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Helping technical staff and research assistants recognise and develop their leadership
A new leadership development initiative is helping technical staff and research assistants in the Faculty of Brain Sciences realise their potential.
6 December 2023
The Technician and Research Assistant Leadership Development programme was developed after discussions around the support available for career development for early career technical staff and research assistants in the faculty.
While there are many ways to progress for both early career research assistants and technical staff, compared to other groups, these routes may seem unclear.
A pilot programme was developed by UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology (IoN) in 2021, when the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Deputy Director Professor Hélène Plun-Favreau and the then EDI Project Manager, Ana Faro, noticed a lack of opportunities for empowerment, continuous personal and professional growth for research assistants or technicians.
This was supported by the results of the faculty staff survey, which demonstrated a strong need for targeted professional development support.
Dimitris Zachos, the current IoN EDI Project Manager says, “We wanted to provide extra support to boost staff confidence, highlight the ways they can progress with their careers, and basically assist them in any way possible.”
Finding allies and learning to lead
The pilot programme was delivered in partnership with Dr. Magdalena Bak-Maier, founder and CEO of Make Time Count.
After the initial success of the pilot, Dimitris obtained funding from the Research Culture programme and worked to expand the Technician and Research Assistant Leadership Development programme to all Institutes and Divisions within the Faculty of Brain Sciences in 2023.
In addition to open-entry career development masterclasses - attended by more than 30 technical staff and research assistants - and an online leadership development programme, the initiative also invited each faculty department to nominate shortlisted candidates for a three-and-a-half day leadership training course. The ten course places were allocated according to the size of each department.
The course content covered:
- Personal leadership coaching, where participants practiced effective listening, explored the essence of leadership and their individual leadership context and challenges.
- Boosting overall effectiveness, focusing on skill development, resource identification, and fostering meaningful conversations.
- Helping participants to identify viable career paths, emphasising self-empowerment, resilience building, and envisioning future goals. Each participant was supported to create their own leadership narrative and action plan.
Overall responses to the programme were overwhelmingly positive, with comments such as, ‘It was a wonderful group to be part of’ and ‘nice to take a step back and acknowledge how important our work actually is’.
Dimitris believes that placing technicians and research assistants from different departments together plays a significant part in the success of the programme.
“Participants were more honest because there weren’t that many people from their own group or department. It helps to see what challenges, barriers and issues people in similar roles but different departments face and what they do to address them,” he says.
Three years of training - inspired by a survey
With FBS now committed to continuing the programme, Dimitris is excited to see how participants go on to implement what they’ve learned about their roles and themselves.
“They found that it boosted their confidence and provided them with the tools to think about their career path, and the mindset to get where they want to be. It’s great to be involved in the organisation of an initiative you see having a direct, immediate impact on the participant’s professional life and mentality.”
Dimitris is keen to stress that this three-year programme was inspired by the desire to respond to a simple staff wellbeing survey. “The important thing for people to know is that if they reach out to us, we listen. That’s why it’s important for members of our community to feel comfortable to contact us and participate in surveys. If they’re willing to speak, we’re willing to listen and take action."
“Our Equality Diversity and Inclusion team will always be doing whatever we can to help those that feel they lack the same opportunities as others.”
Professor Alan Thompson, UCL's Pro-Provost for London and Dean of the Faculty of Brain Sciences, says: "The Faculty of Brain Sciences is committed to recognising the invaluable contributions of our technical and research assistant staff, who play a pivotal role in our success. We fully support and acknowledge the career progression initiative pioneered by IoN, as it aligns with our vision of supporting all staff members to do their best and fostering excellence and innovation within our faculty."
We fully support and acknowledge the career progression initiative pioneered by IoN, as it aligns with our vision of supporting all staff members to do their best and fostering excellence and innovation within our faculty."
- Professor Alan Thompson, Dean, Faculty of Brain Sciences“
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About research culture
UCL’s Research Culture programme is developing a fair, collaborative and inclusive research culture, where both our research and research community can thrive. We work with UCL’s research community to support and deliver change against our 10-year Research Culture Roadmap.