Head of Division and DRIs’minds.