REC-HURDLEs: Revisiting Employment Contracts and Help for Under-represented Researcher groups to Develop, Lead and Excel

REC-HURDLEs aims to directly address precarious employment practice and provide wider specialist career support for researchers, including removing barriers to career progression with targeted needs-based professional development support for researchers from disadvantaged and under-represented groups. We will conduct a root-and-branch review of the use and impacts of fixed term contracts for all researchers contributing to, supervising, managing, enabling and supporting the research ecosystem, irrespective of level of experience, or job family. We will identify and share sector and internal existing good practices and evaluate them for transferability/scaling, and co-create pilot models of less precarious employment with researchers, aiming for approval and resource to change employment practices. Building on similar initiatives with technical staff, we will offer substantial, individualised professional development support for disadvantaged and under-represented researchers across career stages and job families, through the creation of packages of tailored training and support. We will expand our bespoke careers offering for researchers to provide 24/7 online co-created careers resources suitable for, and available to all our researchers, and increase provision of specialist careers advice, mentoring and development opportunities, including career confidence, and skills workshops.