As we make progress on our institutional 2025-2028 Researcher Development Concordat action plan, 8 months after publishing, we can now report on some of our Year 1 actions and initiatives, alongside Year 2 initiatives from the 2023-2025 Concordat action plan.
We want to ensure there is transparency with our work on the Concordat, to support its implementation across the University and ensure that everything we are doing is visible, developments communicated and opportunities presented to researchers, Principal Investigators (PIs) and staff in research support roles.
Researcher Development Concordat Hub
When the University published the current action plan in April 2025, we also developed and launched a Researcher Development Concordat Hub. This is a SharePoint space that includes information on the Concordat – what it is and what we are doing with it at the University of Edinburgh – a section that has a ‘live’ 2025 – 2028 Action Plan; a tracker document where we are able to update on the status of our actions, indicating if actions are planned, in progress or completed. We also have added all our action plans and annual reports and a ‘focus on’ – initiatives and developments summarises all achievements since we published our first action plan in 2021.
Reports – initiatives and developments
One area that has just been added is a ‘Reports’ – initiatives and developments section where several documents report on progress on different actions and areas of work related to the Concordat. These reports include:
- Ensuring Strategic Alignment between Concordat and Research Cultures initiatives [Concordat Action Plan 2025-2028]
A report highlighting support and initiatives available at the University of Edinburgh to support postdocs, in response to survey results in some focus areas of the Research Cultures surveys. - Research Cultures Action Plan 2023-25: End of Period Progress Report [Concordat Action Plan 2025-2028]
A report highlighting some of the considerable work that has taken place across the University, since the launch of the first Research Cultures Action Plan. - Evaluation of Mentoring Circles Programme 2024_25 [Concordat Action Plan 2025-2028]
An evaluation report on the Mentoring Circles, group mentoring programme which was launched and piloted in AY2024/25. - Role of Profiles Project_Final Report [Concordat Action Plan 2025-2028]
A report and recommendations from the ‘Role of profiles’ project conducted by the University’s UX Service from January to July 2025, which investigated staff needs and requirements around online profiles. - Evaluation of the IAD PI programme AY2425 – Summary [Concordat Action Plan 2023-2025]
A report summarising the evaluation for the IAD PI programme between Sept 2024 – June 2025, using attendance data and feedback data gathered from participants. - IAD Careers Team Reports
Reports updating on work, progress, evaluation and impact of the IAD careers support for research staff at the University.
To read these reports, and see our current action plan progress visit: Researcher Development Concordat Hub
As we continue to work through the action plan and complete projects, we will add to the Concordat SharePoint space with these updates, showing the impact of the Concordat and how the work we are doing is being evaluated.
The Researcher Development Concordat Hub also links to the Research Cultures website, ensuring a connection between the Concordat and both institutional and local research cultures work.
