Career Pathways EU HR Excellence in Research

The University of Strathclyde has held the EU HR Excellence in Research Award since 2011 in recognition of its commitment to supporting the personal, professional and career development of its researchers.

This accreditation reflects Strathclyde's commitment to:

• supporting researchers throughout their careers
• implementing the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers
• meeting the requirements for research degrees set out in the UK QAA Quality Code

The award also acknowledges the University’s alignment with the principles of the European Charter for Researchers and Code for their recruitment by fulfilling these commitments. Visit the Vitae website for further information.

Concordat to support the career development of Researchers

Strathclyde became a signatory to the revised Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers in June 2020.

This Concordat is an agreement between stakeholders to address sector-wide challenges in relation to the employment and support for researchers in UK Higher Education. It addresses the three main topics (‘Principles’) of Environment & Culture, Employment and Professional & Career Development. For each Principle, it defines a set of obligations for four key stakeholder groups involved in higher education research: Funders, Institutions, Researchers and Managers of Researchers.

Further information for Strathclyde staff can be found on the Researcher Development Concordat Sharepoint site.

As a signatory to this Concordat, we are obliged to report annually to University Court. Please find these annual reports, which provide a summary of progress and plans, below.

Re-accreditation process

The University of Strathclyde retained the award in March 2020 following an eight year external review.

Re-accreditation of the award takes place in a four yearly cycle of internal and external reviews. Our original two year action plan based around the seven principles of the ‘Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers’ was put in place in 2011.

In 2013, we were successfully re-accredited with the award after carrying out an internal review to assess the progress of our original 2011-2013 actions, whilst also making further plans to grow the support we offer our researchers from 2013-2015.

In 2015, as part of our ongoing commitment to the EU HR Excellence in Research Award and the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, we undertook a second review of our progress ahead of an external review. Research staff from across all faculties were consulted as part of the review process.

In 2017, we completed an internal review of our researcher development activities aligned to the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and our 2015-2017 action plan.

In 2019, we undertook a further review of our researcher development activities aligned to the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers as part of the eight-year external review process and developed an action plan for the next two years.”

Following signing up to the revised Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers in 2020, we undertook a Gap Analysis against the revised Concordat Principles and developed an Action Plan which has been used to develop the documentation for the ten-year internal review process.

The review reports, updated action plans, future action plans and case studies from each stage can be found below.