Staff & career development

CTLS June 5th 2014 / Duclaux Auditorium

Thanks to Liz, we wrote the minutes of the session "Staff & career development".

Part of the topics have been discussed again at the satellite meeting.

Reed more.

Benchmarking, using this as a mode of career development

Establish a matrix description of technical roles

Would it be useful for CTLS to provide template technical job descriptions? Or share what institutions currently have.

Would it be useful to have an agreed benchmarking scheme for core facilities ?

MPI tried to do this, but found it difficult to find the common denominators for benchmarking.

Would be useful to have this in the long term.
Best laboratory practice already exisits and benchmarking could come from this.

Efficiency and quality could be tracked, with processes as sub-categories.

International Society for Flow Cytometry is working to define standards on best practice.

A recognition programme aimed at improving core facilities.

Create a repository of good practice for inspiration to others.

CTLS could establish working groups in different technology areas to define standards in these areas.

Self-assesment preferable to acreditation.

What is next? Once a successful facility has been established, what is the next career step ?

No major concern about career path.

Why should technicians go forward fo a PhD ?
Progression is easier with a PhD, and more opportunities open up.
Knowledge and skills required need to match-up.

The type of contract technical staff are employed on can restrict their research activities.