The Centre for Research Staff Development (CRSD) provides professional development support for research staff to achieve their potential, before, during and after their time at King’s, with active support from the most senior staff in the University.

The CRSD also actively supports research staff networks that operate across King’s, both at faculty and divisional level and maintains two-way communication with research staff, ensuring that it provides key information about events, careers, funding, and training and that research staff have platforms to contribute their views and feedback.

Research Staff at King’s are postdoctoral staff, research assistants, technicians and teaching fellows, in fact all those other than PhD students who are engaged in research and who do not yet have an independent, permanent academic or managerial position.

The CRSD works with research staff and on behalf of research staff at King's in several ways:

Community

We facilitate and support an active, engaged research staff community and ensure there are opportunities for you as researchers to contribute to how King's operates.

Careers

We encourage you as research staff to consider and prepare for your future career throughout your contract. We have qualified careers consultants on the team to assist you with your career plans, whatever they may be.

Courses

We deliver professional workshops and events that enhance your skills and improve your understanding of how best to approach your future.

Communications

We provide high-quality, timely information regarding opportunities within and outside of King's and information about what is happening in the Higher Education sector more generally.

Concordat

Your professional development at King's is influenced by The Concordat to Support the Career Development for Researchers, a national agreement that sets out the standards and responsibilities of the university and researchers. King's aims to exceed these standards.

The revised Researcher Development Concordat was launched on 12 September 2019. It outlines a set of key principles which underpin the working conditions and career development opportunities that should be offered to research staff and defines the responsibilities of researchers in achieving their own potential.

King's is committed to delivering the principles of the Researcher Development Concordat. Some of these principles include:

• 10 days pro rata per year allocation to engage with professional development
• Increased emphasis on planning for careers not just within academia, but also beyond academia supported by funders and King's
• Encouragement to develop research identity and broader leadership skills.

Our plans for implementation of the Researcher Development Concordat

King's is fully committed to these issues and has been implementing action plans addressing the current and previous versions. These plans were submitted for the HR Excellence in Research Award, which we held from 2012 to July 2025.

From August 2025 onwards, we will continue to generate and implement action plans. The latest plan, for the period August 2025 to July 2028, is currently being reviewed by the governance structures at King's and will be posted here upon completion.

The development opportunities and projects described in our action plans are instrumental to King's support for research staff and aim to fulfil the principles of the Researcher Development Concordat.

The European Commission's HR Excellence in Research Award

This award is made in recognition of a demonstrated commitment to the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers. King's held the award from 2012 to July 2025. Awards were initially renewed every second year. In 2022 they changed to a three-year cycle.

Reports to the Researcher Development Concordat Secretariat

Since 2022, signatories have also been submitting reports in the years between submissions for the HR Excellence in Research Award  to the Secretariat of the Researcher Development Concordat.

All previous actions plans and reports submitted for the HR Excellence in Research Award and the Researcher Development Concordat Secretariat demonstrating our implementation of the principles of the Researcher Development Concordat can be downloaded below.

2023 - 2024

2022

The 10-Year Self-Assessment Report, the 2020 to 2022 Action Plan Review outlining key achievements and progress made between 2020 and 2022 and the Action Plan for 2022-25.

2020

The 8-Year Self-Assessment Report, the 2018 to 2022 Action Plan Review outlining key achievements and progress made between 2018 and 2020 and the Action Plan for 2020-2022.

2012 - 2018

We support the professional development of research staff in several ways, including through face-to-face and online courses on seven different topics, one-to-one careers and writing support, and mentoring and coaching opportunities. Our courses are designed in consultation with research staff to ensure the programme is a true reflection of their needs. Research staff are encouraged to take 10 days of personal and professional training each year.

Professional future planning

Our experienced, impartial Career Consultants are available to hold one-to-one confidential appointments with research staff to discuss issues such as the next steps after contracts end, maximising the prospects of finding a job within or beyond academia, interview preparation, and creating strong CVs and LinkedIn profiles.

Writing support

We host two Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellows who are both professional writers. They provide one-to-one appointments to assist with improving and refining writing skills in a range of areas, including:

• research articles & submitting publications
• fluent academic style
• literature reviews
• job applications
• overcoming writer’s block
• accurate grammar & punctuation
• summary skills
• correct use of idiom and register.

Mentoring and coaching

Trained staff in the CRSD offer coaching sessions to address specific short-term goals such as workload management, career direction, and personal issues. The CRSD runs a mentoring scheme across all faculties, which allows postdoctoral research staff to search for suitable mentors and request pairings to receive support with long-term goals. 

King’s has a diverse and active research staff community, with over 2,000 research staff across faculties. A university-wide Research Staff Representative Committee (RSRC internal page) represents research staff across King’s and their concerns, and an increasing number of research staff networks (RSNs) and societies also operate across the different faculties. The CRSD works closely with the RSRC on policies and with RSNs by assisting in planning events, sourcing employers, and running professional development workshops in consultation with them to ensure the opportunities we provide are appropriate for them.

We communicate with research staff in various ways, ensuring that they are informed about relevant news, events, and updates both within King’s as well as in the wider higher education landscape. We provide this information through our intranet pages, a weekly newsletter, and different social media channels.

We also facilitate opportunities for research staff to contribute their views and feedback on relevant King’s policies, including by giving them opportunities for representation on decision-making committees at every level of the university, and by soliciting their opinion through Research Staff Forums and surveys, including the King's Research Staff Survey.

Find out more about research support and guidance at King's.

Please contact us for further information or enquiries about how we support research staff.

• King's CRSD (@KclCRSD)

• King's CRSD