Lancaster's is a signatory to the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers providing researchers with an entitlement to 10 development days a year (pro-rata). This page details some of the opportunities that can be included as part of the development days, other opportunities will be offered by your department/faculty. The Researcher 10 development days guidance provides information on how to make the most of these development days.
Knowledge and skills to undertake research and deliver outcomes
Researcher development - workshops and programmes accordion
The workshops are appropriate both if you are working as the PI/Co-I on a grant application or if you are supporting the writing of an application. The workshops have been designed to develop your grant writing skills and optimise the chance of success with future grant submissions.
You may choose to attend all/most of the sessions or those most relevant to your needs.
Future Leaders Fellowships (FLF) Information session - Wednesday, 28 January 13.00-15.00 This session will provide an overview of UKRI's prestigious Future Leaders Fellowships scheme. You will hear from some of our current FLF holders, find out about the University's internal selection process and have opportunities to ask questions.
Developing Successful Research Proposals -Wednesday, March 18, 2026 14.00-15.30 This workshop will help you understand the process for planning, preparing, and writing a quality proposal for external research funding.
Narrative CV's - Thursday, 26 March 12.00-15.00 This session explores NCVs for grant applications and career development. You will get started on drafting your own CV, peer review those of others and be able to tailor for different purposes. This workshop is led by Dr Taryn Bell, Researcher Development Advisor (Careers) at the University of Leeds.
Developing a Successful Expressions of Interest (EoI) - date to be determined For many funding applications a successful EoI is needed before you can submit a full proposal. In this interactive workshop you will review a number to identify the features of a successful EoI.
Future workshops:
Research Outputs
Writing Quality Proposals
Building your networks - internally and in industry
Building your networks - EU
Ethics, Trusted Research and Export Control
Email: researchculture@lancaster.ac.uk to express your interest in attending any of these future workshops and we will notify you as soon as it has been scheduled.
For researchers, much professional development and advancement is linked to successfully delivering projects. Any post-doctoral or early–career researcher will have had to organise, analyse and present an enormous amount of information, set goals and review progress.
Facilitated by Dr Steve Hutchinson this programme will equip you with applied project management skills and an overview of various project-planning tools and techniques.
The last programme took place in January 2026. Dates of further sessions will be posted when confirmed.
Session I – Research Project Management Essentials
This first session introduces the essential elements of research project management and equips you with a series of tools to help with:
Understanding the value of coherent management in research projects and recognising contextual difficulties.
Identifying and protecting the scope boundaries with a project (i.e. helping identify and work with what any given project IS and IS NOT.)
Project planning and recognising the life-cycle of a project
Understanding, identifying and communicating with stakeholders
Communicating objectives and timelines
Managing risks and uncertainties within a project
Session 2 – Enhanced Management Practice
This session will explore:
Keeping things on track - Monitoring and Status Reporting
Working with collaborative project teams
Handling project changes, issues and crises
Influencing project stakeholders
Please note:
You are asked on registering for this event to make a commitment to attend both sessions. We understand that unavoidable circumstances can prevent your attendance. In this instance, please cancel your place at the earliest opportunity so that a colleague can be offered your place.
This workshop explores how to build, maintain, and proactively manage effective student-supervisor relationships using the UKCGE framework.
In this workshop, you will begin to consider:
The core principles of the UKCGE framework and how they apply to supervisory relationships
Expectations and responsibilities of both students and supervisors
Techniques for building trust and maintaining effective communication
Strategies for navigating common challenges and resolving conflicts
A practical toolkit for proactively managing your role in the supervisory dynamic
Lancaster's rules and regulations relating to PhD Supervision
Opportunities to reflect on your current practices and share insights with peers
Who is it for:
This workshop is designed for postgraduate research supervisors at all career stages-whether you're newly appointed or looking to refresh and refine your approach. It's ideal for those who want to deepen their understanding of supervisory dynamics and foster more productive, supportive relationships with their students.
Why attend:
Supervisory relationships are at the heart of successful research journeys. By attending, you'll gain actionable strategies to enhance your practice, address concerns in a safe and supportive environment, and connect with fellow supervisors to exchange ideas and build useful connections. You'll leave with renewed confidence, a toolkit of resources, and a clearer sense of how to navigate the complexities of supervision with empathy and effectiveness.
The Research Integrity online course is designed to help you understand your responsibilities as a researcher in upholding high standards of rigour and integrity. It identifies the principles and responsibilities you need to apply throughout your research project from planning your research through to data analysis and presentation. There are 13 modules in the course, more specialised ones include:
Trusted Research and Export Controls
Scholarly Publication
Intellectual Property
The Care and Use of Animals
Who needs to complete the training?
Everyone involved in research - staff and students would benefit from completing the courses.
The University Executive Board (UEB) has made the decision that New staff on research or research and teaching contracts are required to complete the Research Integrity and Ethical Research courses for staff within 3 months of their start date.
The Ethical Research course is designed to provide you with the core skills needed to become an ethical researcher. The modules explore research ethics in its broader sense including the ethical challenges of different research methods and being aware of your own biases when interpreting results. You will learn about ethics approval, giving you an understanding applicable to your research project and/or as your career progresses.
Who needs to complete the training?
Everyone involved in research - staff and students would benefit from completing the courses.
The University Executive Board (UEB) has made the decision that New staff on research or research and teaching contracts are required to complete the Research Integrity and Ethical Research courses for staff within 3 months of their start date.
The Engagement learning and development portal features toolkits, digital guides, videos and case studies to support the engagement activities of Lancaster University staff.
Aimed at researchers and professional services staff with a responsibility in this area, the portal is a one-stop-shop to support staff in delivering engagement and partnership activities including how to run events, working with the media, communicating research findings, influencing and negotiating and engaging with policymakers. It demonstrates how engagement can help further your career and has signposting to the teams and individuals at the University who can support your engagement activity.
Public Engagement
Are you working with communities or the general public as part of your work at Lancaster University?
If so, a public and community engagement network has been set up, bringing together colleagues from across faculties and departments to share experiences and opportunities. It will also be a place for training and development sessions, sharing resources and good practice - all with the ultimate aim of learning from each other and promoting the benefits of public and community engagement.
Whether you are a researcher or member of Professional Services staff, the new network is for everyone, at any stage of their career no matter what your experience with public and community engagement.
The network will be shaped by your input and feedback whilst also providing a great way to get your insights as we develop a strategic approach to public and community engagement across the institution.
The Research Impact online course explores how your research can achieve positive change or benefit to research participants and wider society. It encourages you to plan for impact from the start of your research, identifying how you are going to engage with stakeholders and communicate your research. Modules include plenty of real-world case studies, inspiring stories and video interviews representing a range of researchers from across disciplines and at different career stages.
The majority of open research training sessions are delivered through the Library Skills @Lancaster programme 'Researcher Development' pathway, which is designed to support both students and staff to develop the Information Literacy and Open Research skills they need to progress in their research and careers.
The pathway runs on a termly basis and covers the following themes:
Understanding the principles of Open Research
Engaging with Open Research practices
Managing research data and creating Data Management Plans
Publishing research outputs
Understanding open access
Utilising researcher profile tools and bibliometrics
Evidencing research impact
The REF is the UK’s system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. In this session you will explore why the REF is important for the University and what it means for you and your research.
Becky Gordon, Head of Research Quality and Policy will lead the session, with input from senior academic colleagues involved in previous REF exercises.
This is an in-person event and will be held in the Library Events Space.
SAIL (Safe AI at Lancaster) is the university’s centrally governed AI access hub. It provides staff and researchers with secure access to institution approved large language models for research, teaching, and professional activity, without the risks associated with personal subscriptions or unmanaged tools.
This accordion has details of all the coaching and mentoring opportunities open to researchers at Lancaster. accordion
Lancaster University is part of the Mid-Career Researcher (MCR) Mentoring Scheme - a collaborative initiative with partner institutions across the north of England. The scheme has run for several years and has received excellent feedback from both mentors and mentees. The scheme is currently running between February - July 2026. We have 22 senior leader mentors and 18 mid-career researchers signed up as mentees on the scheme.
The scheme runs annually and applications for the 26/27 scheme will be posted later in 2026.
Key Details
Participating institutions: Lancaster University, Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Manchester, University of Salford, Sheffield Hallam University, Leeds Beckett University and University of Huddersfield.
Definition of a Mid-career’ or ‘established’ researchers: you will have developed an independent research reputation, have likely been promoted and have a long active career ahead. You are no longer an early career researcher (ECRs) (an ECR is usually defined as someone who is no more than five to eight years post-PhD (dependent on discipline) or up to ten years with career breaks or has equivalent experience). Typically, your role will be as a Senior Lecturers, Senior Research Fellow, Reader, or Associate Professor. For the purposes of this scheme MCR does not include colleagues who are mid-career chronologically, having started their career beyond academic research, but still early in their research career.
Mid-career researchers often find themselves with fewer structured development opportunities compared to early-career researchers (ECRs) and this scheme helps to address this gap.
Mentoring is light-touch, involving approximately three to four meetings, usually online, over four to six months
The scheme provides a great opportunity for mentors to contribute to the research community and build connections across institutions.
Mentoring is a valuable source of development. It can help you to focus on your next move, consider new opportunities and open up a wider network.
Outside of the Cross-institutional Mid-Career Mentoring Programme there are two ways in which you can engage in a mentoring relationship:
Your department can allocate a mentor to you as a new member of staff (this is not the same as a buddy - a buddy is someone who will show you the ropes, local conventions such as tea and coffee routines, how to claim your expenses and general local orientation etc).
Direct approach to someone known to you, or recommended by your manager or colleague.
Visit the OD mentoring pages for more information on becoming a mentor and mentee.
The university has an internal coaching network, that has a small number of qualified coaches. Coaching requests can be submitted via the OD coaching pages, however individuals should be aware that due to demand, there may be delays in being paired with a coach and sessions starting
Career development
This accordion describes all the career development opportunities open to researchers accordion
Prosper’s goal is to open up the huge talent pool that exists within the researcher community, by using an open-access portal to offer career support and guidance. It is a new approach to career development that unlocks researchers’ potential to thrive in multiple career pathways
Prosper is an interactive tool co-created with employers, and has resources, to help you:
Reflect, - on your career development journey and look at the skills, values and interests you possess with self-assessment tools and exercises to explore your identity and skill sets.
Explore - Find out more about careers through informational interviews and networking.
Act - Learn how to translate your skills for any career, and the steps to take to feel prepared for your next career move and embrace change.
This resource is open to all researchers and those who support them.
Prosper is led by the University of Liverpool and was developed in partnership with Lancaster University and the University of Manchester.
A narrative CV is defined by the Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) as a CV format that provides a structured written description of a person’s contributions and achievements that reflects a broad range of relevant skills and experiences, more than can often be seen in a traditional academic CV.
Narrative CV's can be used as a tool to help plan career development and as a framework to be used in 1:1 discussions with your manager/PI.
They are commonly used to help you, or your team, evidence a wider range of skills and experience than in a traditional academic CV when applying for UKRI funding opportunities.
Contributions to the generation of new ideas, tools, methodologies or knowledge
The development of others and maintenance of effective working relationships
Contributions to the wider research and innovation community
Contributions to broader research/innovation-users and audiences and towards societal benefit
Find out more about Narrative CV's by joining this workshop: - Thursday, 26 March 12.00-15.00 The session explores NCVs for grant applications and career development. You will get started on drafting your own CV, peer review those of others and be able to tailor for different purposes. This workshop is led by Dr Taryn Bell, Researcher Development Advisor (Careers) at the University of Leeds.
This was a full day session for researchers that were actively pursuing or curious about a career outside of academia.
The morning workshops had interactive sessions on CV development and exploring career opportunities. The workshops were facilitated by a colleague from the University of Liverpool through the Prosper Exchange. The excellent resources within the Prosper Hub were used within the workshops.
The afternoon included a panel session when five former postdoctoral researchers, now working outside of academia, spoke about their experience and answered questions from researchers.
Go to the Careers outside of Academia webpage for further information, slides, panel member details and key learning points.
LinkedIn can be a powerful tool to create your own unique profile, grow your professional networks and find and apply for jobs.
LinkedIn learning, available to all Lancaster staff and students, offers some excellent courses, webinars and resources to help you maximise the potential of LinkedIn.
Here are some course suggestions to get you started:
Rock your LinkedIn profile - this course focuses on building your profile, delivered in a series of bite-sized videos, lasting just over an hour.
Learning LinkedIn - another course with some similar content and length as the above, but with more emphasis on the use of LinkedIn for growing your professional networks and searching for jobs.
The following are links to LinkedIn web pages with easy to read, summary information taking you just a few minutes to digest:
This is a positive, hands-on session designed to give you time and space to reflect on your research journey. Using a storyboard canvas approach, you’ll explore and overcome personal, practical, and emotional barriers to research.
Through visual mapping, guided reflection, and peer discussion, you’ll identify challenges, unlock enablers, and commit to meaningful action—making progress on papers, proposals, or projects feel more achievable and less overwhelming.
Why this works:
It’s face-to-face for deeper interaction and peer support. It’s about positive engagement and reinforcement from colleagues. It encourages sharing ideas, methods, and solutions through discussion.
At the end of the session, we’ll cover dos and don’ts of research proposal development—and this part is flexible. We can tailor slides to include stress management, research support processes, skills development, or alternative career ideas.
Finally, you’ll share your pledges for action—concrete steps to overcome barriers and move forward with your research goals.
Facilitator: Dr Allie Clifton, Research Development Officer
LinkedIn Learning provides access to over 21,000 online learning courses, taught by industry experts. It is available to staff at Lancaster Bailrigg, Ghana and Leipzig campuses. LinkedIn courses support skills and personal development across a broad range of topics, particularly in the areas of technology, business and creative skills.
Courses vary in length from a few minutes to several hours and are broken down into bite-size video modules. There is no limit to the number of courses you can take, and you can pause a course at any point, picking up where you left off when you next login.
The Digital Skills Training Team in ISS offer a large range of training sessions and online courses. Some of these are for all staff and students, whilst other courses may have particular interest for researchers such as:
Anything that is felt to be particularly relevant to researchers will be flagged on these pages.
Contact Us
We welcome input from our community and encourage colleagues to share their feedback and get in touch if there is any provision you would like to see within the researcher development programme.
.jpg)