Vision
The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) is committed to continuing our contribution to the development of arts and humanities researchers at all career stages, and to implementing the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers. Our vision is of a supportive and inclusive research culture where arts and humanities researchers can grow.
The vision is closely linked to the following objective and long term-ambition in the AHRC Delivery Plan 2019: “to train the next generation of researchers in the arts and humanities and support skills development throughout the career cycle” and “to increase dedicated support past the doctoral level to early career researchers and beyond”.
This vision aligns with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and can be found on the second page of the Funder Action Plan: “UKRI expects the research organisations in which it invests to recognise and value their researchers and nurture them in reaching their full potential. This includes supporting their professional development as members of the research and innovation community, providing working conditions that enable them to flourish, and equipping them for diverse and flexible careers across the research and innovation system, whether in the private, public or third sectors”.
Context
UKRI is a signatory to the revised Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, also known as the Researcher Development Concordat, which was launched in September 2019. The concordat is an aspirational document and its foreword states that it “aims to set the gold standard in researcher development” through principles related to improving research environment and culture, employment conditions and professional and career development opportunities and support. In July 2020, the UKRI Funder Action Plan was published, outlining how UKRI is going to implement the principles of the concordat.
AHRC would like to strengthen its role as a catalyst of inclusive research culture and researchers’ professional growth. In line with the UKRI Plan, AHRC is publishing this statement to confirm our commitment to the concordat as a funder of arts and humanities research. The statement specifies actions which will commence in 2021 to contribute to the implementation of the concordat for the benefit of the arts and humanities research community.
The statement should be read in conjunction with the UKRI Funder Action Plan. ‘Our ways of working’, which can be found on the third page, outlines UKRI’s corporate-level actions as a funder of researchers: “UKRI represents a diverse range of research and researchers and is aware of the shortcomings of one-size-fits-all solutions. It will give constituent research councils opportunity to develop solutions appropriate for their communities, while aspiring to establish a baseline expectation of researcher development and support across the sector”.
Commitment and specific actions
Our intention is to engage research organisations and the researchers we fund in co-creating AHRC’s response to the concordat. We hope that this statement will enable us to start a dialogue with our research community, and that the initial list of six actions in this statement will grow and evolve in response to community feedback, to address arts and humanities researchers’ needs.
Our commitment is as follows:
1. As one of the key funders of arts and humanities research in the UK, we want to lead by example and highlight the importance of the Researcher Development Concordat for the arts and humanities (AH) community. We will engage through a range of communication channels, from our website and social media, to meetings and events with internal and external stakeholders.
2. To achieve positive change, we will work with other members of the AH research community, from individuals, consortia and clusters holding our awards to research organisations and independent research organisations as well as other funders of AH research.
3. We will highlight the importance of career and leadership development opportunities within our funding schemes in a more prominent way.
4. We will follow new processes and policies introduced by UKRI. We will encourage and monitor their implementation by our award-holders. We will work with colleagues across UKRI to contribute to continuous improvement.
5. We will deliver the actions listed below.
6. We will produce and publish on our website an annual update on the progress on these actions. We want to share it in a transparent way with our community to evidence what we do, inform the dialogue and shape future activities.
Actions regarding AHRC strategic documents
Action 1: Work with colleagues to include references to the concordat in new strategic documents issued by AHRC and in our funding calls. Simultaneously, make researcher development more prominent a criterion in the Peer Review College guidance. Timing for implementation: Medium term (started in May 2021).
Action 2: Undertake a full revision of AHRC’s Research Training Framework for Early Career Researchers (ECRs). Timing for implementation: Short term (started in May 2021).
Action 3: Develop and maintain a repository of existing AHRC good practice in supporting researchers’ development. Timing for implementation: Medium term (started in April 2021).
Actions regarding stakeholders and communications
Action 4: Consult our early career researcher (ECR) community on AHRC actions through focus groups or consultation workshops. Timing for implementation: Medium term (second half of 2021).
Action 5: Produce new web content to raise awareness of the concordat’s principles in the AH community and encourage its further implementation. Timing for implementation: Long term (following the focus groups, action starting in the autumn of 2021).
Actions regarding AHRC investment portfolio
Action 6: Explore the feasibility of launching a new ‘career bridging grants’ scheme immediately post-PhD. For example, this could either be funding for development of research proposals and writing up publications, or a research grant scheme for researchers who have never been principal investigators. Timing for implementation: Long term (as above).
Improving the career development of researchers is a long-term ambition which requires a combined effort of the whole research community and those who support them. AHRC hopes to engage with other stakeholders in this effort, and this statement is the first step towards it.
We welcome feedback which can be submitted through email at researcher.development@ahrc.ukri.org
Statement signed by Professor Christopher Smith, AHRC Chief Executive.
Published on 25 May 2021.
Progress on actions
UKRI has committed to supporting world-class people and careers in the research and innovation ecosystem in our strategy for 2022 to 2027, ‘Transforming Tomorrow Together’. We see AHRC activities as part of this wider commitment.
Since the publication of the AHRC Statement of Commitment to the Researcher Development Concordat in May 2021, AHRC has been successful in progressing several actions.
Action 1 progress
We have updated and extended the references to the concordat in the AHRC Research Funding Guide.
We have announced the funding outcomes of the pilot scheme for early career fellowships in cultural and heritage institutions . The funding opportunity recommended to organisations hosting the fellows to adhere to the principles of the concordat.
We are working with them through a programme of cohort coordination and development activities, organised by the Victoria and Albert Museum, to ensure these principles are being implemented and the fellows are given every opportunity to develop their careers.
We also updated the wording on the web pages for our responsive mode funding opportunities. Each of them now includes a line in the ‘What we’re looking for’ section which encourages everyone interested in these funding opportunities to follow the principles of the Concordat. The opportunities are:
- AHRC Responsive mode: standard research grants
- AHRC Responsive mode: follow-on funding for impact and engagement
Both can be found on the UKRI Funding Finder.
Our Strategic Delivery Plan 2022 to 2025 includes skills and talent activities.
Action 2 progress
This action has been completed through the publication in May 2022 of the Guidance on training and developing early career researchers in the arts and humanities.
We also included a reference to this guidance in the AHRC research funding guide.
Based on the feedback received to date, we are pleased that our community has welcomed the guidance as a helpful tool. We would like to better assess the reach and influence of the document and identify any needs for future improvement. If you’d like to share your views, please email us at researcher.development@ahrc.ukri.org
We have set up a process of annually reviewing this guidance and including community feedback, to ensure it remains a relevant resource for ECRs, their managers and research organisations. We are currently refreshing it to reflect changes in our responsive mode funding schemes and aim to update the published version by the end of 2024.
Action 3 progress
AHRC will resume gathering examples of good practice from AHRC-funded awards for the repository once the UKRI Good Practice Exchange work progresses, to align our work and avoid duplicating effort.
Action 4 progress
Following publication of the statement we reached out to our community and recruited volunteers for focus groups. They came from a range of backgrounds and ROs, and we followed good practice in terms of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in recruitment and in running the meetings.
Three focus groups took place in the summer of 2021, each was asked the same questions, and each gave us valuable insights. We are very grateful to all the participants. We analysed the feedback, which in turn fed into our work on the new guidance and funding opportunities.
Action 5 progress
We have:
- updated existing information, and added new pages, in our web content for ECRs
- written a blog post about supporting ECRs
As this is a long-term action, we are hoping to be able to publish more inspirational content to support ECRs in the years to come.
Action 6 progress
Action number 6 has been addressed through the changes to our responsive mode schemes. We now offer:
- Catalyst awards
- Curiosity awards
Researchers at the early stage of their career will be particularly interested in the Catalyst scheme, as it doesn’t require prior experience of leading a significant research project. The scheme is designed to ‘accelerate the applicants’ trajectory as independent researchers, to unlock their potential, build leadership and convenor experience’.
Details of AHRC Catalyst and Curiosity awards, and application deadlines, can be found on the UKRI funding finder.
In addition, several strategic funding opportunities have been delivered which were designed with early careers in mind, for example:
- Design Exchange Partnerships: design the green transition funding opportunity, where we particularly encourage ECRs to apply
- ECR fellowships in cultural and heritage independent research organisations (IROs)
We recognise the ongoing needs of the arts and humanities ECR community, and we will continue to strive to address them. We will provide updates on progress on an annual basis.
The following pages and documents are concerned with research careers and skills development for arts and humanities researchers at the doctoral level and beyond:
- the partnership guide is aimed at researchers and their potential partners in the private, public and cultural sectors. It includes advice, case studies, and guidance from university knowledge exchange managers, research managers, AHRC staff, and others with an interest in developing partnerships
- the Vitae Researcher Developer Statement sets out the knowledge, behaviours and attributes of effective and highly skilled researchers appropriate for a wide range of careers
- the UK Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers is an agreement between funders and employers of research staff to improve the employment and support for researchers and research careers in UK higher education