About the Hub

Our purpose

Are you one of Oxford’s approximately 5,000 researchers on a fixed-term or open-ended contract?

We are here for your development at Oxford and your career beyond.

We also have an important role in assisting academics and Principal Investigators in managing their research colleagues effectively, and building positive, supportive research cultures across the University.

The Researcher Hub plays a key coordinating role in Oxford’s efforts to meet our commitments to the national Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, signed by the University in April 2021, as set out in our institutional Concordat Action Plan 2022-2025 with three overarching goals:

          1. Creating a supportive, inclusive and equitable research environment.
          2. Recognising and valuing the diverse contributions of researchers.
          3. Supporting researchers to achieve a range of career goals.

Our approach

We work with practitioners and leaders across the University who are invested in improving the everyday environments of researchers. The Researcher Hub is part of the People & Organisational Development team in Human Resources.

Culture change takes time and can be tough, particularly in a large, decentralised University. Our collective work aims to build on what is good at Oxford and to address issues that undermine the experiences of researchers and their academic managers/PIs, and compromises the quality of their research.

Our key successes and future ambitions

We have:

• Coordinated the co-creation of the Concordat Action Plan for 2022-2025, involving researchers, academics and professional service colleagues from across the University.
• Enabled and continued to support the researcher representation framework and researcher representatives
• Developed and delivered termly training for managers and researchers, including The Confident Manager ‘Essentials of People Management in Research’, and ‘Developing Teams’ modules
• Hosted regular welcoming events for new researchers and created a Welcome to Oxford page for researchers with helpful videos and information
• Appointed Careers Advisors for Researchers for 1:1 support for research staff and events
• Created resources like the Researcher's Trailmap and Career Development Review Guides
• Supported researchers in planning and using 10 days of professional development pro rata per year.

We are working to increase the visibility of the University’s commitments and related researcher responsibilities for their career development. 

In collaboration with divisions, the Careers Services, HR teams and Research Services, we are growing and tracking the reach, uptake and effectiveness of the existing provisions for researchers and their academic managers.

We will also continue piloting and evaluating innovative and scalable approaches that enable researchers to develop their careers​.

Meet us

We are keen to say hello and answer your questions. 

To book into our weekly open office hours (Thursdays 3–4pm, in-person or online) please email [email protected].

We also have highly experienced careers advisers who are part of our team, from the Careers Service. If you’d like to set up a confidential appointment with them, please find their details below.

The Hub Team

Dr Mary Muers
Lead, Research Environment Programmes Team | Lead, Researcher Hub
[email protected]

Stephanie Perrin 
Manager, Research Environment Programmes
[email protected]

Mariana Rodriguez
Engagement Officer, Research Environment Programmes
[email protected]