Technician Latest News
New Technician Champion pilot project
We are delighted to share the news that two Technician Champions, Michalina Mazurczyk and Sruthi Shakthivel, have been chosen to lead a project during the 2024/25 academic year that will promote short-term shadowing placements across the Medical Sciences Division. This project is related to a point within the Career Development section of our wider Technician Commitment Action Plan, and the aim is for the pilot to lead to the development of a shadowing scheme that can be offered to the University’s wider technical staff community.
Further details will be available soon for those who are interested in hosting or participating in a placement.
Call for Technician Champions
As a signatory to the Technician Commitment, the University of Oxford has embarked on a significant programme of work to raise the profile of technical staff and better support them with their career development. As part of this work, in the 2023/24 academic year, we selected a group of Technician Champions to lead on projects intended to benefit the University’s technical staff. We are now looking to select Technician Champions for the 2024/25 academic year. You can find further details via the PDF that is downloadable from this page.
Below you can find further details on the first cohort of Technician Champions.
Technician Champions appointed
We are pleased to announce that we have chosen 14 members of technical staff from across the University to act as Technician Champions. They will be working on a range of interesting projects until September 2024 - all of which will help to raise the profile and/or support the career development of technicians at the University. The champions will also help to promote better two-way communication between technicians and the wider University.
All the champions and their projects are listed below.
| Name | Department | Division | Project Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Magda Timan |
Paediatrics |
MSD |
Organising an event for technical staff to network and discuss barriers to career development. |
|
Karen Chung |
NDPH |
MSD |
Setting up a work shadowing scheme for technicians in MSD. |
|
Juliet Semple |
Psychiatry |
MSD |
Exploring barriers to career progression for Allied Health Professionals in academia. |
|
Michalina Mazurczyk |
RDM |
MSD |
Organising an event to showcase the expertise and capabilities of service labs at the University, in order to gain new users and promote new collaborations across departments and with business. |
|
Steve Daniels |
NDM |
MSD |
Organising an event to showcase what technicians at the University do, to encourage school pupils and students to consider a technical career. |
|
Daniel Coneyworth |
NDM |
MSD |
Supporting technicians to gain professional registration. |
|
Catherine Ashby-Guest |
NDPH |
MSD |
Using departmental coffee and cake mornings as an opportunity to showcase technicians’ work and highlight career development opportunities. |
|
Sally-Ann Clark |
RDM |
MSD |
Working with Karen on the shadowing scheme and with Magda on the networking event for technical staff. |
|
Chris Prahacs |
Engineering Science |
MPLS |
Profiling the Research Technical Professional workforce in MPLS (including their contributions to research and how their roles are funded) in order to raise their profile within the University and highlight successful employment models. |
|
Neil Young |
Materials |
MPLS |
Creating a community of practice for technical staff working in physical characterisation across the University. |
|
Phil Sanders |
Biology |
MPLS |
Creating a network for technicians looking to progress their careers in academia: identifying challenges and barriers to progression and working together to find solutions. |
|
Jamie Cameron |
Archaeology |
SSD |
Setting up the Oxford Heritage Technical Network – for all technical staff whose work relates to history and heritage. |
|
Mona Edwards |
Geography |
SSD |
Ensuring that lab technician work is better recognised and evaluated within job descriptions. |
|
Jake Bevan |
IT Services |
UAS |
Turning the AV Support Staff network into a community of practice, to ensure that staff working in AV across the University are better equipped to provide support in their areas. |
Take control of your professional development and start your professional registration journey!
My story:
My name’s Daniel and I am a research assistant. I was lucky enough to be encouraged in my previous job to apply to be professionally registered through the Science Council. I applied for the RSci award, with the Royal Society of Biology as my professional body. Achieving registration has been a big confidence boost for me as it gives me independent recognition of my achievements. It shows employers that I commit to exacting standards of integrity and continued development – it helps me stand out from the crowd!
What is professional registration?
Professional registration is independent recognition and accreditation of your scientific and technical achievements. It puts you in control of your own professional development, shows commitment to continuing development and looks great on your CV. 12% of technicians surveyed at the University of Oxford already have achieved professional registration, so don’t miss out! There is some funding available to help with the cost of registration if your department is unable to cover this.
If you want to find out more, check out the very informative Science Council website.
As part of the Technician Commitment initiative, we are here to support people wishing to apply!
Reach out to me on: daniel.coneyworth@ndm.ox.ac.uk if:
- You think you want to apply but are unsure or have more questions.
- You are already in the process and need help with your application form and/or competency report.
- You would be interested in an option of having a face-to-face workshop with a Science Council facilitator – tbc depending on interest.
Call for Technician Champions 2024-25
Click the button below to download a PDF with more information and details on how to apply.
