The Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers is an agreement between the funders and employers of researchers in the UK to improve the employment and support for researchers and researcher careers. It sets out the obligations of each stakeholder in researcher careers: researchers themselves, their managers, institutions and funders.

The Concordat was revised in September 2019 and consists of three key principles, covering

• environment and culture
• employment
• professional and career development

Sheffield Hallam University became a signatory to the revised Concordat in April 2021, confirming our commitment to these principles. 

Annual report on progress April 2023 - March 2024 (PDF, 279.9KB)

Annual report on progress April 2021 - March 2022

Implementation of the Concordat

Within Sheffield Hallam, the Researcher Concordat Operations Group (RCOG) maintains oversight of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and the HR Excellence in Research Award.

RCOG reports to Research Leadership Group (RLG) and Research and Innovation Committee (RIC)  and includes senior and Early Career Researcher (ECR) staff representation from each of our Colleges and Research Institutes along with representatives from central directorates: Human Resources & Organisational Development (HR & OD), Research and Innovation Services (RIS), and Academic Development and Diversity (ADD).

Our current action plan and previous activity is below.

January 2023

• New action plan 2023-26 (XLSX, 139KB)
• Ten-year external review (DOCX, 50.3KB)
• Progress against action plan 2021-23  (XLSX, 196.5KB)

January 2021

• New action plan 2021-23
• Eight-year external review
• Progress against action plan v4.0

January 2019

• Refreshed action plan v4.0
• Two-year internal review
• Progress against action plan v3.0

January 2017

• Refreshed action plan v3.0
• Four-year external review
• Progress against action plan v2.0

December 2014

• Two-year internal review
• Refreshed action plan

July 2012

• Original response and action plan

The HR Excellence in Research Award

A UK-wide process, incorporating the QAA UK Quality Code for Higher Education, Chapter B11: Research Degrees and the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, enables institutions to gain the European Commission’s HR Excellence in Research Award, acknowledging alignment with the principles of the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for their Recruitment.

In January 2013 Vitae confirmed that Sheffield Hallam had gained the HR Excellence in Research Award from the European Commission. In April 2021 the UK HR Excellence in Research Panel confirmed that we had retained the award at the eight-year review point. 

Contact: Elizabeth Scanlon, Research and Innovation Services.