New Concordat Coordinator appointed

Thomas Papworth has been appointed to the post of Concordat Coordinator. The post has been newly created for the 'Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers'. He took up his position in the role dedicated to assisting with implementation of the Concordat in UK HEIs on 27 April.

The Coordinator's main duties will be to support the activities of the high-level Research Concordat Strategy Group, manage the benchmarking process as well as play an active role in promoting the Concordat within the sector and helping to share good practice. He will work closely with UUK, RCUK, Vitae, the funding councils and other key stakeholders. The post is supported by Research Councils UK and the UK Funding Bodies and is based at Universities UK.

The Research Concordat Strategy Group has also announced the group's agreed Terms of Reference. These are available on the website, together with the membership and the papers and minutes from the first meeting.

The Executive Group is working on the agreed benchmarking projects:

• Understanding the Research Staff Cohort;
• Exploring the experiences of research staff through CROS;
• HEI approaches to embedding career development for researchers in HEI strategies;
• Reviewing the use of fixed term contracts;
• Views and perceptions of principal investigators;
• Funders responses to the Concordat.

For further information visit the Concordat website.