Aber retains HR Excellence in Research Award

Left to right: Dr Jennifer Deaville, Research Development Manager, Dr Dafydd Roberts, Research Development Officer and Sarah Wydall from Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Aberystwyth University. Not pictured are Heather Hinkin from Human Resources and Dr Patricia Shaw from the Faculty of Business and Physical Sciences.

Left to right: Dr Jennifer Deaville, Research Development Manager, Dr Dafydd Roberts, Research Development Officer and Sarah Wydall from Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Aberystwyth University. Not pictured are Heather Hinkin from Human Resources and Dr Patricia Shaw from the Faculty of Business and Physical Sciences.

13 June 2019

Aberystwyth University has been recognised for its long term commitment to the career development of researchers.

Aberystwyth is one of eleven universities to have retained its HR Excellence in Research Award it was announced by awarding body Vitae on Monday 10 June 2019.

Launched in 2010, Aberystwyth was one of the first universities in the UK to be recognised by the scheme.

Reviewed every two years, the latest award followed a panel interview with a cross departmental team from Aberystwyth University by an international peer-review team in March 2019.

It was their recommendation to the UK HR Excellence in Research Award Panel that the award should be retained.

Professor Chris Thomas, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research, Knowledge Exchange and Innovation at Aberystwyth University said: “The awarding of the HR Excellence in Research Award for another two years is excellent news for everyone involved with research at Aberystwyth University. As a research-led institution we aim to support and develop researchers whose work can help society tackle some of the pressing issues of our time. To do this we must develop the research potential of all our staff and this award recognises that we have the framework in place to do this.”

The Aberystwyth University submission was led by Dr Dafydd Roberts, Research Development Officer at the University’s Department of Research Business and Innovation (RBI) drawing together contributions from colleagues involved in the Aberystwyth University Researcher Concordat Group.

Dr Roberts said “Retaining this award is important. It is confirmation of the hard work we have done and the ambitious plans we have over the next two years. We look to the research community to get involved in strengthening the career development of researchers. The AU Research Concordat Group meets regularly and welcomes comments and participation from researchers across the career stages, and in particular early career researchers”

Alongside Dr Roberts, the AU team involved in the Institutional Review interview were Heather Hinkin from Human Resources; Sarah Wydall from Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and Dr Patricia Shaw from the Faculty of Business and Physical Sciences.

Two case studies were featured in the submission this year.

The first, Women in Research Network, was developed by Dr Marie Neal from the Research Development Team in RBI, as a forum for all disciplines to explore issues facing women researchers at all career stages. 

The second focused on the promotion of fixed term fellowships by the Research Business and Innovation department through coordination of pan Wales proposal writing workshops to increase success rates for applications to funding schemes such as the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (funded by Welsh Government - SCoRE & NRN-LCEE).

The HR Excellence in Research Award is a mechanism for implementing the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, an agreement between funders and employers of research staff to improve the employment and support for researchers and research careers in UK higher education.