Vitae

Vitae is a national organisation championing the personal, professional and career development of doctoral researchers and research staff in higher education institutions and research institutes.

They play a direct role in the drive for high-level skills and innovation and in the UK’s goal to produce world class researchers in the context of their vision for the UK to be world-class in supporting the personal, professional and career development of researchers.

Vitae establish strategic partnerships between funders and national organisations to champion the needs and demonstrate the impact of researchers. It brings together experts, policy makers, employers and those working with researchers to develop policy and practice with a view to making real and positive change. To this end they consult with and represent key stakeholders in the development of new policies and initiatives. They are working to develop a comprehensive evidence base to better understand the impact of researchers,  research training, and the wider contributions researchers make to society and the economy.

Vitae works with UK HEIs to embed professional and career development in the research environment, enhancing the capability of the HE sector to provide world-class professional development and training for researchers. The programme develops resources for use by trainers and others working with researchers, and provides opportunities for HEIs to share information and practice. They are working to provide opportunities for the sector to share approaches through a database of practice hosting examples of institutions’ provision as well as enabling communities to share areas of common interest in online fora and workspaces, and publishing research and reviews – including research and evaluation projects – around the societal impact of developing researchers.

Vitae provides resources, advice, information and fora for individual postgraduate researchers  and members of research staff who are interested in their professional development and careers. These include a dedicated researchers’ portal with information and news, and opportunities to input to national policy developments and initiatives.

The Vitae Research Staff Development Advisory Group provides expertise around research staff issues, informing the strategy and practice of the Vitae programme.  Building on previous work, it ensures that issues relating to research staff are placed at the centre of Vitae’s mission and activities, and that initiatives engage fully with the new Vitae programme. ReSDAG exists primarily to provide expertise and a strategic view on the development of policy to support researcher careers, including providing input to Vitae responses to policy consultations on matters related to the career development of research staff. ReSDAG also identifies emerging themes relating to research staff and makes recommendations to the programme on how to respond to them.