The Pirbright Institute has formally pledged to address key challenges facing technical staff working in research and teaching.
By signing the internationally-recognised Technician Commitment, the Institute joins organisations working to ensure visibility, recognition, career development and sustainability for technicians working in higher education and research across the UK.
The Technician Commitment is a university and research institution initiative, led by a steering board of sector bodies, hosted by the UK Institute for Technical Skills & Strategy, funded by Research England.
It pledges action against five key challenges affecting technical staff: Visibility, Recognition, Career Development, Sustainability and Evaluating Impact.
Formally launched in 2017, the Commitment is an institutional pledge to work towards addressing these challenges affecting the technical community.
Institute Director, Professor Bryan Charleston MRCVS FRS, said: “Scientific institutes like Pirbright can only operate thanks to the expertise of technical staff, whose skills span a broad range of disciplines and support everything we do, from research at the laboratory bench to running our IT and engineering systems.”
Clare Stevenson, Associate Lead, Technician Commitment said: “It is with great pleasure that we welcome The Pirbright Institute to the Technician Commitment. Their decision underscores a strong recognition of their technical professionals, whose expertise is fundamental to their cutting-edge work in viral livestock diseases.
“We look forward to supporting Pirbright's journey in enhancing the visibility and career development of their technicians, and to sharing valuable insights across our growing community.”
The Technician Commitment is led by a Steering Board which advises on the development of the Commitment and has broad representation from senior sector stakeholders. The pledge brings all signatories together at least twice a year to develop a community of practice and offer opportunities to network with other institutional leads and hear short talks about activities, resources and best practice.
For further information about Pirbright, visit www.pirbright.ac.uk