About the Hub

Our Purpose

We are here to build a world class environment for all fixed term researchers at Oxford.

Our focus is to support all researchers on fixed term research or teaching contracts at Oxford (‘researchers’).  The Hub's activities will also benefit academic and professional service colleagues in their work with researchers.

We co-own and are responsible for coordinating the delivery of many actions within The University's action plan to fulfil the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers.

Researchers have distinctive needs, to:

• To feel welcome and valued.

• Thrive and do great research.

• Create connections socially and professionally.

• Focus on their career and explore possible futures.

• Grow through collaborative relationships , effective leadership, mentoring and institutional support.

Our Approach

We are an inclusive team and work in collaboration with our divisions and other groups from across the University. Our key partners are fixed-term researchers, academic line managers/PIs, and professional services.

The Hub helps researchers plan and meet their aspirations for their time at Oxford, taking full advantage of all personal, professional and career development opportunities.

We work within a community of practitioners from across the University who are invested in improving the everyday environments
of researchers.

Together, we are facilitating cultural and systemic change in the research environment.

We will:

• Welcome you with an orientation to the University, and invitation to meet us at our Open Hub open office session.

• Show you what is available to researchers, to help you choose rewarding personal, professional and career development opportunities. Balancing time for each is important for thriving at Oxford!

• Inform you of key policy and activity development relating to researchers, and how to get involved.
  
  
• Listen to your ideas and interests, and work in partnership with you and others across the University to strengthen our research culture, including the experience of fixed term research.

The Hub team and I are keen to speak to you and for the coming term will host open office hours on Thursdays between 3pm and 4pm. To join us, please email researcherhub@admin.ox.ac.uk.

Kind regards

Dr Rachel Bray

The Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers

On Thursday 22nd April 2021, our Vice Chancellor Professor Louise Richardson signed the Concordat for Researcher Development and we launched Oxford’s Researcher Hub.

The online event, hosted by Patrick Grant, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research), was attended by hundreds of people and involved research staff, PIs, line managers and support staff at many levels.

We were delighted by the clear high-level support for research staff priorities and tangible examples of what the Hub can do – with you and others – towards realising these.

Here in the Hub team, we are working on responses to the wide-ranging questions posed before and during the event. We look forward to sharing these with you soon.

We also strongly encourage you to become familiar with the The Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and what it means for you, your line manager, the University and funders, to take full advantage of current and future support.

Please also do watch and share the recording of the event:

Our past events 

Welcome in the Woods, 25th June 2021

On Friday 25th June we held our first in-person Hub event at the very special and beautiful University research woodland Wytham Woods.

The purpose was to welcome new fixed-term research staff and introduce them to members of our Researcher Hub team, the Oxford Research Staff Society, Divisional Research Developers and other fellow researchers.

We were very keen to hold an in-person event and worked hard with the Wytham team to ensure the day was interesting and COVID secure.

Forty-seven new researchers attended the day over two sessions. Together we discovered what is happening in the woods, reflected on personal aspirations for time spent in Oxford, and discussed how to make the most of the large array of development opportunities found in the University and the city.

People told us that they discovered new resources and supports, and particularly loved being able to meet outside in-person at a part of the University many did not know existed.

This event was a pilot for other in-person events we are planning for the coming months, here is what some people said:

‘Absolutely delightful - wonderful to be safely together outdoors and to stroll through the woods.’

‘One of the best parts was meeting other researchers from across the whole university’

‘I highly recommend this event to new Research Staff … hope to attend similar events soon’

For us a Hub team, simply being amongst and getting to know our researcher colleagues in a relaxed setting was a real treat.

We are grateful to everyone who took time to come, to our generous hosts at Wytham and for the opportunity to do more such events with and for researchers in the future …

Kind regards

Dr Rachel Bray