Ian Archer

Skills Development Officer for Postgraduate & Postdoctoral Researchers
Photograph of Ian Archer.

Contact

Email: ina@aber.ac.uk
Office: E10 Hugh Owen Building
Phone: 1618

Responsibilities

Ian is responsible for the design and organisation of the Aberystwyth Researcher programme. This is a unified skills and development provision, focussed on the needs of early career researchers, including research staff and postgraduate researchers - in line with AU’s HR Excellence in Research award, the Concodat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, and the Researcher Development Framework. He also shares in the administration of CDSAP, including overseeing finance in the department and activity data.

‌Ian is one of only two certified Myers Briggs Type Indicator practitioners in the University. For more than 60 years, the MBTI tool has helped millions of people throughout the world gain a deeper understanding of themselves and how they interact with others, helping them improve how they communicate, work and learn. An understanding of yourself in this way can give you powerful insights into areas such as: your problem-solving style; your stress reactions; how you can resolve conflicts; your communication style; your career development; and your leadership style. Ian runs regular workshops on different aspects of how this valuable tool can be used to deepen your understanding of yourself and those you work with. He is also available for individual consultations - if you are a member of staff or student at the University, please contact Ian at the e-mail above to arrange an appointment.

‌Ian, along with two colleagues in CDSAP, has Belbin Team Role accreditation. The Belbin Team Roles analysis is a widely used technique for identifying how individuals' prefered behaviours fit together to form an effective team. It allows you to think about how you behave in a range of situations and to reflect on where your natural inclinations lie and what strengths you bring to a project. The CDSAP team can carry out Belbin Team Role profiles for individuals and teams within the University. This involves an online self-perception inventory and observer analysis.  From this you will receive a report and individual face to face feedback on your personal inclinations and behaviour in team working situations. Please contact us at the e-mail address below to arrange a consultation.

 

Ian is the site administrator for the Bristol Online Surveys system (BOS). If you would like to have a BOS user account set up for you, please contact Ian at the e-mail address above.

Ian is also Survey Officer for the national HE researcher surveys run at Aberystwyth. These surveys are run biennially, so if you are a researcher look out for e-mails and publicity on the surveys as we would welcome your responses.

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Ian is responsible for the design and organisation of the Professional Development Programme for Postdoctoral and Contract Research Staff.  For the last 2 years, he has been working as Postgraduate Skills Co-ordinator, developing transferable skills training for PGRs, and his new position combines the two roles to develop, implement and evaluate the Roberts agenda at Aberystwyth. 
Ian trained as an historian at Aber specialising in British politics during the American Revolution.  He went onto research and teach at UWE, broadening his research interests into c.19th/20th social history.  He moved into the training sphere at the Institute of Historical Research, where he organised discipline specific training for historians.  Ian spends most of his spare time sympathetically restoring an c.18th cob cottage.

Biography

Ian trained as an historian at Aber specialising in British politics during the American Revolution. He trained as a teacher in post-compulsory education at the UCL Institute of Education. He went on to research and teach at the University of the West of England in Bristol, broadening his research interests into c.19th/20th social history. Ian moved into researcher development at the Institute of Historical Research, where he designed and taught discipline specific training for postgraduate historians.  Ian spends most of his spare time training for major cycling challenges - including L'Etape du Tour, the Vatternrundan and St Malo-Nice - to raise money for Bowel & Cancer Research and the Tŷ Olwen Trust hospice.  When he's not on his bike, Ian can mostly be found sympathetically restoring an c.18th cob (earth-built) cottage.