Frequently Asked Questions for Contract Researchers

Fellowships

There is an excellent York Fellowship Programme that provides training and support for ECRs working towards a fellowship as well as supporting those who have successfully gained their fellowship.

The programme is for ECRs who have a clear idea of their proposal and the scheme they wish to go for, and are aiming to apply within the next 12 months. The 'Preparing for Fellowship Success' programme provides access to professional support staff, existing Fellowship holders, external speakers and Fellowship Mentors with an intensive 'retreat' - normally held in April/May - to help you work on your application. You can email: fellowships@york.ac.uk  to find out more about PfFS.

There is also a fellowship fortnight - normally held in May/June - this is for those considering or developing a fellowship and provides an opportunity to hear from existing fellowship holders. Take a look at last year's programme to get an idea of what is covered. Several senior colleagues within the department will also be happy to help you develop a fellowship proposal, so be in touch with your line manager if you are considering this, and they can link you up with senior colleagues who can support you. 

Internal funding

There are quite a number of internal funding opportunities that ECRs can apply for. These can act as a real launch pad for your career as an independent researcher by providing exploratory data, gaining insights from a range of stakeholders, including communities and patients and helping you to establish the connections needed to apply for further funding. There are small awards of £2000 which are relatively easy to apply for (just talk to the research impact leads) and can be a real help in taking forward your ideas visit the small awards website for more info.

The University of York is part of the World University Network, and this is another good source of funding with small grants such as the Research Development Fund which provides grants of up to £10,000 to foster research collaborations among academic staff members at WUN universities focusing on global challenges (e.g. inequalities, urbanisation, mental health - so very relevant to PH&S).

Talk to your line manager

Your line manager will have gone through the ECR stage and be familiar with available funding sources and what will make a strong application, so do talk to them about your ideas and plans. You can highlight your plans through the PDR, and setting yourself goals to put in applications - whether for internal funding, external grants or a fellowship - will really help you and your manager to plan how you can carve out the time to work on your own development in becoming an independent researcher. There will be time within your contract for this personal development, so it is worth talking through how best to make the most of this.

Find a coach or a mentor

The University has two well-developed schemes to support staff to reflect and develop their research career. You can sign up to have Coaching - this is where your coach can help you to find your own solutions and make your own decisions, often in relation to a specific area that you identify as in need of development. you can apply at any time. The university mentoring scheme is set up to link you with a more senior staff member (they can be in your subject area , or not, depending on your needs) and they advise and help you to identify your goals and work towards them over (normally) a 6 month period. You can apply for a Mentor in May or November when scheme is open for applications.

Have a look at Futurelearn

During 2023 the University was part of a scheme which allowed access to a MOOC on Career Management for Early Career Academic Researchers MOOC on Futurelearn. The website hasn’t been updated for this academic year yet, but this may well be available in 2024, so keep checking the link.

All kinds of academic citizenship are valued. To a large extent it is up to each of us to frame our contributions to academic citizenship, with appropriate description when needed. Examples of when we need to do this include: in applications for promotion, in performance review, in applications for fellowships and funding.

Check out the guidance around academic citizenship in the promotion process at York. Note that you need to be able to demonstrate that your academic citizenship activities benefit the University. You have to be able to give evidence at every level which demonstrates effectiveness, scale, quality, impact and importance of achievements. So, they are not saying that one kind of activity is valued more than others, but that activities that make a more significant contribution are clearly going to be valued highly.

There is no one answer to this question, as PhD supervision often occurs in many different ways. We've tried to consider as many ways as we can, but this is by no means exclusive.  

Tell people you are looking to supervise

This is probably the easiest, but most effective way of getting more opportunities to supervise PhD students.  We receive a large volume of inquiries about supervision and it can actually be a struggle to find a suitable (and free) supervisor. It would be great to let people like the PhD programme lead, your research group lead and your line manager know. Some people also put text on their web page to let people know that they are looking to supervise students (and in what subject areas). Lastly - dont forget to tell your external colleagues too (including at conferences etc.).

Look for funding

If you already have a person (or project) in mind for a PhD,  you will usually need to seek funding. There are many fellowship opportunities available for PhD (NIHR Fellowship, Marie Curie, BBSRC, MRC etc).  These are very competitive and usually take a while to write.

If you haven't already got experience in supporting someone through an external fellowship application like this, we recommend you get a bit of extra help (e.g. ask someone who has, and the RSS may be able to help). Other pots of money can also become available and its worth keeping an eye open for PhD funding opportunities that are regularly promoted in our DoHS emails. One of these is the White Rose fellowship - which the UoY is eligible to apply for. There are also local funding opportunities provided on the department's webpage. If you don’t already have someone in mind for a PhD fellowship, you can still apply and then advertise the studentship.   Lastly, when you are writing project grants, look to see if the funder will pay for studentships. This is a great way to supervise PhD projects whilst providing added value to your research project. 

Offer to be a TAP member

This is a great way to learn more about the supervision process and is therefore very helpful to those of you who have not supervised before, or who are new to the University. If you are new, you will also have to find another supervisor who has had previous experience of supervision (to completion) to co-supervise with you.  

Training

Regardless of whether you are a new or experienced supervisor, the University requires all supervisors to do mandatory training. There is a Postgraduate Research Supervisors page and you can see more information about the type of training you need (and/or want) to do.

Presenting at our webinars and seminars

Inviting and encouraging our PhD students to present at internal and external events that we are all involved in is a great way of hearing more about their studies, but also to support them to gain skills in presenting their research.

Getting involved in our research programmes

Understanding how large research programmes function can be really insightful for PhD students, particularly if they have not worked on major research programmes before. Even if there are not opportunities for them to take on paid roles then they may be interested to join key meetings and events to contribute, get involved and understand more about our research.

Social media

Following each other and amplifying PhD students' work is another good way of strengthening our connections.

Getting involved in teaching

There are several ways PhD students can get involved in teaching, whether it is supporting module leads, acting as a contact point with students, delivering teaching or tutorials or helping with marking. This is another way that PhD students can also benefit from paid work, whilst also building their academic CV. Ensuring PhD students are well supported and mentored to teach - with access to all the training available on supervision/teaching etc - is key to a positive experience for both the PhD student and the masters/undergrad students being taught. 

Be sociable

Make sure we invite PhD students to events and social get together... they can often end up on the wrong email list and get forgotten.

Contributing to the development and writing of grant applications 

Early in your career you may have opportunity to support more senior colleagues in the preparation of proposals and applications, this might take the form of doing rapid literature searches, supporting PPI work, doing reconnaissance on study sites, helping to co-ordinate meetings or contributions from the co-applicant team, proofreading and referencing (and many other things). Assisting in this way can give you a real insight into how grant applications are developed and the key processes and timelines required. In some circumstances if your contribution is significant enough and the intention is that you might work on the project if it is funded, there may also be an opportunity for you to be costed in as a named researcher (this usually means that you don't have to apply for the role through a formal recruitment process if the funding is successful). Regardless of your status in relation to a particular application, you should always mention and describe your contribution to the development of grant proposals on your CV and any promotion applications. This kind of contribution is recognised/valued and demonstrates your potential to make your own applications in the future.  

Co-investigator/co-applicant roles

Opportunities for co-investigator roles on grants will come with time, as you build your expertise and profile both within the department and externally. Building your publication profile helps with this as well as networking. Internal funding applications can be a good first opportunity for co-applicant roles, as well as small grants. Sometimes you might have an idea for funding but funder rules mean that you don't yet have the requisite experience or seniority to apply in your own name, in these instances you might work with someone more senior (e.g. your line manager) who could act as the PI to develop the idea. You would do the heavy lifting on the application and although you have co-applicant status rather than lead applicant status, again you can stipulate your significant contribution on CVs and applications for promotion (most academics reviewing CVs and promotion applications will have been in similar situations at one time or another).    

Co-PI roles 

Many funders, e.g. NIHR, ESRC and MRC are keen to support the development of early career researchers and encourage grant applications where less experienced researchers share co-PI status with a much more experienced colleague. Some funding schemes are more amenable to this than others, so check the guidance, talk to your line managers and other colleagues in the group, and for NIHR proposals you can also check in with the Research Support Service (RSS, formerly known as RDS). You will probably need some small grants or internal funding under your belt, and some experience leading a work package on a project before putting yourself forward for a co-PI role.

Mentoring at York is a supportive relationship where a less experienced member of staff can be matched with someone more experience and benefit from their knowledge and experiences. The University already has three formal mentoring schemes (for researchers and academic staff, support staff and PGRs), all of which allow you to express a preference for a mentor within or outside the department. Details of the schemes and links are below.

You might also consider taking on a mentoring role, the University accepts rolling applications from potential mentors to all of the schemes. It's a great opportunity to share your experiences and support colleagues at earlier stages of their careers, and an excellent opportunity to demonstrate academic citizenship. 

Mentoring for researchers (inc. post docs) and other academic staff

Mentees are invited to apply for a mentor at two points in the year:

• In and around November, for a mentoring relationship from January to June
• In and around May, for a mentoring relationship from July to December.

Details of the scheme and how to apply can be found on the mentoring webpage.

Mentoring for support staff

Mentees are invited to apply for a mentor at two points in the year:

• In and around November, for a mentoring relationship from January to June
• n and around May, for a mentoring relationship from July to December.

Details of the scheme and how to apply can be found on the mentoring for support staff webpages.

Mentoring for PGRs

Mentees are invited to apply for a mentor at two points in the year:

• In and around November, for a mentoring relationship from January to June
• In and around May, for a mentoring relationship from July to December.

Details of the scheme and how to apply can be found on the PGRs mentoring scheme webpage. 

The University does also offer a coaching scheme. This is a more formal and intensive process that requires support and involvement from your line manager. To find out more about coaching and whether it might be for you, have a look at the webpages. 

This is by no means an exhaustive list of tips but here are some things to think about in relation to getting maximum impact from academic papers:

1. Think about the audience and who you are trying to influence with your work.  Not all useful or worthy papers will have big audiences.  For example, a methods paper might be of interest to others in your field but can’t be expected to have a bigger audience, which is fine.  Aim to have a mix of paper that are of various potential impact targeted to various audiences and perhaps put the most dissemination effort into the ones which you think will have the greatest reach.
2. Top journals are great, but not all papers will find a home in a top journal.  The really top journals (Science, Nature, BMJ, Lancet) tend to turn things around really quickly so you don’t usually lose much time by trying there first, but second tier journals can take much longer.  If you suspect it might be a reach to go for second tier with a particular paper, you might do better to lower your expectations, get it accepted first submission with a lesser journal and then work hard at impact yourself.
3. Aim for a judicious mix of quality and quantity of papers in your CV.  You want some big chunky ones (these can go to the better journals) as well as some thinner ones that bulk up your numbers.  Don’t always divide up your work into the maximum number of papers you can squeeze out or you might never produce the significant papers.
4. The REF doesn’t always love review papers (unless they are systematic reviews according to Cochrane or other protocols), but your colleagues are likely to appreciate a critical or narrative review that covers an important topic – these kinds of papers get cited a lot because they are so useful.
5. You can get a lot of extra impact by your own efforts.  Use social media to spread the word about your paper, shout about it in your email signature, send copies around to colleagues etc.  Can your project team create nice graphic social media ‘cards’ for your posts? Pitch to The Conversation to write a short article about your findings.  Add to project websites, blogs etc.  Pitch to other sites, perhaps the journal has a blog, what about professional societies, your own project websites etc.  Your efforts can really make a difference in getting attention to your work, it’s not all over when the paper comes out in the journal.
6. Think about a press release if your results have something that would make a good news story – journalists like new findings, or results that they can hook to topical news events.  Save press releases for the significant papers with simple, headline results that will be of interest to the public.  Talk to the UoY press office, see if they agree that a press release is a good idea for your paper.  They can draft a press release if they think you’ve got something worth promoting.  On big projects there will usually be a project manager or communications officer who can do this, or support you to do it.  A press release will need a short quote from you saying why the finding is innovative or significant.  Press releases need to have statistics (if relevant) that the public can understand, e.g. % increases in risk rather than risk ratios, absolute numbers affected rather than effect sizes etc.
7. Impact doesn’t only come from academic papers in academic journals – could your research be disseminated in a policy brief (maybe talk to The York Policy Engine or do one of their trainings), a practice guideline or note, a toolkit, a short video?
8. You will always be more likely to have high impact if you write in language that speaks clearly to people.  Ditch the academic jargon.  Getting feedback from ‘critical friends’ is really helpful. On a related note, check with colleagues that your abstract is crystal clear, and that your tables and figures have clear titles that say what is being shown and make sure they are easily understood.  For example, not Figure 1: Probability of Y in relation to X but instead, Figure 1: Probability of Y increases significantly with higher levels of Y in a sample of n=~ women in [setting], year range

For more ideas, try here:

https://www.researchmasterminds.com/blog/strategies-to-optimise-research-output

https://blog.growkudos.com/research-mobilization/research-impact-what-why-how

In terms of the formal process for coming to the end of your contract: 

Individuals are typically transferred from a fixed-term contract to an open contract when a contract is extended following two years' continuous service, provided there is an ongoing requirement for the work. Fixed-term / open contracts may be extended for a limited time and this is dependent on funding available. However, when your contract is nearing an end and there is no opportunity for it to be extended, the University offers the redeployment scheme for employees with more than 12 months continuous service to assist staff 'at risk' of redundancy to secure suitable alternative employment within the University. When a member of staff is declared to be 'at risk' of redundancy, they should be invited to register to receive the redeployment e-bulletin. You will be eligible to receive this if you are within six months prior to the expiry date of your contract. 

Sue Dunkerley is our local HR coordinator and will support you through the process and is more than happy to answer any queries.

In terms of some general advice for preparing for coming to the end of your contract: 

Assess your goals and decide what you want for the future. This may be to stay in academia, move to industry, or pursue an alternative career path. Throughout your contract have honest and open conversations with your line manager about options for possible contract extensions and future research posts. It is good for them to be aware of how you'd like to progress and for you to be aware of what your options are. 

However, fixed-term / open research contracts are dependent on funding being awarded. A potential funding option to consider are fellowships, which as well as being a great development opportunity, can also give researchers more security. The NIHR has a range of fellowship schemes you may be eligible for and wish to consider, however other funders also have some options for these too.  

Throughout your role, always maintain both your internal and external networks, as this is often how you hear about other research areas you may wish to get involved in, and also other opportunities for alternative posts. Attend conferences, reach out to collaborators, and engage with potential employers informally.

If unfortunately it is not looking like there will be any opportunities to extend your contract and redeployment is likely, join the redeployment e-bulletin and set up job alerts from other Universities or organisations you may be interested in applying to. If you haven't already, identify which institutions or organisations align with your research / teaching interests. Universities typically have their own webpages and alerts for current vacancies. Jobs.ac.uk is another organisation where lots of academic roles are advertised. Social media platforms are also frequently becoming a good place for roles to be advertised, for example: X, LinkedIn, BlueSky. With this in mind, make sure your profiles on any of these platforms are professional and up to date and have your CV ready.

A tip for if you see a role which interests you, is to reach out to the contact for the post and have an informal conversation about the role and ask any questions you may have. When applying, research the organisation as well as the role. Spend time preparing for interviews and practice any presentations that you have been asked to prepare for an interview. If successful, make sure you wrap up any research / teaching at your current institution, prepare to transition to your new role, and maintain professional relationships with former colleagues for future collaborations. Staying connected with colleagues and your academic network is crucial for future collaborations, references, and career growth.

Speak to your line managers and other colleagues, who will have lots of helpful advice too.

It’s worth starting by saying that impact is not just about REF.  We strive to have impact with all of the work we do, even if it is forecasted for a future project. The University of York and the DoHS both have lots of resources to help you get started with thinking about impact, including some basic definitions of different types of impact.  Outside of REF, this is often referred to as ‘Impact Culture’. It may be helpful to look at guidance from the NIHR on impact to help you think about how to ensure your research has the greatest impact from the beginning (and running all the way through your work).  This is definitely not just about making the most of your dissemination (though that is part of it).  Ultimately, consideration of impact begins by making sure that your research questions are important and not just ‘interesting’.  Once you have a much needed question, your methods need to be developed so that they are able to answer your questions.  Your task thereafter is to efficiently deliver and disseminate the research - ensuring maximum reach by developing outputs for intended audiences. The UoY values impact as part of its core strategy to public good.  One way you can increase your own impact is to submit an application to an impact acceleration grant.  These are relatively easy to develop and are a contribution to ‘grant activity’ in your CV. 

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is an assessment that is carried out periodically to determine the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. It is a significant policy instrument driving research excellence across the UK and informs allocation of around £2bn of block-grant funding each year to provide accountability for public investment.

The next round of REF is 2029, but the University has been gearing up for it since the last REF in 2021.  There is more information here on REF.  In short, it is not just about impact case studies.  Universities will have to demonstrate impact via:

1. People, culture and environment (institutional and disciplinary statements)
2. Research outputs (papers etc)
3. Engagement and impact (impact case studies)

Unlike previous rounds, outputs are not being linked to individuals.  In other words, the University will no longer be looking to see which individuals have at least x amount of ¾* papers.  Instead, the number of outputs and impact case studies we will need to submit will be based on the FTE of staff contracted to do research. 

Though things differ by department and schools, most impact leads are currently exploring the potential of building impact case studies (ICS).  There is no set structure for this.  Many people are considering research that was considered in the last round but ‘not quite ready’ as well as new ICS.  At the time of writing this, department impact leads have all been asked to propose a ‘long-list’ of potential case studies.  In DoHS and in HYMS, there are less than 10 ICS in each respective long-list.  We are being asked to reduce these to 2-3 before the end of 2025.  The reason this is done so far in advance is to help teams that are writing an ICS to make the most of each case - perhaps collecting more data or amplifying impact activities.

If you’re keen to learn more about what an ICS looks like, submissions from York for the last round can be seen here. These are submitted within ‘units of assessments’ (UoA) which basically refers to the discipline under which they are submitted. For example, UoA 2 is for ICS within Public health, health services and primary care (where most of the UoAs for DoHS will go).  UoA 5 is Biology and UoA 4 is psychology.  This means that each department may contribute to ICS across multiple UoA. 

In terms of what you can do, my advice is to focus on delivering research that makes a difference.  If you’re especially interested in this area, keep an eye on the UoY website for updates and opportunities. All departments have impact leads and some have impact groups.  Being part of these is considered a citizenship role.  So, in order to be part of them, you’ll need to respond to an expression of interest.  The impact lead for DoHS is Suman Prinjha.  Maria Bryant is impact lead for HYMS.  DoHS have also developed lots of resources. 

Yes, it could do.

The University's academic promotions policy indicates that applications will be considered against clear criteria which set out the expectations by contract type and grade applied for. If you are on a research contract, your application will be considered against clear research contract criteria - you can find the relevant criteria for your grade here: https://www.york.ac.uk/admin/hr/pay-and-grading/promotion/criteria/  - evidence can also be provided from time working under other contractual arrangements too.

As you'll see, the University's promotions criteria are split into A and B descriptors. The A descriptors present and assess the minimum level of achievement over defined core areas. The B descriptors present and assess excellent achievement in other areas (going beyond the minimum thresholds in the A descriptors).

If you are on a research contract and you are applying for promotion to, say, Grade 7, direct involvement in teaching could be mentioned under 'Teaching and Scholarship' in line with a Category B descriptor.

However, it may also be relevant to mention things like contributing to teaching-related committees or faculty initiatives, doing a specific administrative role related to teaching, or supporting and mentoring Graduate Teaching Assistants, under 'Academic Citizenship' (e.g. in relation to the topics of institutional participation and contribution, participation in the general academic needs or implementation goals of the department/University, or management).

There is no rule against 'double counting' under the new criteria - so you could use a teaching activity to count against multiple criteria, if appropriate.