Technician commitment

In June 2017, Keele University as a member of Midlands Innovation, signed up to the Technician’s commitment. The Technicians Commitment is a University and Research Institution initiative led by sector bodies including the Science Council. In signing up to the Commitment Keele pledges to take action against the key challenges affecting technical staff over five key areas:

1. Visibility - ensure that all technicians within the organisation are identifiable and that the contribution of technicians is visible within and beyond the institution.
2. Recognition -support technicians to gain recognition through professional registration.
3. Career Development - enable career progression opportunities for technicians through the provision of documented career pathways.
4. Sustainability - ensure the future sustainability of technical skills across the organisation and that technical expertise is fully utilised.
5. Evaluating Impact - regularly assess the impact of actions taken in support of the commitment to ensure effectiveness.

I am delighted to be the institutional lead for the Technician Commitment.

During my career in higher education, I have experienced the critical role technical professionals play in delivering the highest quality student experience, as well as underpinning world leading research.  I have been a technician; providing technical support for large scale research council programmes and working as part of a technical team supporting the delivery of undergraduate summer schools.  My research career underlined to me the invaluable role highly skilled technical staff play in enabling the delivery of experimental research.

The Technician Commitment provides the opportunity to highlight the very specific and skilled role this group of professional colleagues play in the success of the University and their professional support and development needs.  I take the role as institutional lead very seriously and look forward to working with colleagues to continue the delivery of our responsibilities within it.

For further information relating to the Technician Commitment, visit http://technicians.org.uk/techniciancommitment.

Find out more about the Technicians Commitment from those involved -