As an established researcher, you are no longer just navigating your own career. You are shaping the environment for others. That can feel daunting, particularly when people ask about their development entitlements, research integrity requirements, support for technical staff etc. Much of this is covered by various codes of practice and concordats. Your role is not to memorise every policy or personally implement every commitment. You are responsible for:

• Acting in the spirit of these frameworks.
• Creating a culture aligned with their principles.
• Signposting colleagues to Research Development, HR or EDI teams.
• Modelling good practice in recruitment, authorship, workload and development conversations.

Key UK Charters and Concordats

Below is a summary of the main frameworks you are likely to encounter. You do not need to know every detail, but you should be aware of their purpose and relevance to your leadership role. For a brief explanation of each of the following and a link to further information, see the FLF Development Network’s Research Landscape Toolkit.

Career Development and Research Culture.

These influence how researchers are developed, assessed and supported across career stages.

• Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers (see an example of this in practice in the Imperial guide to how and why to use the ten days development time)
• San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA)
• Coalition of Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA)
• UKRI Statement of Expectations for Doctoral Training

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

These frameworks shape institutional commitments to equity, representation and inclusive culture.

• Athena SWAN Charter
• Race Equality Charter

Integrity and Responsibility

These define expectations around ethical practice, transparency and environmental responsibility.

• UUK Concordat to Support Research Integrity
• Concordat on Openness on Animal Research in the UK
• Concordat for the Environmental Sustainability of Research & Innovation Practice

Technical and Professional Roles:

• Technician Commitment

This commitment recognises the vital role of technical colleagues in research and promotes visibility, career development and sustainability of technical skills. As a research leader, this has direct implications for how you recognise, include and develop technical staff within your teams.

Local Strategies

Every university publishes the equivalent of Research and Innovation Strategy, alongside People, EDI and Impact strategies. Engaging with these documents helps you:

• Understand the values driving your institution’s research agenda.
• See how your HEI positions itself in relation to government strategy.
• Identify priorities for industry engagement, impact and translational research.
• Understand approaches to talent recruitment and professional development.
• Spot opportunities to influence and shape the research environment.
• Articulate alignment between your work and institutional priorities in funding proposals.