Director's Pledges 2024
Listed are the Division's Director's pledges for 2024 along with our progress to date in achieving these pledges
Pledge 1: Develop a strategy to address any awarding gaps found by domicile, ethnicity, and gender in MSc students.
PARTIALLY COMPLETE: The EDI MSc Working Group and MSc Teaching Team are considering actions to improve award outcomes for all students, but especially Black students and UK students from a minoritised ethnic group.
These actions currently include:
- Enhanced guidance/training for dissertation supervisors
- An audit of module assignments to ensure clarity and consistency of instructions and guidance (based on Dr Paul Campbell’s report at University of Leicester)
- Trying to improve student attendance at project support sessions
Pledge 2: Create an appraisal checklist for PhD students to ensure training needs, personal development and future job/research opportunities are systematically discussed in detail.
DONE: by updating the process and checklists for Thesis Committees
Pledge 3: Develop a widely available programme of support for research assistants, trial managers, and early career researchers, led by the Researcher Champions.
- Ran grade 7/8 promotion workshop, uploaded recording, documents, and past examples of successful applications on Division’s intranet.
- Ran 2 (+ 1 planned) research success seminars
- Created Divisional Prizes for ECRs and PhD students
- Annie Jeffery ran policy-oriented workshops
- Supported creation of writing retreats (led by ECR group)
- Discussed RA training needs and developing a plan to address them (started with previous reps and continued with new ones)
- Working on strategies with Trial Managers
Pledge 4: Conduct an externally facilitated focus group with Professional Services staff to discuss what the Division could do to support them.
ONGOING – have a faciliatator who will work with the team as a consultant, in the new year
Pledge 5: Publish Divisional institutional citizenship roles and role descriptions on the DoP website.
DONE: developed on the new staff intranet
Pledge 6: Develop and disseminate Divisional values, culture and code of conduct statements informed by existing UCL frameworks and policies.
Now a live document and will be disseminated in inductions and on website and reviewed annually