Researcher Development Framework

This area focuses on developing researchers who are:

• Development-focused: You take ownership of ongoing professional development, building skills, capabilities, and experiences to support career growth, adaptability, and mobility. 
• Strategic: You consider the contexts and landscapes in which research operates, developing strategic direction accordingly.
• Organised: You set clear goals and objectives, plans and prioritises, conducts activities proactively and to time.
• Curious: You take an inquiring, open, and questioning approach, seeking insight, exploring new ideas, and engaging across boundaries.
• Collaborative: You actively engages with others to design, create and advance research and/or outcomes that can address complex issues and maximise impact.
• Adaptable: You are open, agile, and responsive to new ideas, ways of working, opportunities and solutions.
• Reflexive: You continuously examines own position, assumptions, motives and biases and how these influence approach.
• Motivated: You are a motivated, independent thinker who is determined and committed to research.
• Responsible: You demonstrate personal and professional responsibility, considering the potential effects of work on participants, beneficiaries, society, and the environment.

This area has three sub-sections for developing research-specific skills:

Knowledge and practice

• Subject knowledge: You develop knowledge of and contribute to a research area and/or practice, the advances within it, and its relationship with other research areas and/or practice.
• Research methods: You develop knowledge of and can integrate suitable research methods, techniques and approaches, including interdisciplinary approaches where appropriate. You can explain and justify the chosen design and/or approach.
• Information and data literacy: You design and implement techniques and systems to appropriately source, organise, synthesise, evaluate and manage information and data.
• Digital and technological capabilities: You use existing and emerging technologies and tools as required for research, scholarly activity, dissemination and innovation.
• Critical thinking and analysis: You exhibit original, independent and critical thinking; analyse and evaluate information, research progress, data and findings.
• Creativity and innovation: You identify new trends and create opportunities to improve ideas, build knowledge and enhance outcomes.

Research management

• Funding and finance: You can identify funding mechanisms and income-generating opportunities, understand application processes, and adhere to funding agreements.
• Project management: You apply project management techniques to deliver research on time, within budget, and to agreed outcomes.
• Risk management: You effectively assess and manage all risks related to a research project or activity.
• Open research: You make research processes, results and outputs transparent and as freely accessible as possible, aiming to make research widely available and usable.
• Research integrity and ethics: You uphold integrity in research by applying ethical, legal, and professional standards; addresses challenges transparently and responsibly, supporting good governance throughout the research process.

Engagement and impact

• Communication: You use suitable platforms, methods, and media to communicate research, ensuring language and approaches are tailored to target audiences.
• Research outputs: You develop and share diverse outputs, practices, and activities to maximise the quality and impact of research.
• Knowledge exchange and public engagement: You share knowledge to benefit policy, society, the environment and the economy through public engagement and other activities, ensuring mutual benefit through interaction and listening.
• Research translation and commercialisation: You identify mechanisms and opportunities to transform ideas and outcomes into products, processes and services.
• Teaching and learning: You engage with and share research through teaching, training, and learning activities to develop others and enhance knowledge, capacity, and practice.

This area focuses on developing a researcher's ability to collaborate and work with others through an understanding of:

• Research culture: You foster inclusive, equitable, open, responsible and supportive research cultures, ensuring all contributions are valued, and research excellence is enabled.
• Teamwork: You leverage the perspectives and skills of others, promote shared ownership of research outcomes, fosters mutual respect and open communication.
• Leadership: Leads, motivates and influences where appropriate; sets expectations, delegates responsibilities, holds self and others accountable. 
• Supervision and management: You build relationships and work with supervisees and/or line reports, interacting constructively and empathically to guide, support and empower.
• Coaching and mentoring: You support others through sharing experiences and knowledge for their benefit. Uses coaching techniques to support others in developing specific skills or reaching goals.
• Networking: Proactively builds and sustains networks to support professional and career development, fosters inclusive research communities and mutually beneficial connections.