University becomes Science Council Employer Champion

Wednesday, 11 October 2017

Science Council Chief Executive Officer Belinda Phipps presented Vice-Chancellor Sir David Bell with an Employer Champion plaque this week, recognising a shared commitment to the development of technical staff and supporting them to become professionally registered. 

The University had signed up, earlier this year, as one of the founding signatories of the Technical Commitment, a scheme launched by the Science Council to ensure greater visibility and recognition for technicians in higher education. 

Since then, a large number of staff in Technical Services have become professionally registered as Registered Science Technicians and Registered Scientists.

A celebratory event was held on Monday 9 October, with certificates presented by Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Teaching and Learning, Professor Gavin Brooks. During the celebrations, Sir David Bell spoke of the importance of “raising the visibility of technical staff” and of “safeguarding and investing in their skills and expertise to ensure sustainability of our technical workforce”. 

As an Employer Champion, we join seven other universities that have this recognition – Manchester, King’s College, Nottingham, Newcastle, Sheffield, Strathclyde and the Open University.