As a member of the Technicians Support Steering Group, the Launch Event of Edinburgh University’s Technicians Commitment at McEwan Hall on the 5th of December was a fantastic day, and I was so proud to see our year’s work and effort rewarded with so many engaged and enthused technicians attending. It was such a fantastic […]

Institute of Science and Technology (IST) Technical Conference 2018 Photo from left to right: Scott Denham (ECRF Mass Spec Core), Fiona Alderson, Caroline Delahoyde and Richard Blair (School of Engineering). The annual IST Technical Conference was held this year in September in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and a number of colleagues from the University of Edinburgh attended. The […]

The Technician Commitment was set up by the Science Council and the Gatsby Charitable Foundation to ensure visibility, recognition, career development and sustainability for technicians working in universities and research institutes.   The third Technician Commitment signatory event was held on 6th November 2018 at the Tower of London to welcome the third round of […]

What is your role? Along with my colleague Kirsty Hughes, I am an Easter Bush Wellbeing Champion. Working with many colleagues across the campus, we have established a joint venture bringing together wellbeing activities which are inclusive for everyone, be they academic, technical and support staff, student, or any other role within our diverse community. I […]

The aim of the Core Technologies for Life Sciences (CTLS) is to ‘bring together scientists, technical and administrative staff working in or in close association with core facilities, research infrastructures and shared resource laboratories in life sciences and biomedicine’.  The third biennial CTLS conference was held from 1st– 4th July 2018 in Ghent at the […]

After the shock early exit of defending champions Germany from the World Cup, let’s explore why all-star teams sometimes fail to perform. And how to protect your team from prima-donnas. A numbers game After Germany’s exit in the World Cup group stages – for the first time in 70 years – critics were quick to blame […]

by Jenni Dyer (Institute of Physics), Kate Jones (University of Liverpool), Laura Marshall (Royal Society of Biology) & Kelly Vere (Science Council & University of Nottingham).  This post originally appeared on the Science Council website, who provide the quality assurance system for those working in science.   The Technician Commitment is bringing much needed visibility and recognition […]

Technicians are often a department’s most experienced fixture, says Kelly Vere – so why are we still invisible to the sector? This month has been a good one. I’ve had my first ever scientific book chapter published, taught an excellent cohort of students in a lab class, had a paper accepted in an international journal, become a […]

This year’s networking event was held at Napier University on 29th May at the Sighthill campus, organised by our coordinator, Val Gordon. I believe it fair to say that there was an impressive number of attendees, travelling from many of Scotland’s top universities including: Edinburgh, Dundee, Stirling, Abertay, [Glasgow], Strathclyde, Glasgow School of Art, Heriot Watt, the […]

Sue Churm (@HEaTEDSue) is Memberships and Networks Manager for HEaTED This post originally appeared in HEaTED Magazine – Spring/Summer 2017