Hello everyone

Welcome to this issue of the Sussex Researcher, which is full of career related resources including support for your career development conversations from Vitae, guidance about 'Getting your first lecturing job' and an online research career framework from MRC.

There are some exciting events coming up over the next couple of months including the inaugural 'Sussex Impact Day' and Sussex Impact and Research Awards, of which one is specifically for those early in their career. Take a look at the categories and if you have an achievement to celebrate make sure to put yourself (or deserving colleague) forward.

It is also time for the annual summer BBQ, to which you are all invited on 14th May hosted by the Doctoral School (booking essential) and I'm also looking forward to seeing you at the next Research Staff Forum on 21st May, when we will be joined by Director of Research and Enterprise, Dr Ian Carter, who will talk about REF and answer your questions.

Finally a big thank you to those of you that participated in the CROS survey last month, contributing to Sussex's best response rate yet. See the article below to see how your responses are being used.

Best wishes,

Natalie James (Research Staff Officer, Research and Enterprise)

Adding your publications to Sussex Research Online - Wednesday 6th May: 14.00 - 15.30pm

FREE summer BBQ for Researchers - Thursday 14th May: 15.30 - 18.00 (Booking Essential!)

Research Staff Forum (REF theme) - Guest speaker Dr Ian Carter, Director of Research and Enterprise Services - Thursday 21st May: 12.30 - 14.00

Vitae online event: What can research staff associations do for your career? - Thursday 21st May: 14.00-15.00

Peer Review: The nuts & bolts (FREE external workshop) - Friday 29th May: 14.00-17.00, London (apply by 22nd May - see link for details)

Aiming for a Fellowship (Sciences, Engineering and Medicine) - Tuesday 2nd June: 14.00 - 17.00

Sussex Impact Day - Tuesday 16th June: Events throughout the day

Wednesday 6th May, 2-3.30pm, Jubilee G23 - Book a place

• Do you want more people to see the outcomes of your research?
• Do you want to ensure you are complying with funders' open access policies?
• Do you want your online profile to accurately record your publication history?

If you answered yes to any of the above then this workshop is for you! Come along on Wednesday 6th May, where Research Support Librarian, Helen Webb and Open Access & Repository Support Officer, Dr Catrina Hey, will take you through through the steps of adding your publications to Sussex Research Online (SRO), the University's institutional repository. The workshop will be hands on and allow plenty of time for you to upload your own publications to SRO.

During the workshop you will:

• Explore the most efficient way to add your publications to SRO
• Discover key resources for checking publisher policies
• Learn how to track downloads of their items from SRO
• Upload and manage your publications on SRO

More information and book your place

A big thank you to all of you that completed the 2015 Careers in Research Online Survey (CROS) in March/April. The overall response rate was an excellent 41% which is the best yet, with this being the fourth time Sussex has participated in CROS.

We are now in the process of analysing the results and drawing up recommendations based on your responses. The initial comparison of 2015 survey outcomes with those of two years ago indicates that good progress has been made with respect to support for professional development, induction, appraisal, communications and recruitment. However the survey has also highlighted where more work is required and your responses will help formulate proposals for improvements in those areas where Sussex did not score so well.

A full report including a comparison with the UK wide average will be available later in the year along with recommended strategies to take forward. Watch this space and the CROS webpage for more information.

If you provided your details for your £5 voucher please don't forget to come and claim it! If you need a reminder of where to collect it from please email N.A.James@sussex.ac.uk

Please put Tuesday 16th June in your diary for the inaugural Sussex Impact Day, a cross-institution day of seminars, discussions and workshops aiming to support Sussex researchers to achieve and develop impact in their research.

All events will take place in the Jubilee building along with an exhibition of impact-related tools, providers and services.

For a full programme of events and to book your place, please see the Sussex Impact Day webpages.

The day will culminate in the Sussex Impact and Research Awards, which will celebrate the enabling and achievement of impact from research taking place across the University.

Entries for the awards are now open with a deadline of Monday 18th May 2015. Awards will be made in three categories

• Enabling Impact - celebrating outstanding engagement and activity that is likely to lead to research impact of reach and significance
• Achieving Impact - recognises reach and significance of impact that has been achieved
• Emerging Researcher - recognises the achievement of excellent research from individuals in the early stages of their research career

Winners will receive a trophy and £1000 paid into a research support account.

For more information about the awards, eligibility criteria and application forms see the Impact Award webpage.

As appraisals are around the corner, we wanted to highlight a useful new resource from Vitae: Achieving your best as research staff: Preparing for your professional development conversations. (Note: to access you will need to log in/register with your Sussex email address.)

In conjunction with researchers, Vitae have developed this planning tool to help researchers plan for professional development conversations by reflecting on their needs, changing circumstances and general wellbeing.

The resource was originally developed as a tool to encourage researchers and managers to consider equality and diversity issues throughout professional development conversations. However, in pilot tests it has been found to be a helpful tool for researchers from all backgrounds independent of whether or not they have any protected characteristics.

Entirely focusing efforts on women developing the right range of skills is limited and short-sighted, as women face institutional constraints beyond their own agency. Changes should take place through changing values, by creating appropriate culture and conditions and "fixing the system", not women. Such were some of the ideas put forward at an interactive workshop on International Approaches to Support Gender Equality in Research Careers for postdoctoral research staff, early career academic faculty and final year PhDs that was held at Sussex on 24th March.

Organised by the Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex in partnership with GenderInSITE, the interactive workshop, took place through a World Cafe and a panel discussion chaired by Sussex's Professor Louise Morley, international expert in gender in higher education policy. GenderInSITE is an international campaign to raise awareness among decision-makers on the gender and science, innovation, technology and engineering (SITE) dimensions of international development.

Workshop participants who included early career academics, international GenderInSITE experts from academia, Industry, NGOs and policy, and members of the University's Athena SWAN committee exchanged ideas, experiences, concerns and good practices relating to issues of gender equality in career progression, which were mapped using live graphic recording and tweets.

See full news story

In 2014 MRC conducted a review of medical research careers to better understand concerns relating to pursuing a career in medical research. As a result they are refreshing the way they support tomorrow's leaders in discovery science, specifically:

• They are taking a fresh approach to supporting careers by removing eligibility criteria based on years of post-doctoral experience. This will allow for variations in career paths, recognising that the speed of career progression can be affected by factors unrelated to a person's scientific potential.
• They have launched a new online research career framework which provides an interactive tool that highlights a range of career options available at any stage of a biomedical research career. The framework identifies career stages and signposts available career options with a range of different entry routes for a range of career choices.

More information

The Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS) have published a guide on 'Getting the first lecturing job'.

The publication is based on the outcomes of a survey of academic staff at 22 UK universities and aims to provide evidence and insights into the role of lecturer in UK universities and what those surveyed see as the key requirements for securing the first lectureship position.

The Researcher Led Initiative Fund (RLIF) supports doctoral researchers and research staff to organise and run their own development events and activities. The call aims to sponsor initiatives that benefit a broad range of researchers (across disciplines and career stages) and which expand or build upon current provision for researchers

The current call is open for activities that are already in progress that you are seeking additional support for. The deadline for applications is Friday 8th May and funds must be spent by 31st July 2015

For more information and application details see the RLIF webpages.

This enables early-career researchers to undertake independent research on any area within biotechnology and biological sciences, and to gain leadership skills. The fellowship is worth up to £250,000 over a period of three years.

Deadline for applications: 04 June 2015.

More information

These enable postdoctoral and early-career researchers to carry out studies on how cities, their hinterlands, linking infrastructure, rural surround and the regions the cities are in be transformed into resilient, sustainable, more economically viable and generally better places to live. The total budget for this call is approximately £5 million. Fellowships are available for up to five years.

Deadline for applications: 10 June 2015

More information

This scheme enables postdoctoral researchers to carry out biomedical research in India. Fellowships are tenable for five years and provide personal support of up to INR13.44 million per year, overhead research expenses for the host institution, and expenses for travel and overseas visits. Additionally, clinical fellows may receive a non-practicing allowance worth 25 per cent of their basic salary and an academic clinical allowance.

Deadline for applications 15 June 2015

More information

If you have an article or information you would like included in The Sussex Researcher please send it to N.A.James@sussex.ac.uk