Tagged / Research Staff Association

Recruiting: FST Rep for the Research Staff Association (RSA)

The BU Research Staff Association (RSA) is a forum to promote research culture at BU. Research staff from across BU are encouraged to network with other researchers, disseminate their work, discuss career opportunities, hear updates on how BU is implementing the Research Concordat, and give feedback or raise concerns that will help to develop and support the research community at BU.

The Association is run by three leaders and supported by at least two reps from each faculty.

If you are interested in the FST rep role, please supply a few words to demonstrate your suitability, interest, availability in relation to the position to Researchdev@bournemouth.ac.uk by the 22/10/23.

Eligible research staff are those on research-only contracts – fixed-term or open-ended employment  (not PTHP/casual contracts).

Please contact the RSA FST rep  to chat about it if you have any queries.

Imposter Syndrome

 

The Imposter Syndrome session is aimed at colleagues dealing with feelings of imposter syndrome in academia.

At the end of the session attendees will have achieved greater confidence in developing their career and profile.

This workshop aimed at all colleagues dealing with feelings of imposter syndrome in academia and facilitated by Prof. Ann Hemingway, aheming@bournemouth.ac.uk and Prof. Sam Goodman, sgoodman@bournemouth.ac.uk

Thursday 12th October 

from 10.00 – 11.30 at Talbot Campus and MS Teams

To book a place, please complete the Booking form. 

 

For any further information please contact RKEDF@bournemouth.ac.uk

BU Research Staff Association

BU Research Staff Association (RSA) is a forum to promote BU research culture. Research staff from across BU are encouraged to attend to network with others researchers, disseminate their work, discuss career opportunities, hear updates on how BU is implementing the Research Concordat, and give feedback or raise concerns that will help to develop and support the research community at BU.

There are three Institutional Representatives. Their role is to facilitate the BU RSA events, attend both the BU RCSG and the URPPC meetings, to provide an update on the BU RSA, and raise any feedback or concerns. The Institutional Representatives are: Chaoguang Wang, Faculty of Media & Communication, Anastasia Vayona, Faculty of Science & Technology, Rejoice Chipuriro, Faculty of Health & Social Science

Each Faculty also has two Research Staff Representatives. Their role is to support the BU reps in facilitating the BU RSA events, attending the BU RCSG and URPPC meetings to provide an update on the BU RSA and feedback any comments or concerns.

The current Faculty Research Staff Representatives are:

Faculty of Health and Social Science, Gladys Yinusa and Sophia Amenyah

Faculty of Science and Technology, Kimberley Davies

You can  contact the RSA reps @ ResearchStaffAssociation@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

 

Welcome to the Bournemouth University Research Staff Association (RSA)

Welcome to the Bournemouth University Research Staff Association (RSA)

 

 

What is it?

An association run by BU researchers from all faculties who want to make BU a great place to work and do research. We aim to ensure that researchers are supported to realise their full potential and to develop and produce research of the highest quality. (There are Research Staff Associations throughout UK universities and one of our BU RSA representatives is also a member of the UK RSA).

 

Who is it for?

Almost everyone! Postdoctoral researchers, research fellows, research assistants as well as anyone else who is actively engaged in research (or planning to be): postgraduate researchers; staff on teaching and research, or teaching contracts; clinicians; professional support staff; technicians.

 

What are our aims?

To help make BU a great place for researchers to work and progress in their careers.

 

To support BU researchers to produce excellent research by enabling them to thrive, personally and professionally through informal peer support / friendship with other researchers and encouraging BU to provide

      • a well-designed induction
      • a caring and helpful mentor
      • support to develop research and professional skills
      • increased job security
      • a university culture of inclusion, kindness, care, and support
      • opportunities to network, collaborate, share, and learn

 

How do we do that?

We support researchers through:

 

  1. Signposting you to the BU teams or individuals who can help you with issues such as: employment and contracts, work conditions, fairness and equity, discrimination, unions, professional development, careers advice, support for mental health and well-being.

 

  1. Offering peer support – opportunities to meet, socialise, network, share ideas, and collaborate with researchers from different faculties. We run informal online get-togethers and coffee mornings in faculties. We are also developing a series of university-wide events (in partnership with the Early Career Network) on topics such as career progression, funding, wellbeing.

 

  1. Representing you – raising concerns, lobbying, and advocating for researchers at the:
    • Research Concordat Steering Group. This group is responsible for helping BU translate the ideals of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers into improved researcher career development and effective policies.  The steering group can then highlight responsibilities across university departments from line managers and HR to the Vice Chancellor and the Executive Team.

 

    • Faculty Research & Professional Practice Committees (FRPPC) – where we can highlight specific initiatives and the vital role that line managers and senior academics play in facilitating the development of researchers in their department.

 

    • University Research & Professional Practice Committee (URPPC) where we can share the combined voice and experiences of research staff to shape the development of University wide research-based policy and procedures.

 

What do we need to succeed? 

You!  We need to know what the important issues, concerns, challenges, and aspirations of BU researchers are. We can then try to provide informative sessions which address the issues that are important to you, advocate for change – as well as letting BU know when they are getting it right! We would also like to get to know you and learn from your experiences – doing research can be lonely and being in contact with other researchers enriches our day.

 

When does the RSA meet?

The RSA meets regularly throughout the year. Everyone is welcome to attend or share issues that you would like raised with your faculty rep

 

How do I get involved/get in touch with the RSA representative for my faculty?

 

Your current reps are:

 

Faculty of Health & Social Science                         Sophia Amenyah samenyah@bournemouth.ac.uk

                                                                                             Gladys Yinusa yinusagg@bournemouth.ac.uk

 Faculty of Science & Technology                           Kimberley Davies daviesk@bournemouth.ac.uk

                                                                                            Sarah Elliott  selliott@bournemouth.ac.uk 

Faculty of Media & Communications                   No representative at present.

BU Business School:                                                   No representative at present.

 

 

 

Institutional Reps:                                                      Chaoguang Wang   wangc@bournemouth.ac.uk

                                                                                            Anastasia Vayona   avayona@bournemouth.ac.uk

                                                                                           Rejoice Chipuriro          rchipuriro@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

Academic Reps:                                                           BUBS-Rafaelle Nicholson rnicholson@bournemouth.ac.uk

                                                                                           BUBS-Julia Hibbert jhibbert@bournemouth.ac.uk

                                                                                           FST-Derek Pitman dpitman@bournemouth.ac.uk

                                                                                           FST-Michelle Heward mheward@bournemouth.ac.uk

                                                                                          FST-Ruijie Wang rwang3@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

 

Are you a member of research staff? Come for coffee and cake on 24th November!

Coffee Morning

The BU Research Staff Association would like to invite all research staff to an in-person meet up for coffee and cake on Thursday 24 November on Talbot Campus in F106 (Fusion Building) between 12 and 1pm.

Bring your lunch and a coffee, and we will provide the cake! (Note: it may not look as good as this one does.)

File:Pound layer cake.jpg

This will be an opportunity for you to meet the Research Staff Association (RSA) Reps. We currently have three reps from HSS (Sophia Amenyah, Michelle Heward, Gladys Yinusa), three from FST (Sarah Elliott, Kim Davies and Sam Greenhill) and one from BUBS (Raf Nicholson).

This will also be an opportunity for research staff members to meet those within the same community, and to provide the opportunity for us all to get to know each other and support each other.

The RSA is a network to support research staff on fixed term contracts and to provide a mechanism to feed back to the university any issues or problems that arise.

At the meet-up, we will also be discussing the possibility of mentoring, within our departments and faculties – please do come along if you are interested in hearing more about mentoring, or want to provide some input into how BU can best support your development as a researcher via mentoring.

We would also like to take this opportunity to advertise for a rep from the Faculty of Media and Communications which is currently the only faculty not represented by a RSA rep. Please contact us if you are interested.

We hope to see you on 24 November!

Research staff ‘virtual writing workshop’ 29 June 13.30-16.30pm

PG research, Publishing, writing

This is a reminder about our ‘Virtual Writing Workshop’ on 29 June 13.30 – 16.30pm. We will have 2 blocks of writing (just over an hour each and then a break in the middle to get a coffee and chat to other researchers if you wish). If you can’t make 13.30 you can join a bit later – no worries.

This is for anyone (PhD student, academic, full time researcher) who wants to/needs to write and would like to do that in the company of colleagues from across the university.

Please come prepared with something you are working on. We recommend turning off email notifications and anything else that could distract to help us get the most out of the time – but your decision – it’s your time!

Please click this Zoom link to join us.

Kind regards, BU Research Staff Association

BU’s Research Staff Association – new representative appointed

The BU Research Staff Association (RSA) is a forum promoting BU research culture. Research staff from across BU are encouraged to attend to meet with others researchers, disseminate their work, discuss career opportunities, hear updates on  BU’s implementation the Research Concordat, and give feedback or raise concerns that will help to develop and support the research community at BU.

BU Research Staff Representatives

Following the recent recruitment exercise, Dr Christina Stantis has accepted the role of BU Research Staff Association (RSA) representative, alongside Dr Michelle Heward.

The BU Research Staff representatives facilitate the BU RSA activities and attend the BU Research Concordat Steering Group and the University Research and Professional Practice Committee (URPPC) to provide an update on the BU RSA and raise any feedback or concerns. This ensures that feedback and concerns raised by research staff are fed into the BU Research Concordat Action Plan, so that they are addressed going forwards.

Faculty Research Staff Representatives

Each Faculty also has at least one Research Staff Representative. Their role is to attend Faculty Research and Professional Practice Committees and the BU Research Concordat Steering Group to provide an update on the BU RSA and feedback any comments or concerns. The current post holders are:

Faculty of Health & Social Sciences Dr Sarah Collard
Faculty of Health & Social Sciences Dr Nirmal Aryal
Faculty of Media and Communication Dr Ehtzaz Chaudhry
Faculty of Media and Communication Currently vacant
Faculty of Management Dr Rafaelle Nicholson
Faculty of Management Dr Thanh Huynh
Faculty of Science and Technology Dr Arif Reza Anwary 
Faculty of Science and Technology Currently vacant

 

BU successful in retaining HR Excellence in Research Award

We are delighted to announce that following an external review in spring 2017, BU has been successful in retaining our HR Excellence in Research Award.

The reviewers particularly commended the significant achievements made over the full review period (January 2013 to December 2016) which have demonstrated our commitment to ensuring research staff are recognised, supported, valued and their voices heard.

The Award demonstrates BU’s commitment to aligning process and practice to the UK Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and therefore improving the working conditions and career development for research staff. In turn this will improve the quantity, quality and impact of research for the benefit of UK society and the economy. The external review required us to highlight the key achievements and progress made since BU gained the award in January 2013 and to outline the focus of our strategy, success measures and next steps for the following four years.

Key achievements made at BU since 2013 in support of this agenda include:

 

Over the next four years we will focus on:

  • Reviewing and improving the conditions of employment for research staff
  • Further embedding the ownership and implementation of the Concordat and action plan at Faculty level
  • Standardising procedures for research staff, e.g. induction, appraisal and pay progression
  • Further strengthening the documentation and support for research staff and research leaders/managers
  • Further strengthening the voice and visibility of research staff, both internally and externally

You can read our progress review and future action plan (2017-21) in full here: https://research.bournemouth.ac.uk/research-environment/research-concordat/

Read the full announcement on the Vitae website here: https://www.vitae.ac.uk/news/vitae-press-releases/hr-excellence-in-research-award-june-2017

Presentation to Research Staff Association 30 November 2016

Thanks to Michelle Heward for organising this event for research staff. Ehren Milner and Emily Cieciura (RKEO) gave a short presentation on the new RKE Development Framework illustrating its flexibility for researchers at any stage! The framework is now being run through Organisational Development and details can be found  by clicking on the RKE development framework category link (above) or visiting the OD page on the staff intranet.

BU Clinical Research Unit were also there (in the form of Lisa Gale-Andrews and Sharon Docherty) and provided an overview of the FREE support available to ANYONE interested in health or social care research. For more information on how BUCRU can help you visit the website or drop by and see us on the 5th floor of Royal London House.