The University of Essex has been a signatory of the Technician Commitment since May 2017.
The Technician Commitment is a university and research institution initiative, led by a steering group of sector bodies, with support from the Science Council and the Gatsby Charitable Foundation’s Technicians Make It Happen campaign.
The Commitment aims to ensure visibility, recognition, career development and sustainability for technicians working in higher education and research, across all disciplines.
Our initiatives
- In June 2022, we received an impact award for our work on creating a University-wide Technician Commitment action plan
- A termly Technician Group steering group oversees the University Technician Commitment action plan, which is endorsed by the Pro Vice Chancellor of Research to help address each of the Commitment’s four pillars (mentioned above)
- Twice-yearly technician professional development workshops are held
- Twice termly coffee catch-ups are provided to bring technicians from across the University together to network
- Our technicians are active participants of the Eastern Arc
- Technicians interests are standing items on key Faculty committees, such as Faculty Steering Group and the Faculty Research Committee. Technical Managers are encouraged to take an active role in the Planning Round, which is how the University plans its yearly resource and objectives
- There is a dedicated technician category in the University’s Research Excellence Awards
- One of our technicians was recently nominated for Technician of the Year at the Times Higher Education Awards
Recruitment templates
To use a template as part of a recruitment campaign managed by the Resourcing Team, please add the tailored job description template into the Professional Services job pack.
As part of our Technician Commitment, the University has developed a set of template job descriptions for technical roles. These are designed as starting points which are then tailored to individual roles.