As a University, we are one of the founding signatories of the Technician Commitment - a university and research institution initiative, led by a steering group of sector bodies, with support from the Science Council and the Gatsby Charitable Foundation’s “Technicians Make It Happen” campaign.
The Commitment aims to improve the visibility, recognition, career development and sustainability for all technicians working in higher education and research, across all disciplines. Universities and research institutions were invited to become signatories of the Technician Commitment and pledge action against the key challenges affecting their technical staff.
Our Technician Commitment Action Plan for 2021-23 focuses on four key areas:
- Visibility - Ensure that all technicians within the organisation are identifiable and that the contribution of technicians is visible within and beyond the institution
- Recognition – Support technicians to gain recognition through professional registration or extend a College Award for a Technician or Technical team.
- Career development – Enable career progression opportunities for technicians through the provision of clear, documented career pathways
- Sustainability - Ensure the future sustainability of technical skills across the organisation and that technical expertise is fully utilised.
- The guidelines on acknowledgement of Technical and Support Staff Contributions can be located here.
- Colleagues have a role to play in achieving these aims, whether in a technical, academic or a leadership and management role.
Our involvement
The Technical Managers Working Group leads on the formulation and the implementation of the action plan. The group comprises of Technical Managers, Human Resources colleagues and Senior Vice Principal for Staff and Student Experience Tracy Bhamra. This group has played a key role in developing our action plan to meet the standards of the Technician Commitment.
For further information regarding the Technician Commitment, please visit the Technician Commitment website and the Science Council.
Members of the Technical Managers Working Group
- Andy Alway (Physics)
- Tracy Bhamra (Senior Vice Principal (Staff and Student Experience))
- Sean Brennan (Drama &Theatre)
- Dan Cayzer (Media Arts)
- Lisa Fell (Electronic Engineering)
- Claire Mayers (Geography)
- Dan Parsonage (Earth Sciences)
- Narinderpal Sehra (IT)
- Natalie Starkey (Psychology and Health Studies)
- Elaine Turton (Biological Sciences)
A report on the progress made on the 2018/21 action plan can be found below:
Technician Commitment self assessment
Appendix A: action plan 2019-20 progress report
Appendix B: action plan 2021-23
The 2021-23 action plan focuses on four key areas:
- Visibility - Ensure that all technicians within the organisation are identifiable and that the contribution of technicians is visible within and beyond the institution
- Recognition – Support technicians to gain recognition through professional registration or extend a College Award for a Technician or Technical team; for an example
- Career development – Enable career progression opportunities for technicians through the provision of clear, documented career pathways
- Sustainability - Ensure the future sustainability of technical skills across the organisation and that technical expertise is fully utilised.
