Promotion to Professor

Promotion from associate professor to professor Level 1

Promotion from associate professor to professor is the step into a senior academic position that:

recognises sustained, outstanding performance, achievements and contributions to your department or school, the University and your discipline
reflects further responsibility and personal development
provides the basis for future promotion to professorial levels 2-4.

Professors are not automatically associated with specific managerial or administrative responsibilities unless these are associated with their own research team or group. As senior members of staff, professors are expected to make a major contribution to the development and implementation of school, faculty and university academic activities. These activities may change over time and may include leadership of research centres, institutes, networks, partnerships or other relevant activities as defined by, and agreed with, the Faculty Pro Vice-Chancellor and Head of School, in consultation where necessary with the relevant thematic PVC.

Candidates are expected to provide evidence against the core criterion of Education, Academic Citizenship and Leadership, and against three further criteria. Two of these three criteria will be from their chosen pathway, and the third may be the remaining criterion from their pathway or may be drawn from another pathway. There are compulsory criteria in the Education, Knowledge Exchange and Professional Practice pathway and in the Education and Research pathway (see below).

This approach is designed to balance academic rigour with the flexibility to allow academic staff to reflect their particular areas of strength, e.g. professional practice, management, partners, innovation in teaching.

If you are considering applying for promotion to Professor, you are advised to read all the guidance on this webpage carefully, attend a briefing session, and ask for a ‘critical friend’.

A critical friend is a senior and experienced member of academic staff who, along with your line manager, mentor and / or Head of School as appropriate, will support you to:

Consider whether your level of performance and achievement means this is the right time to apply for promotion.
Gain ideas on how to approach an application and select appropriate optional criteria.
Discuss examples that may best evidence how you have contributed to your chosen criteria.
Develop and prepare an effective application.

They will not be able to tell you whether you will be successful in any application, nor will they draft or edit an application for you.

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 level 1 professor

Appointment or promotion to professor level 1 (SS1) is based on meeting one core criterion and three additional criteria across all pathways. Two of the pathways have compulsory criteria - these are marked with an asterisk in the table below.

Pathway	Education and HE Practice (EHEP)	Education, Knowledge Exchange and Professional Practice (EKEPP)	Education and Research (ER)
Core criterion	Education, Academic Citizenship and Leadership (EACL)
Additional criteria (compulsory criteria for that pathway marked with a *). Choose three, to include at least two from your pathway.	Curriculum Enhancement	* High Quality Outputs from KE, Innovation, Enterprise or Professional Practice	* High Quality Research Outputs
	Innovation in Teaching in support of Student Experience and/or Outcomes	Sustainable income from KE, Innovation, Enterprise or Professional Practice	* Sustainable Research Funding
	Leadership in Educational Practice and/or Portfolio Development	External Engagement and Leadership of Others, including Economic or Societal Impact from KE activities and/or Professional Practice	External Engagement and Leadership of Others in the Field of Research

Below you can see examples of the types of evidence that you might cite in support of each criterion. There is no expectation that any applicant would be able to provide evidence against each of the examples provided below. They are intended to demonstrate the kinds of evidence that will be relevant in an application. They are not exhaustive - there will be many other activities and measures of impact that are relevant, and applicants should think broadly about the evidence they wish to cite in support of their application.

In developing their application, colleagues are advised to consider what they have done, and the impact it has had, and to provide evidence wherever possible. Please read the guidance in full.

Education, Academic Citizenship and Leadership. This criteria is compulsory for all pathways. You should provide evidence of your high quality teaching practice, and your collegiate and collaborative approach to academic citizenship and leadership. Your examples should be appropriate to your experience, and demonstrate capability commensurate with the grade you are applying for.

Evidence of achievement for Education

Evidence of achievement for Education may include:

High quality, inclusive UG/PGT teaching practice through module/programme outcomes, assessment and student progression for lectures, tutorials, practicals. studio, fieldwork or placements.
Consistently excellent student feedback, prizes or awards for teaching; good feedback from external examiners or peer review.
High quality, sustained PGR supervision with successful outcomes as DoS and SS; leadership of PGR provision; external examining of PGR.
Contribution to developing and delivering an inclusive student experience through high quality teaching.
Contribution to subject/programme coordination across a broad team ensuring the planned quality of teaching and learning is achieved.
Professional qualification e.g. Principal or Senior Fellowship of HEA.

Evidence for Academic Citizenship and Leadership

Evidence of Evidence for Academic Citizenship and Leadership may include:

Leadership in university administrative processes, including membership and chairing of committees, panels, working groups, project work and quality assurance processes, at a faculty and university level.
Inducting new colleagues; mentoring and coaching colleagues in building skills and careers e.g. by contributing to the Educational Leaders Forum or EXPLORE as a guest speaker, reviewer or observer.
Senior contribution to student recruitment activities e.g. leadership of or introducing innovative and impactful practices to open days, applicant days, conversion activities.
Senior contribution to outreach activities including widening participation and EDI initiatives.
Work to enhance our relationship with external organisations e.g. professional practice partners, PSRBs.
External examining, high-regarded roles with and contributions to professional bodies, national or international organisations/bodies, peer review bodies and our local communities.
Representing the University on appropriate external bodies and being a positive advocate for the University, its interests and aims.
Leading and delivering an area of the University’s work and/or a significant leadership role.
Visible commitment to and engagement with the University’ strategic aims and the objectives and priorities of your faculty, so as to act as a role model and influence the engagement of peers.

Education and HE Practice pathway

Curriculum Enhancement

High quality, externally recognised contribution to programme curriculum development that has a positive, evidenced impact on recruitment, retention, progression, completion and/or employability outcomes of students.
Continual high-quality, externally recognised programme-level development, incorporating scholarship and/or research activities.
Externally recognised significant enhancement of PSRB, professional practice or partnership requirements, course accreditations or other quality assurance processes.
Pedagogy and scholarship publications and other outputs reflecting leadership in curriculum design and development.
Significant academic leadership to your discipline or teaching of your discipline or professional practice at national and international levels (e.g. conferences, validation and benchmarking processes, publications, policy advice).
Developing and leading on significant curriculum enhancement projects/initiatives at faculty or university level that have a sustained and demonstrable impact on student metrics.
Leadership of national and/or international HE educational practice bodies and initiatives.

Innovation in Teaching in support of Student Experience and/or Outcomes

Continual development of teaching practice through innovation leading to evidenced improved delivery and/or outcomes, including through the IDEAS framework.
CPD or scholarly activity to build high quality pedagogic knowledge that can be demonstrated to have had significant and sustained impact on practice within Brookes and externally.
Innovative use of new technologies or development of educational resources with a demonstrable impact across Brookes and/or externally.
Externally recognised development of the discipline or professional practice.
Innovation in educational delivery models such as online, short course apprenticeship or distance learning
Leadership of faculty/university activities that result in evidenced and sustained improvements in EDI in education.
Leading contributions to student engagement to deliver evidenced improvements and/or enhancement of student outcomes, progression or experience.
Holding an Advance HE Principal Fellowship, National Teaching Fellowship or CATE award.
Leadership of impactful outreach activities including widening participation, inclusion and diversity initiatives.

Leadership in Educational Practice and/or Portfolio Development

Leading on UK or International educational partnership activities.
Leading contribution to outreach activities including widening participation, EDI initiatives, with demonstrable impact.
Activities that enhance or strengthen our relationship with external organisations, such as professional practice partners, PSRBs, or educational partners
Senior leadership within professional bodies, national or international organisations/bodies, peer review bodies and our local communities
Representation of the University on appropriate external educational bodies and acting as an effective, positive advocate for the University, its interests and aims.
Academic leadership to your discipline or teaching of your discipline or professional practice at national and international levels (e.g. conferences, validation processes).
Contributions to your field through senior level peer review, editorial processes, external examining etc.
Leadership and management of core educational, professional practice or employer partnerships locally, regionally or internationally with evidence of sustained impact.
Leading on UK or International educational partnership activities with evidence of significant and sustained impact on quality and recruitment.

Education, Knowledge Exchange and Professional Practice

High Quality Outputs from KE, Innovation, Enterprise or Professional Practice (compulsory criterion for those on this pathway)

Leading on non-academic (or academic) outputs e.g. reports, white papers, policy papers, demonstrating significant and sustained influence and impact among partner and stakeholder communities.
Leading the creation and use of tools, resources and training that are adopted among user communities, with sustained, positive impact.
Leading partnerships with external partners, with evidence of projects that have delivered significant outcomes.
Leading collaborative/co-created projects with external partners yielding improved outcomes for partners and designated beneficiaries.
Delivering the wider impact of external engagement on organisations, sectors, policies and stakeholders based on academic/applied/professional insights and expertise.

Sustainable Income from KE, Innovation, Enterprise or Professional Practice

A successful record of securing funding and in-kind support that sustain your KE activities and contribute to School overheads.
A track record of involvement in successful, collaborative bids for funding and of supporting colleagues in bid preparation or the development of relevant skills and experience.
Generating income based on commercialisation or innovation projects (e.g. consulting, patents, licensing, or spin-offs.

External Engagement and Leadership of Others, including Economic or Societal Impact from Knowledge Exchange activities and/or Professional Practice

Leading collaborative projects and partnerships with external organisations, utilising academic / applied / professional reputation and expertise, yielding demonstrably improved and sustained outcomes for partners and designated beneficiaries.
Initiating, developing and leading collaborative projects with NHS partners, education providers, charities, and community organisations, and industry to address social/environmental issues.
Delivering collaborative projects that enhance the arts, culture, equity, social justice, and / or quality of life by working with individuals, organisations and communities.

Education and Research

High Quality Research Outputs (compulsory criterion for those on this pathway)

A body of high-quality, peer-reviewed outputs that demonstrate a substantial and sustained contribution to the discipline.
Externally-recognised international reputation for research including aspects of KE as appropriate.
Leading partnerships with external partners, with evidence of projects that have delivered significant outcomes.
Leading REF impact case studies or developing other forms of research impact that are of national or international significance.
Invitations to speak or perform at national and international conferences/seminars at keynote level.

Sustainable Research Funding (compulsory criterion for those on this pathway)

A sustained record of securing funding to sustain your research programme and contribute to School research income, including collaborative funding and studentships, relative to disciplinary norms.
Evidence of attracting large grant funding as PI in addition to track record of involvement in collaborative bids as CI.
Evidence of leading and securing large and / or complex funding applications that involve working with multiple academic and or non/academic partners, nationally and / or internationally.

External Engagement and Leadership of Others in the Field of Research

To represent the University on appropriate external research bodies or with funders or other stakeholders, and be a positive advocate for the University, its interests and aims.
Contributions to your field and academia through a leading role in peer review, editorial processes, external examining (PGR/PGT) etc.
Developing and leading on significant research projects/initiatives at school/department or faculty level
Management/coordination of large RIKE teams or networks including research centres or institutes, large collaborative programme grants involving multiple partners.
Substantial contribution to the discipline through participation in conference organisation, professional bodies, or societies.
Leading or significant contributions to interdisciplinary research through outputs, engagement or funding bids, or to national or global challenge-led research efforts.
Initiating and developing significant, sustained collaborations that raise the profile of the discipline at School, university and national levels, that lead to high quality outputs, funding and/or societal impact.

How to apply

Key dates

Applicants for promotion to professor must submit their application form, including CV, by the deadline of 6 July 2026.

Application procedure

Applications are made by the application for promotion to professor Google form (Brookes login required). The form asks you to:

State the Academic Career Pathway under which you are applying, and your preferred title, if successful.

On the form, you should summarise your evidence for the compulsory criterion of Education, Academic Citizenship and Leadership and the three optional criteria you have chosen, including at least two from your pathway. If you are applying under the Education and Research, or the Education, Knowledge Exchange and Professional Practice pathway, make sure you have addressed the compulsory criteria for those pathways. You can see examples of the types of evidence you might cite above and you can use a blank form for drafting purposes or refer to this version which has been filled with the example evidence.

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. There is further guidance on Special Circumstances, which is also linked in the form.

Upload a CV that clearly details your key achievements in relation to the compulsory criterion and the criteria that you have chosen. The CV can be a maximum of 10 pages long, in a minimum of 11pt font, in Arial, with normal margins and no web links.

A template CV is provided to help you to ensure that you include:

an introductory paragraph, summarising the case for promotion
current appointment, followed by previous appointments
education and training
professional qualifications and memberships of professional bodies
key teaching responsibilities in current and recent roles
a list of publications (maximum of 15) that are most relevant to your pathway and criteria, with a brief explanation of their impact and significance
presentations, keynotes and conferences
your record of funding
any key achievements not already included in the above.

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

A template CV has been provided for those who would like to refer to it.

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 (Brookes login required) 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

Faculty panels will meet to consider applications in mid September, and will feed back to applicants about whether their application will be supported, and why, with reference to the criteria, in late September.

Applicants whose applications are not being supported by the Faculty should then decide whether they want their application to proceed to SAPC by 5 October 2026.

SAPC will meet to consider applications in early December (exact date TBC). Outcomes will be communicated in mid December, with promotions backdated to 1 August 2026.

In some cases, SAPC 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 written feedback about their application and will be given the opportunity to request a meeting with a panel member to discuss it.