Research - Grade 6
Example job roles: Technician, Research Technician, Research Assistant
Level: Developing/Skilled
Experiences
Activities and responsibilities likely to be required when working at this level
Health & Safety responsibilities
- Complete routine equipment maintenance and repairs
- Liaise with suppliers and manufacturers to resolve simple problems
- Advise novice users on basic equipment capabilities
- With the academic lead, establish and maintain a safe/compliant working environment
- Assist/complete and update routine safety paperwork (dependant on the risk owner)
- Hold specific safety responsibilities
- Organise and complete compliance tasks
- Maintain up-to-date health and safety knowledge, providing support and advice to others
Core responsibilities
- Ensure effective delivery of objectives by planning and managing own workload
- Assist the academic lead with the day-to-day running and supervision of laboratory spaces
- Allocate work to one or more students
- Work collaboratively to deliver objectives, including sharing best practice
- Contribute to progress and management meetings
- Manage a small budget, monitoring resource usage and maintaining supplies of key items
- Assist with stores operations including ordering, receiving, processing, and distributing goods
- Source and negotiate with suppliers for routine items
- Provide a high standard of research support, including contributing to reports and publications
- Provide a high standard of teaching support, including preparing for classes and field work – (experimental work and analyse data)
- Conduct research experiments following protocols
- Support taught course projects by contributing to experimental design and data acquisition
- Prepare and manufacture a range of simple specimens/samples
- Report infrastructure faults and support small-scale building works
- Manage equipment bookings, calculate charges/costs and assist with re-charging
- Update and deliver local inductions, and provide training and demonstrations of techniques and equipment
- Input data and maintain databases
Personal and professional development
Development options to consider when working towards this level
Learning on the job
- Write advanced reports and read papers in relation to the testing, compliance and routine maintenance of equipment
- Take on responsibility for more complex tasks e.g. completing personal licence application (Home Office) and undertaking licenced procedures
- Seek out opportunities to learn new skills
- Take on a specific role within a research project
- Develop a level of expertise in a specific piece of equipment
Learning from others
- Work shadow colleagues to gain an understanding of new or different work practices
- Join a Community of Practice
Formal learning
- Manufacturer-led training for highly specialised equipment/processes
- Accreditation/certification from a recognised Professional body
- Apply for training through a mid-career apprenticeship programme
Transferable skills and competencies
UCL uses the Universal Competency Framework (UCF) to discuss transferable skills. Find out more details on the framework.
Deciding and initiating actions
- Making decisions
- Taking responsibility
- Acting with Confidence
- Acting on own initiative
- Taking action
- Taking calculated risks
Applying expertise and technology
- Applying technical expertise
- Building technical expertise
- Sharing expertise
- Using technology resources
- Demonstrating physical and manual skills
- Demonstrating cross-functional awareness
- Demonstrating spatial awareness
Working with people
- Understanding others
- Adapting to the team
- Building team spirit
- Recognising and rewarding contributions.
- Listening
- Consulting others
- Communicating proactively
- Showing tolerance and consideration
- Showing empathy
- Supporting others
- Caring for others
- Developing and communicating self-knowledge and insight
UCL Ways of Working
These describe expected behaviours in line with UCL culture and values. For Ways of Working indicators and steps to development please refer to the Ways of Working website.
4 January 2024
“Career Pathway roles are indicative and are not intended to be a description of the role in terms of responsibilty and duties.
Print versions
Career case studies
Neil Hughes
Head of Technical Staff for the Department of Earth Sciences