The Concordat and our Concordat Implementation Group

The University signed the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and developed an implementation group to support development of our two year action plan. 

The Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers

The Concordat sets out, in three clear principles: Environment and Culture, Employment and Professional and Career Development, the responsibilities of researchers, managers of researchers, institutions and funders.  It aims to increase the attractiveness and sustainability of research careers in the UK and to improve the quantity, quality and impact of research for the benefit of the UK society and its economy. The University signed the Concordat on 4th February 2020, in recognition of our continued commitment and ongoing support of our research staff and their careers.

The current Concordat can be downloaded from the research concordat website:

The Researcher Development Concordat [external link]

The Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers - University of Edinburgh

Concordat Implementation Group (CIG)

After becoming signatories the University of Edinburgh immediately started working on developing an action plan to outline our process in supporting and implementing the principles.  To meet our signatory responsibilities and to ensure our action plan covered the whole of the University, with actions and progress embedded within core practices and considered alongside other University initiatives, we developed an implementation Group to allow us to work closely and collaboratively with relevant colleagues in support services, Schools and Colleges and active research staff members.

The Concordat Implementation Group (CIG) was formed in March 2020 and their immediate priority was to support the writing of our two year action plan. 

The action plan has now been published and sets out how we will embed our Concordat actions in core practices and consider them alongside other University initiatives.  The CIG continue to meet to track progress of our action plan and the Committee’s broad representation will ensure we are continuing to support researchers at all stages of their careers.

Action plan and progress monitor

Current members of Concordat Implementation Group:

Fiona Philippi Head of Researcher Development, Researcher Development, Institute for Academic Development 
Nicola Cuthbert Researcher Development Manager, Researcher Development, Institute for Academic Development
Cecile Menard Research Associate, School of GeoSciences 
Eleanor Hennige Research Staff Careers Consultant, Researcher Development, Institute for Academic Development
Alan Campbell Research Integrity Manager, Edinburgh Research Office
Claire Pembleton Business Development Executive, Edinburgh Innovations
Joanna Fairweather Senior HR Partner, Talent and Development
Susan McNeil Director, HR Partnering
Dominic Tate Head of Library Research Support and Deputy Director, Library & University Collections
Rohit Pillai Senior Lecturer and Postdoc Champion, School of Engineering
Dan Nussey Chair of Evolutionary Ecology/Director of Career Development, School of Biological Sciences
Matthew Ross Research Support Services Manager, School of GeoSciences
Gabi Hegerl        Professor., Director of Reserach and Postdoc Champion, School of GeoSciences
Vicky MacRae Reader and Group Leader, The Roslin Institute
Alex Peden Research Strategy Manager, Usher Institute
Susie Ballentyne Deputy Director of Professional Services, School of Social and Political Science
James Cook Director of Research Innovation, Edinburgh College of Art
Eve Equi Head of Research, Knowledge Exchange and Innovation (RKEI) Office, Edinburgh College of Art
Liz Hughes Research Associate in Cell Biology, School of Engineering
Neil Chue Hong Personal Chair in Research Software Policy and Practice, Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre
Kathryn Nash Lecturer - Chancellors Fellow, School of Law
Enrique Sanchez Molano Research Fellow in Livestock Genomis - Core Scientist,  co-chair of the Roslin Career Development Committee, The Roslin Institute
Marlene Magalhaes Pinto

Little France Postdoc Society: Postdoctoral Researcher
Gill Haddow Professor in Sociology of Medicine and Technology, School of Social and Political Science
Anna Pilz Academic Developer and Trainer, Researcher Development, Institute for Academic Development
Emily Johnston BioDocSoc Postdoc Society, Postdoctoral Research Associate, School of Biological Sciences
Emily Woollen Academic Developer, Researcher Development, Institute for Academic Development
Lindsey Singleton Graduate School and Staffing Manager, School of Biological Sciences
Claire Pembleton Business Development Executive, Edinburgh Innovations
Rowena Lamb Head of Research Governance, Compliance and Risk, Edinburgh Research Office
Al Innes Strategic Research Executive (Development), Edinburgh Research Office
James Arid UKRI Future Leader Fellowship, Institute for Astronomy, School of Physics

Former Members

We are grateful to our former members for their valuable contributions:

Sophie Lowry, Edinburgh Research Office

Michael Guttman, former Postdoc Champion, School of Informatics

Olof Johansson, former Postdoc Champion, School of Chemistry

Gerben Van Ooijen, former Postdoc Champion, School of Biology

Rachel James, Daphne Jackson Trust Research Fellow, Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences

Encarni Medina-Lopez, Chancellors Fellow and former Postdoc Champion, School of Engineering

Gillian Gray, Professor of Cardiovascular Pharmacology; Head of Early Career Researcher Experience, Edinburgh Medical School

Sara Shinton, Director, Future Leader Fellows Development Network

EWA Luger, Personal Chair, ECA

Do you have something to add?

If you are a researcher, research manager, or any other staff group with an interest in the Concordat, and you would like to give us feedback on what you think we should be doing, do get in touch with us.

The CIG is the main mechanism to provide feedback.  The focus of the CIG is implementing the Concordat at a University level, so we encourage our members to go back to their Schools/areas and update on developments and then feed back to the CIG; bring to the meetings and/or feed into requests for updates. 

The Postdoc Champions/Research Staff Champions are also a really good way to find out what is happening and provide feedback.

Postdoc Champions