We have a couple of opportunities to share with you to feed in to some national work on the Future Research Assessment Programme and a study that is looking at how the Apprenticeship Levy is utilised to support technical training.  Also some information about the launch of the Technician Commitment Collaboration Fund.

Technician Commitment Collaboration Fund

We are pleased to launch a second round of the Technician Commitment Collaboration Fund. The Collaboration Fund is a small grants scheme which provides funding to Technician Commitment Signatory Institutions to pump prime and enable collaborative projects with external partners to advance the aims of the Technician Commitment.

The scheme is open to all Technician Commitment Signatory institutions and funding is awarded on a competitive basis. The Steering Board invites submissions in the range of £100 - £2000 to support the creation of collaborative opportunities. Examples may include, but are not limited to: joint workshops, shared training, development of shared materials, facilitation of work placements/exchanges and seminars/conference styled activity.

 Further information including key dates and the application form and process can be found here.

Apprenticeship Levy for Technical Training

As part of its culture change work, the TALENT project is exploring the current use of the apprenticeship levy for technical training in universities and research institutions. They are gathering evidence via a survey for technical managers, which will inform a public-facing report that will be launched next spring. Please could you share this short survey with technical managers in your organisation? The survey takes 5-7 minutes to complete and closes on 15^th December. The TALENT team would be very grateful for your support.

Opportunity to feed into the development of the next national assessment exercise

As part of the Future Research Assessment Programme, the four UK higher education funding bodies (Research England, Scottish Funding Council, Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, and Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland) have launched a survey to gather feedback on REF 2021 from the research community, including those in research-related roles: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/REF2021FeedbackSurvey. A key strand of the programme will consider how research assessment can support a positive research culture.

Although the REF is not an assessment of individuals, this survey looks at the impact of unit-level assessment on individuals. Respondents are asked to base their responses on their own personal experiences of REF 2021, rather than their wider perceptions of the impact of the REF. Responses to this consultation are invited from any individuals with experience of REF 2021, not just those eligible for submission. All views expressed will be taken into account, alongside other forms of evidence and analysis, when considering the future of UK-wide research assessment. The survey will remain open until noon on 26 January 2022.

Funding bodies plan to hold a wider consultation on research assessment in early 2022, so if you do not have direct experience of REF you will still have a chance to have your say.