Reviewee guidance for research only staff

The following questions can help you

  • How far have you achieved last year’s work-related and developmental objectives?
  • What progress have you made with your research plan?
  • What were your main challenges last year? How did you overcome them?
  • What else do you need to do?
  • What challenges are foreseen for the coming year?
  • How can you overcome them?
  • What mentoring and coaching have you undertaken to support yourselves?
  • How have you demonstrated the Brookes Guiding Principles and associated behaviours?
  • How have you developed your own knowledge and skills in relation to the specific areas of inclusive practice?
  • What has been the practical impact of this on your own professional practice and behaviour in the workplace?
  • How have you encouraged/supported your colleagues in their knowledge development to embrace diversity and inclusivity?
  • What qualifications/awards have you received? (e.g. Explore@Brookes, Research Excellence Awards, Research Excellence Awards for postdoctoral researchers and technicians).
  • What are your proposed work-related and developmental (personal, professional and career) objectives for the coming year (to be aligned to faculty/directorate objectives plans)?
  • Using SMART (specific, measurable, agreed, realistic and time-bound) may be helpful.
  • What help and support do you need?

Supporting information

  • Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers. The University signed up to the "Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers" in May 2020. The Concordat mandates that Researchers must: "Take ownership of their career, identifying opportunities to work towards career goals, including engaging in a minimum of 10 days professional development pro rata per year."
  • Vitae Researcher Development Framework (RDF). The Vitae RDF is a useful tool for the career development review of researchers. It can be used by researchers to carry out their own gap analysis of the knowledge, skills and experience they have acquired and to identify areas for development.
  • Researcher Development Matrix. The University’s Researcher Development Matrix maps training, professional development opportunities, resources and support available to research-active staff of all career stages against the four domains of the externally-recognised Vitae RDF.
  • EXPLORE@Brookes. The EXPLORE@Brookes programme provides a continuing professional development framework for anyone on an academic or research contract at Brookes, to support HE teaching practice, teaching scholarship, leadership and research, knowledge exchange and innovation.
  • University Research & KE Training. The University's Research & KE training programme is open to research-active staff (academics and research-only staff) of all career stages, both within the first three years of their contract as part of EXPLORE, and as an optional refresher to all.
  • Careers Centre. Fixed-term contract Research staff can access one-to-one guidance and support for job searching, applications and interviews, and a programme of training events for Researchers.