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

The University of Liverpool is a research-intensive university, with approximately 1500 research staff (this includes 920 staff on research-only contracts, such as postdoctoral researchers, research assistants and early career research fellows. There are also 550 principal investigators (PIs) who are/ have been in receipt of grant(s) within the last 5 years. This number does not include staff who are considered academics/ lecturers/ research and teaching only staff), approximately 1000 Research and Teaching staff (There are a number of cross-overs between this number of research and teaching staff, and those PIs in receipts of grants), and approximately 700 technicians (The University has a cohort of highly skilled specialist research technical staff who are essential to the support of our research, such as developing methodology, technology and research facilities. In 2017, the University became a signatory to the Technician Commitment. Recognising that research technical professional expertise and contributions did not necessarily fit the traditional progression route for academics, in 2023, we were the first university across the sector to introduce a comprehensive, dedicated promotion pathway for specialist technical (technologists) colleagues, known as the Research Technical Professional (RTP) Career Pathway. Employed in a wide range of roles, including potentially, some colleagues on research-only contracts, this pathway has been developed to enable the University to reward, retain, provide the recognition and grow our own talent and to give a clearer route for those whose aspirations may not fit the traditional academic career pathway).

What challenge were you trying to address with this initiative?

The PI Network, with which 120+ PIs are currently engaged, aimed to help managers of researchers and principal investigators to support the career development of their research staff, by sharing best practice and providing peer support and resources. The initiative addresses the career development needs of postdocs by helping their managers to better understand and recognise how to support them. Simultaneously, the initiative addresses the development needs of managers of researchers themselves, who may have had uneven support in their own management and leadership development. It also provides the opportunity for managers of researchers to share their management/leadership experiences (rather than their solely research-focused expertise) and learn from peer-to-peer best practice beyond their own discipline.

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

Overview
The Principal Investigator (PI) Network is a community of practice led by the Prosper team within the Academy, aimed at addressing the development needs of PIs and managers of researchers and, ultimately, the career development needs of research staff. The PI Network has run 4–6 online events a year since 2020 and is open to PIs and managers of researchers across the UK. Through expert speakers, PI guest speakers and peer-led discussions, PI Network events aim to positively influence the culture within research institutions, developing PI practice and creating an environment that supports and values research staff and the academics who manage them.

Peer-to-peer Learning for PIs and Managers of Researchers
Prosper created a series of events targeted specifically at the development needs of managers of researchers and PIs. The title of the group was chosen to be as appealing to the audience as possible, in the decision to call it a ‘network’ rather than a ‘community of practice’. The PI Network was led by the University of Liverpool in partnership with the University of Manchester and Lancaster University, which enabled further networking across universities. A PI Steering Group consisting of managers of researchers and professional services staff from across the partner institutions informed the creation of the PI Network and provided the initial topics for PI Network sessions. The topics for subsequent sessions were also informed by feedback and suggestions from PI Network event participants. PI Network events were held every 2-3 months, with 4-6 events occurring annually from 2020 onwards. Since its launch PI Network events have been attended by 120 unique PIs from across the three partner institutions. The topics chosen aimed to support and develop the skills of both the participants and those they manage.

Topics have included:

• The mutual benefits to supporting research staff career development
• The PI-postdoc relationship
• Career conversations
• Supporting staff wellbeing
• Management and leadership practices
• Creating inclusive research communities.

Sessions are facilitated by professional services staff and consist of one or more expert speaker, with several opportunities for participants to share their own experiences and ask questions in group discussions. Many of the PI Network events also include guest PI speakers, who are managers of researchers invited to speak about a particular issue or opportunity relevant to the theme of the session. Therefore, PI Network events aimed to be informative and provide opportunities for peer-to-peer learning.

Aligning the PI Network with the Concordat Principles
Environment and Culture: The PI Network initiative aims to positively influence the culture within research institutions, by working with managers of researchers to develop their own management practice and create an environment that supports and values research staff and the academics who manage them. From 2023, the PI Network is open to PIs and managers of researchers across the UK.

Employment: The PI Network events included themes that supported managers of researchers in having regular constructive performance management with their researchers and other management practices.

Professional and Career Development: The PI Network events informed the creation of the Managers of Researchers area of the Prosper portal, an area that allows managers to support their postdoc’s career development, develop their own leadership and management skills, foster a positive and inclusive working environment, stay up to date with trends and best practices in career development, and learn from other managers of researchers.

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

Engaging, Inclusive and Accessible events
PI Network events were held online to allow managers of researchers based at the separate partner institutions to attend. Following each event, recordings, workbooks, briefings, shared learnings and other resources were created and made freely available on the Prosper portal for anyone (based at the partner institutions and since summer 2023 to the whole sector/publicly) to access and learn from. PIs and managers of researchers are busy, pulled in many directions whilst trying to maintain and progress their own research programmes. Postdoc career development may not always feel like an important priority to a manager with many other demands on their time, and engaging with an initiative aimed at helping PIs to better support postdoc career development may seem even less so.

The PI Network took a multi-pronged approach to addressing the challenge of PI engagement. Firstly, we took a proactive approach to dispelling myths around the issue, using research-based evidence to demonstrate the value of supporting postdoc career development to the postdocs, their research projects and the PIs themselves. Secondly, we worked with the willing. Whilst those who objected to the idea of supporting postdoc career development were vocal, the majority of PIs and managers of researchers we encountered were very positive and open about their own development needs. We focused our limited resources on engaging with those who were already interested and aimed to change academic culture around the dissenting minority. Finally, we worked to include peer-learning in all PI Network events, including group discussions, PI case studies and guest PI speakers who shared their own experiences. With consent, we also included the shared learnings and quotes from managers of researchers in the asynchronous resources that resulted from each event and were made available on the PI Network area of the Prosper portal.

How did you evaluate the impact of your initiative?

The Impact the PI Network – Advancing Relationships Between PIs and Research Staff
Three activities were performed to evaluate the impact of the PI Network. Following each PI Network event, short post-event online surveys were conducted aimed at understanding whether and how the participants found the event useful and what could have been done differently to make the session better for their needs.

After 14 PI Network events, a longer online survey was conducted to assess the overall impact of the PI Network on participants. Prosper also held online focus groups with PIs and managers of researchers to get more responsive feedback, to ask more probing questions and get further information. Following each evaluation initiative, the findings were reflected upon and changes to procedure, format and content were initiated.

Over 60% of PIs reported that engaging with the network has helped them develop their own knowledge and practice regarding management and support of postdoc career development. Further, 60% PIs were supportive of research staff having more time for career development.
“It has provided a focus and prompt for our discussions about career progression.”
“Made me more reflexive and also opened up new discussions with postdocs to find out more about their needs and goals.”
“Hearing about how other fields approach managing PDRAs is the most useful along with discipline discussions.”

An Ongoing Focus on Empowering PIs
The PI Network supported the creation of a comprehensive set of resources for PIs that is open access: https://prosper.liverpool.ac.uk/managers-of-researchers/, including all previous event recordings from the network’s activities: https://prosper.liverpool.ac.uk/manager-of-researchers-resources/the-pi-network/.

Creating a space for PIs in a programme designed to enhance postdoc career development has enhanced PIs’ understanding of the value of professional and career development for postdocs and opportunities to consider careers beyond academia. PIs were also more confident in having these conversations with their postdocs. The network is now being expanded to be open to all PIs across the UK and will include more events and activities with a mix of expert speakers and opportunities for peer-led learning.

Were there any surprising or unexpected consequences?

There are many assumptions made about PIs and managers of researchers when it comes to supporting postdoc career development, and the PI Network comprehensively demonstrated that they aren’t true.

The most common assumptions are that managers of researchers don’t care about the career development of their staff, and that only younger managers see the value in supporting postdoc career development.

The PI Network revealed that far more managers of researchers care about the development of their staff, and want to improve their own practice to be able to better support their staff. In fact, during some discussions in PI Network events participants revealed that their own wellbeing had suffered as a result of working extra time to support their staff (this information then informed the themes of subsequent PI Network events).

The PI Network showed that whilst some managers of researchers do fit the negative stereotypical image, determining that research staff’s remit should be focused narrowly on research to the exclusion of all else, they are in fact a very small, if vocal, minority. The vast majority of PIs and managers of researchers want to support their staff and develop their own management and leadership skills to better be able to do this.

Additionally, whilst the common conception is that more experienced and senior managers of researchers are less likely to be interested in supporting the career development of their staff, many of the most active and engaged participants during PI Network sessions were further along in their career.

What advice would you give others wanting to do this?

From 2023 onwards the PI Network is open to PIs and managers of researchers across the UK, and Prosper would welcome other research institutions interested in organising, hosting and/or facilitating events. Join the PI Network and contact prosper.postdoc@liverpool.ac.uk to participate in facilitating PI Network sessions.

For those looking to organise events catering to PIs and managers of researchers solely at their own institution around supporting research staff career development, we’d recommend working with the willing to create active champions across your institution who can help raise awareness and lead culture change from within research departments.

More information about this practice example:

The PI Network