Carreer support and skills assessment tools (with VITAE)

The photograph shows two people looking together at a laptop screen.

EUniWell launches its partnership with Vitae, offering all researchers within the Alliance access to its Researcher Development Framework (RDF), a web-based tool aimed at unlocking their full potential.

In February 2023, the EUniWell Training Academy and its Early Career and Talent Hub launched its partnership with Vitae, a non-profit programme leader in supporting the professional development of researchers. Through this partnership, all PhD students and researchers within the Alliance gain access to the Researcher Development Framework (RDF), a web-based tool aimed at realising researchers’ full potential.

Empowering researchers in shaping their careers 

Developing a common research agenda is central to EUniWell’s efforts to understand, measure, improve and rebalance individual and societal well-being on multiple levels. Our network of researchers plays a critical role by conducting original research and contributing new knowledge to the field of well-being, allowing our Alliance to be at the forefront of the latest developments and advancements in well-being, for our community and beyond. 

Whether you want to pursue a path in academia or develop your career in entrepreneurship or business, transversal skills are essential. The ability to identify these skills, formalise them and promote them is an important lever for improving the match between job requirements and your own ambitions.

The Researcher Development Framework (RDF) by Vitae can be a cornerstone of your skills development strategy, thanks to the different lenses that will allow you to acquire new competences, develop a balanced skills portfolio and implement a career planning strategy according to your personal goals. The tool can highlight which area your competences fit into (i.e.: entrepreneurship, management, teaching, etc.). The health and well-being lenses were developed especially for EUniWell, as a way to encourage our researchers to think about their career development from a personal and professional fulfillment perspective. 

Realise your potential with the Researcher Development Framework

The RDF tool uses a holistic approach based on four main areas, each exploring three sub-categories:

This domain contains the knowledge and intellectual abilities needed to be able to carry out excellent research.

  • Knowledge base
    • Subject knowledge
    • Research methods
    • Information seeking
    • Information literacy and management
    • Languages
    • Academic literacy and numeracy
  • Cognitive abilities
    • Analysing
    • Synthesising
    • Critical thinking
    • Evaluating
    • Problem solving
  • Creativity
    • Inquiring mind
    • Intellectual insight
    • Innovation
    • Argument construction
    • Intellectual risk

This domain contains the personal qualities, career and self-management skills required to take ownership for and control of professional development.

  • Personal qualities
    • Enthusiasm
    • Perseverance
    • Integrity
    • Self-confidence
    • Self-reflection
    • Responsibility
  • Self-management
    • Preparation and prioritisation
    • Commitment to research
    • Time management
    • Responsiveness to change
    • Work-life balance
  • Professional and career development
    • Career management
    • Continuing professional development
    • Responsiveness to opportunities
    • Networking
    • Reputation and esteem

This domain contains the knowledge of the standards, requirements and professional conduct that are needed for the effective management of research.

  • Professional conduct
    • Health and safety
    • Ethics, principles and sustainability
    • Legal requirements
    • IPR and copyright
    • Respect and confidentiality
    • Attribution and co-authorship
    • Appropriate practice
  • Research management
    • Research strategy
    • Project planning and delivery
    • Risk management
  • Finance, funding and resources
    • Income and funding generation
    • Financial management
    • Infrastructure and resources

This domain contains the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to engage with, influence and impact on the academic, social, cultural and economic context.

  • Working with others
    • Collegiality
    • Team work
    • People management
    • Supervision
    • Mentoring
    • Influence and leadership
    • Collaboration
    • Equality and diversity
  • Communication and dissemination
    • Communication methods
    • Communication media
    • Publication
  • Engagement and impact
    • Teaching
    • Public engagement
    • Enterprise
    • Policy
    • Society and culture
    • Global citizenship

Using the tool, researchers will be able to identify an area they’d like to work on, depending on their career stage and their own needs, and conceive a customised training and development path.

Broadening your professional horizons

The EUniWell Training Academy and Early Career Talent Hub  aims to support researchers’ career development by providing a tool to help them identify their strengths and ways to address their challenges, all linked to their personal career plan. 

The RDF helps researchers identify new professional opportunities (whether to strengthen their academic profile or to prepare for a transition into a new role through the transferability of skills) and to develop, expand and hone their skills. By using the RDF Planner, researchers will be able to map and manage their own academic career development, define their competencies, both existing and desired, and identify the gaps they would like to fill.

The EUniWell Training Academy will ultimately connect Vitae and EUniWell’s skills training offers, to provide an extensive and personalised training programme for researchers. By targeting a coherent portfolio of skills, researchers will be encouraged to focus on a balanced career development with an emphasis on well-being and mental health.

How to access the tool

Time spent thinking about your values, strengths and areas of development is time well spent. To build your profile and develop your knowledge and skills, you can request access to the Researcher Development Framework by contacting Sandra Lepeltier, Project Manager for EUniWell #Research.

Contact

For more information about the programme, contact euniwell[a]univ-nantes.fr.