Technician Commitment action plan 2024-2027
The Crick is a signatory to the Technician Commitment, a sector-wide initiative led by the Science Council and the Gatsby Foundation aiming to address the particular career challenges faced by technical and scientific staff.
We aim to build on what we feel is significant progress made over the first six years as a signatory to the Technician Commitment, by continuing to work with our wide range of technical experts across the institute, the Technician Commitment steering group and the Laboratory Research Scientist Network.
We have created an ambitious and aspirational action plan covering the five areas of the Technician Commitment, which will be supported by actions and events organised by the Technician Commitment steering group (TCSG), the Laboratory Research Science (LRS) Network Committee and the Research Institutes Technicians Group (RITG).
This plan was formulated in collaboration with the Technician Commitment steering group (TCSG).
New informal meet-ups give a chance for networking and community building.
A partnership initiative aimed at technical staff from the Crick, UCL, King’s and Imperial provides a forum for technical staff to share their expertise.
Monthly communications celebrating the contributions of technical staff to performance and community.
Introduction of monthly drop-in sessions with the academy team to promote the scheme and support applicants as a cohort or via one-to-one coaching.
An institute-wide policy was updated and made part of scientific inductions to more regularly highlight expectations for recognising technical staff contribution.
Increase the number of professionally registered technicians, with continued engagement activities and sharing best practice with other Technician Commitment signatories, networks and the science council.
A well-attended biannual, week-long celebration of our technical staff, which includes career development workshops and talks.
In response to feedback from some of the technical community, the annual performance and development review was tailored to meet specific needs and improve perceptions of utility.
Develop and implement a Career Development Framework for Laboratory Research Scientists, our largest technical staff group.
Publish learning pathways to support the different groups of technical staff, to set and pursue individual career goals and identify relevant development activities.
A career pathways graphic, including case studies of technicians moving to new roles within the institute, showcases the skills and career development that such opportunities offer, making this more accessible and transparent. It is refreshed annually to include and promote individual success.
Opening more research training activities to technical staff.
Promote apprenticeship pathways to technical managers and introduce T-level placements and support for technical staff who supervise them.
A centralised all-staff survey that includes all technicians, and is able to be benchmarked against similar organisations.
A new leavers' survey designed for technical staff was put in place during the review period, and from November 2023, a process to also contact future leavers (people who submitted notice-to-leave) was established to generate a greater number of responses.
In addition to promoting the three-year assessment and action plan cycle, the technician commitment steering group will report annually on progress and priorities.
