Promotion to associate professor

Introduction

Promotion from senior lecturer or senior research fellow to associate professor is an important step into a senior academic position that:

Recognises outstanding performance, achievements and contributions to your department or school and the university
Reflects further responsibility and personal development
Provides the basis for potential future promotion to a professorial grade.

Candidates are expected to have met 4 core and 4 optional criteria in each of the pathways, as outlined in the table below. Each pathway is designed to be flexible to allow academic staff to reflect their particular areas of strength, e.g. professional practice, management, partners, innovation in teaching.

Candidates are advised to discuss their promotion application with their line manager, head of school and / or mentor, as appropriate. This will enable you to:

Seek feedback on performance
Gain ideas on how to approach an application and select appropriate optional criteria
Discuss examples that may best evidence how you have contributed to the 4 core and 4 optional criteria
Reflect on the experience of others and how they have progressed through our career pathways
Develop and prepare an effective application.

Seeking feedback more widely and exploring the experience of other academic colleagues will also help you to develop an effective application.

Criteria and expectations at grade 12 associate professor

Appointment or promotion to associate professor

Appointment or promotion to associate professor is based on meeting 4 core and 4 optional criteria across all pathways.

C = core criteria for pathway

There is no expectation that evidence offered in an application will include all of the examples provided here - they are provided for guidance on the type of evidence that will be relevant only. Some examples will be more relevant than others for each individual e.g. some roles or areas of work will provide more opportunity to generate income or research outputs, and applicants will have other relevant evidence to put forward.

Pillar	Criteria	Evidence of achievement may include	E	E/KE/PP	E/R
Education	High quality teaching practice informed by scholarship and/or research	High quality and inclusive UG/PGT teaching practice through module/programme outcomes, supervision, assessment and student progression for lectures, tutorials, practicals, studio, fieldwork or placements. Excellent student feedback, prizes or awards for teaching, good feedback from external examiners, peer and other reviews of teaching. External/extracurricular student activities that contribute to student learning experience. High quality PGR supervision and successful outcome as DoS and SS; external examining of PGR students. Teaching inspired by scholarship and / or research activities. Fostering an inclusive student experience through high quality teaching.	C	C	C
	Curriculum enhancement	Significant and externally recognised contribution to programme or subject curriculum development. Continual programme or subject level development and updating, incorporating scholarship or research activities. Leadership of or contribution to recognised enhancement of programmes though PSRB, course accreditations, and/or other quality assurance processes.	C
	Innovation in teaching	Continuous development and improvement of teaching practice leading to improved delivery and/or inclusivity and accessibility outcomes using IDEAS model. CPD or scholarly activity to build pedagogic knowledge and impact in practice. Innovative use of new technologies or education resources. Innovation in pedagogy and / or teaching practice that leads to the development of the discipline, subject, or field. Promotion of EDI in education. Dissemination of innovation internally and externally.	C
Academic citizenship	Collegiate and collaborative approach	To participate in university administrative processes, including membership and chairing of committees, panels, working groups, projects and quality assurance processes. To support the induction of new colleagues and to mentor and coach colleagues in building skills and pursuing their careers. Working across the academic-practice nexus in education and assessment. An active role in support of student recruitment and experience e.g. open/applicant days, outreach and graduation ceremonies. Acting as a role model for those looking to develop their career on your chosen pathway.	C	C	C
	Student engagement, recruitment and outreach	Leading activities associated with student engagement to improve student outcomes, progression or experience. Leading contribution to student recruitment activities such as open days, applicant days, conversion activities. Significant contribution to student-facing employer or UK/TNE partnership activities. Collaborating with colleagues (e.g. in MRE) in the delivery of outreach activities including widening participation, inclusion and diversity initiatives.
	External stakeholder engagement	Taking a leading role to enhance our relationship with external organisations such as professional practice partners, employers, research or KE partners. A leading role with PSRBs, professional bodies, national or international organisations/bodies, peer review or funding bodies for education, research or knowledge exchange. Engagement to enhance the University’s standing with our local communities. Contribute to your field and academia through peer review, editorial processes, external examining etc.
Leadership	Self-development	A commitment to training and development programmes to enhance knowledge and skills to support you in your career pathway. Holding an Advance HE Principal/Senior Fellowship.
	Leading and developing others	To take responsibility for leading and delivering an area of the University’s work and/or to take on a leadership role temporarily or permanently (e.g. Global Partnership Lead, PGR Lead, Research Lead, Impact Lead, UoA Coordinator, RIKE Network Lead, Placement Lead). Contribute to University-wide student enhancement initiatives that lead to improvements in policy, practice or outcomes. Engage with the University's strategic aims through involvement in, leadership of or contribution to faculty activities supporting the University's strategic aims. Helping to develop the careers of others e.g. contributing to the EXPLORE scheme, such as facilitating, being a guest speaker, mentor, reviewer, or observer. To provide academic leadership to your discipline or teaching of your discipline or related professional practice externally at national and emerging international levels (e.g. conferences, validation processes).
	Team, project or partner management	Leading and managing a subject/programme coordination across a team ensuring the planned quality of teaching and learning is achieved. Developing and leading on projects/initiatives at school/department or faculty level. Effective management of high performing educational, professional practice or employer partnerships locally, regionally or internationally. Effective management/coordination of large RIKE teams or networks internally or externally e.g. chair/director of RIKE networks/research centres or institutes/large collaborative programme grants involving multiple partners.
Knowledge exchange and professional practice	High quality outputs and income from KE, innovation, enterprise, or associated with professional practice	Significant contribution to non-academic (and academic) outputs (e.g. reports, white papers, policy papers), demonstrating influence and impact among partner and stakeholder communities where appropriate. Development of KE tools, resources and training aimed at driving change with impacts orientated towards user communities and beneficiaries. Income to deliver KE, innovation, professional practice, and/or enterprise activities from different sources (i.e. academic, industry, NHS, third sector etc).		C
	External engagement, making a contribution through KE activities and/or professional practice	Growing projects and partnerships with external organisations around academic/applied/professional insights and expertise. Delivering collaborative/co-created projects with external partners yielding improved outcomes for partners and designated beneficiaries. Participation in commercialisation projects based on academic research/expertise in the form of patents, licensing, or spin-offs.		C
	Economic or societal impact from KE activities and/or professional practice	Initiating and developing collaborative projects with NHS partners, education providers, charities, and community organisations, and industry to address social/environmental issues. Undertaking projects based on academic / applied / professional insights and expertise that enhance the arts, culture, and society. Delivering collaborative projects that improve equity, social justice, and quality of life by working with individuals, organisations and communities.
Research	High quality research outputs and sustainable research funding	A body of high quality, peer reviewed outputs that demonstrate a substantial contribution to the discipline or area of professional practice. A successful record of applying for and securing funding to sustain your research programme and contribute to department/school research income, including collaborative funding, funding in-kind and studentships. A clear and sustainable programme of research for the next 3 to 5 years.			C
	External engagement, contribution to field, nationally and internationally	Externally-recognised national and emerging international reputation for research including aspects of knowledge exchange where appropriate. Invitations to speak or perform, conference/seminar organisation. Peer reviewing for funding bodies, editorial roles, contribution to professional bodies or societies.			C
	Interdisciplinary and collaborative research, and research impact	Leading on contributions to interdisciplinary research through outputs, engagement or funding bid activities, or to national or global challenge-led research efforts. Initiating and developing collaborations that raise the profile of the discipline department or University levels, that lead to high quality outputs, funding or societal impact. Significant contributions to engagement and/or knowledge exchange activities that deliver research impact including impact case studies locally, nationally or internationally.

How to apply

Key dates

Applicants for promotion to associate professor must submit their application form, including CV, by the deadline of 23 June 2025.

Application procedure

Applications are made via the application for promotion to associate professor Google form, which asks you to:

State the Academic Career Pathway under which you are applying, the four optional criteria under which you have chosen to apply, and your preferred title, if successful.

Summarise your evidence for the four core criteria for your pathway, and the four optional criteria you have chosen and explain how it is relevant.

Explain the impact of any factors that have limited the volume of evidence that you have been able to present in the Special Circumstances section. This might include, for example, family leave, or an extended period of ill health, or unusually intensive caring responsibilities or other circumstances beyond your control that have resulted in you being unable to work or which have had a detrimental impact on your work. Information provided in this section will be shared with the team in the faculty who write the critical appraisal and with the promotions panel. They will take this into account when assessing the quantity, but not the quality, of your outputs and achievements.

Upload a narrative CV that clearly details your key achievements in relation to the core criteria for your pathway and the optional criteria that you have chosen. The CV can be a maximum of 10 pages long, in a minimum of 11pt font with normal margins and no web links. There are no set rules for the structure or content of this but it would normally include:

an introductory paragraph, summarising the case for promotion
current appointment
education and professional qualifications
previous appointments
membership of professional bodies
a list publications (maximum of 15) that are most relevant to your core and optional criteria.

If you are reapplying after a previous application, please ensure that your CV highlights developments since the original application.

The ‘europass’ style of CV has a clear and coherent structure and relevant content, and an example CV has been provided for those who would like to refer to it. Please also find an example CV which is a simpler version with less formatting.

Remember to include not only what you have done / delivered, but also the impact that has had. You may find the Evaluating and Evidencing Impact: Academic Enhancement Toolkit useful for that.

Please note that you will need to be logged into your Brookes Google account in order to submit the form. If there are any difficulties with the form, please contact hrcommittees@brookes.ac.uk.

Timetable for consideration of applications

SAPC will meet to consider applications on 24 July 2025.

Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application by 1 August 2025.

In some cases the panel may decide to seek an independent reference to support their decision-making. When this happens the applicant will be informed. Once the reference is received, it will be considered by circulation and the applicant will be notified of the outcome of their application as soon as possible.

Unsuccessful applicants will receive feedback about their application and the potential for resubmission from one of the panel members. When reapplying, applicants must submit a full application.