Dear all,
I have heard from various sources, particularly at the Heated conference earlier this year that the funding councils (NERC etc) are planning to make professional registration a requirement for any technicians included in grant proposals. Does anyone know of any documentary evidence to support this, such as published documents or web pages etc?
Regards
George
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Response from Terry Croft at IST is as follows - hope this is an acceptable reply George:
Quite a simple answer. It looks as though a member of the audience may not have heard correctly or has taken this out of context. The statement was that to be competitive internationally we have to match other countries vying for the same research grants particularly industrial ones. These sponsors ask for proof of competency for their skills and ability to confirm data. The UK has a number of accrediting bodies from UKAS (old NAMAS), various ISOs to GLP and CLP. We now have the Technicians Register to add to these.
The "feeling" as stated in the presentation is that sponsors including RCUK MAY require proof of competency to run and operate our specialist facilities more formally in the future and so confirm the validity of the data produced. Again peers in the sector have also suggested that at least for these major research facilities a return may be on the books for the next REF round in five years time. I doubt if ever any RCUK sponsor will demand professional registration but even now they want to know that we know what we are doing and also that we currently have to justify why we need these graded technical staff and why we need items of capital equipment. The bonus to any employer or research group is to be able to write in the application that our staff and facilities are fully accredited and we keep up to date with current operational issues, technology and related training as CPD is an essential component of Professional Registration. What a competitive edge that gives the person applying for funds. All parties win with Professional Registration.
2
Dr Rachel Bibby
Dear George,
Apologies for the delay in posting, I have been waitingfor a reply from the Science Council.
From the HEaTED perspective the general logical feeling would be that Research Councils might one day in the near future be asking for PI’s to specify the number of Registered technicians on grant proposals / bids.
If I can get a more concrete response from RCUK etc I will post it here...
Rachel.