TALENT Technical Careers Advisor - Dr Michelle Jackson

Michelle is the TALENT Careers Advisor and is available to speak to any technical member of staff at Warwick about their career. She can be contacted via email (Michelle.Jackson@nottingham.ac.uk).

How I can help you

• 1-2-1 career discussions, including exploring career options and developing a career development plan
• Coaching and mentoring
• Options for development activities that can help you advance your career
• Advice about gaining registration, which level would be appropriate, which Professional Body would be right for you, and how to fill in the necessary documentation

Top three tips for developing your technical career

1. Discover what you want to do – research career options, think about what you most enjoy doing, create a career development plan
2. Take opportunities to try different things – learn a new technique, join a committee, take on a project, you may discover that you enjoy something new
3. Make the most of your PDR – this is your opportunity to discuss career goals and development activities that you can undertake with your line manager

About Michelle

Michelle has worked in a number of Universities across the UK, in post-doctoral, technical, technical management and operational roles. She held the position of HEaTED Development Manager for a number of years before becoming a consultant working on several challenging projects for the Institute of Science and Technology, the S-Lab project and HEIs. Michelle is the Registrar on the IST executive group and was instrumental in setting up their registration scheme. She continues to coordinate the scheme and its assessors. As an advocate for technicians she was delighted to join the TALENT team as a Technical Careers Advisor, and is looking forward to working with technicians across the Midlands Innovation Group.

About TALENT

A brochure outlining the work packages in TALENT can be found here, with the main web pages here.

TALENT is a project which leads and influences change to advance status and opportunity for technical skills, roles and careers in UK Higher Education. It is led by the Midlands Innovation (MI) consortium of eight universities in collaboration with key stakeholder and industry partners. It is the largest ever investment into technicians in higher education, whose specialist skills often go unrecognised despite the crucial role they play in the success of universities and the growth of the UK economy.

TALENT is underpinned by a grant of more than £3 million from the Research England Development Fund. The rest of the funding will be provided by the consortium university members as well as key partners including the Science Council, Technician Commitment, Wellcome Trust, British Geological Survey, Manufacturing Technology Centre, Rolls-Royce Plc, Unilever, Thales Alenia Space, Cobra Biologics and Midlands Engine.

Michelle at Warwick in 1996

Michelle as Technical Manager at University of Nottingham 2018