Researcher Development
Researcher Development at the University of Huddersfield is centred on supporting our researchers to grow, progress, and achieve their full potential. Through tailored training, mentoring, and opportunities for professional and academic development, we provide a framework that empowers individuals at every career stage to thrive in a dynamic research culture.
Our Key Goals
- Empowering researchers at every career stage: from Early Career Researchers to senior academics
- Strengthening skills, leadership, and research capability: through structured development
- Supporting high-quality, responsible, and impactful research: aligned with institutional priorities
- Building confidence, independence, and long-term career success: through mentoring and targeted support
- Fostering a culture of continuous learning and collaboration: across Schools, Centres, and Institutes
- Promoting healthy, sustainable research practices by embedding wellbeing, balance and responsible working cultures across the research lifecycle
Our Framework for Huddersfield Researchers
We use five core development themes to provide a simple framework for our researcher development provision here at Huddersfield:
Research practice
Research practice focuses on the core skills, behaviours and responsibilities that enable high-quality, responsible research. This theme supports researchers in planning, managing and delivering projects effectively, covering areas such as research design, funding, governance, ethics, data management, open research and integrity.
Research Practice helps researchers understand sector expectations and develop strong, sustainable practices that contribute to a positive research culture. Whether they’re building foundations or refining established approaches, this theme offers guidance and development opportunities to strengthen research throughout its lifecycle.
Research identity
Research identity focuses on how researchers define, communicate and develop who they are as researchers. This theme supports researchers in understanding their strengths, contributions and professional narrative, as well as how they present themselves across digital platforms.
It encourages reflection on skills, achievements and values, and helps shape a clear, confident research story that aligns with career goals. Through this theme, researchers can explore ways to build visibility, manage their online presence and articulate their wider contributions to the research community.
Research career
Research career supports in planning, managing and progressing careers as a researcher. This theme helps explore options, understand potential pathways and build the skills and confidence needed for long-term success. It covers areas such as career development planning, preparing for promotion, identifying transferable skills and understanding roles within and beyond academia. Providing options for both Early Career Researchers and more established academics, this theme provides guidance and reflection opportunities to help shape a fulfilling and sustainable research career.
Research leadership
Research leadership focuses on how researchers lead research and their research teams, and building skills as an effective, responsible and influential research leader. This theme supports researchers in developing the confidence, behaviours and strategic thinking needed to guide projects, support others and shape the direction of their research area. It explores leading teams, managing researchers, fostering collaboration and building a positive research culture, helping to strengthen leadership practice at any career stage.
Research impact
Research impact focuses on enhancing the reach, value and influence of research beyond academia. This theme supports researchers in developing the skills to communicate work effectively, engage with diverse audiences and create meaningful change in society, policy, industry and culture. It explores pathways to impact, knowledge exchange, public and stakeholder engagement, and ways to plan for and evidence the difference the research makes. Whether researchers are new to impact or building on existing experience, this theme helps maximise the real-world contribution of research.
The support we offer
Training and workshops
Our researcher development sessions are designed to support our core themes, covering writing, funding, impact and more.
Mentoring and coaching
Mentoring and coaching provide personal, professional and career development support at different research career stages.
Funding and bid development support
Including grant writing, peer review, and proposal development.
Career development and progression
We encourage regular career conversations and reward excellence through our internal academic promotion procedure.
Support for early career researchers
Including induction, networks, and targeted programmes.
Building leadership capacity and capability
Preparing researchers for future roles and responsibilities.
Feedback from our researchers
"The training was insightful in making me aware of how the process work and using some of my previous - on Black clergy in the CofE and to think of creative ways in which to present this information, in an engaging way and also for an academic audience."
The Conversation
"The training was great – it gave me an opportunity to ask questions with an editor who I would be working with and getting support from during the pitching process. From the training I was able to secure a meeting with the editor to discuss my personal research and ideas for an article."
The Conversation
"Thank you for today, I really appreciated the time and managed to get quite a few words on the page for a much-improved abstract and introduction to an article I've been chipping away at… Hope to be back, the feeling of calm and support in the room was lovely. "
Researcher Writing Hour
“I found my thinking challenged regarding developing research questions and I approach these problems now with the benefit of perspectives gained from this training.”
Research Funding Ready
“…very informative and useful session. Actively exploring future collaborations with policymakers.”
How to Engage with Policy Makers
“Since attending the course, I am actively consolidating my disparate publications into a single, verified ORCID ID on Scopus. This shift ensures all my scholarly work is accurately tracked, instantly searchable, and positioned for maximum citation impact”.
Scopus, ORCID, Web of Science and more
“I identified areas for focus from the RDF and will work on a plan for development in those areas…I really liked the variety of suggestions for things that we could action… great to pick and choose different ways to engage whilst still working on development. Thank you!”
The development-focused researcher
“…excellent insight into the KTP process…helpful to hear practical examples and discussions”.
KTP Community of Practice
Learn about our Research Culture
Discover a welcoming and ambitious research environment. Learn about our commitment to research integrity, collaborative working, and supporting your professional growth.
Meet our Researchers
Discover the experts shaping the future. Browse our researcher profiles, discover their latest publications, and see how their work creates real-world impact.