What kind of an organisation are you in the context of the Concordat?

Research-intensive university. 

What challenge were you trying to address with this initiative?

Imperial commissioned two scoping projects to evaluate the institutional support for probationary lecturers and Principal Investigators (PIs) as managers of researchers to deliver their Concordat objectives. Both the content and the format of the resource were based on the recommendations from these two external reviews.   

What did you do and how does this align with the Principles and keywords you have selected below?

Imperial commissioned comprehensive resources to be developed specifically for Principal Investigators (PIs) to support them with their Concordat obligations. More than 500 Imperial academics contributed to the new online toolkit, called the Academic’s Success Guide. The topics covered are:

• Navigating induction and probation
• Managing yourself and your career
• Leading your research group
• Managing research projects

Every topic contains links to local sources of support, policy, and guidance at Imperial, as well as external services.

The Academic’s Success Guide provides perspectives and relevant advice from PIs and senior managers from academic departments and professional services at Imperial on the induction and probation process, as well as a wide range of tools and strategies to support new academics with establishing their career. The sections on managing projects and leading a research group cover processes and offer tried and tested models, along with useful tip sheets and templates to help navigate the day-to-day work of managing projects and people. 

This resource is designed to be accessible by everyone and although it has been designed with Imperial academics in mind, the topics covered are universally relevant to all UK academics. The resource is modular and bite-sized, allowing for timely support to new academics as and when needed. To ensure that everyone can get the most out of this comprehensive resource, a short introductory video has been produced.

What were the challenges in implementation and how did you resolve them?

The Academic’s Success Guide is a substantial resource. The main challenge was the time it took to consolidate, edit and format it into a user-friendly website.  

How did you evaluate the impact of your initiative?

The resources have been widely distributed across Imperial and the sector, for example, being featured in the UUK The Concordat Annual Report 2022 and via Researchers14.  We are currently monitoring page hits to get an indication of the use of the resource and looking at further ways to direct academics to the webpages.

Were there any surprising or unexpected consequences?

The resource has been incredibly well received by academics from across disciplines and career levels. 

We relied heavily on input from several experienced academics who were incredibly generous with their time and expertise.  

What advice would you give others wanting to do this?

Involve your target audience at every stage and listen to their needs so that you develop a resource that they will find useful and easy to navigate.