Technical Careers Resource Hub

Project Title: Mid-Career Apprenticeships

Collaboration between: University College London (UCL), De Montfort University (DMU), King’s College London (KCL), and ITSS.

Challenge: Mid-career technicians are often overlooked for structured career development. Apprenticeships, widely seen as entry-level pathways, remain underused for upskilling experienced staff – especially in higher education and research. This limits opportunities for technicians to refresh, expand, and future-proof their skills in a rapidly evolving technical landscape.

Approach: This project raises awareness of apprenticeships as a strategic workforce development tool. We explored current opportunities, identified barriers, and created short videos featuring technical professionals who share their lived experiences of taking mid-career apprenticeships. These stories highlight practical solutions and success cases, encouraging institutions to invest in existing talent and strengthen technical capability.

Outcomes: We produced a video series showcasing the real experiences of mid-career apprentices, alongside a PDF resource which provides practical insights for both technicians and managers. The result is an increased awareness of apprenticeships as a credible and valuable route for professional development at any career stage.

Impact: For institutions, the project supports the Technician Commitment and strengthens research capabilities, while enhancing internal mobility, succession planning, and alignment with REF, TEF, and KEF goals. For individuals, mid-career apprenticeships offer a structured, nationally recognised route to upskill or reskill.

Lessons learned: One of the key insights from this project is that there are still wide-spread misconceptions around mid-career apprenticeships, with many still viewing them as entry-level pathways. Clearer communication and real-life advocacy are essential to shifting this perception.

Part of theme: Career Development for Technical Professionals

Explore Career Development for Technical Professionals resources:

• Video library of case studies
• Mid-career apprenticeship: further resources pdf

Project title: Succession Planning

Collaboration between: Birmingham City University, University of Cambridge, University of Essex, University of Warwick, and ITSS.

Challenge: To improve and enhance the succession planning processes for the technical staff within university settings.

Approach: This project piloted enhanced annual review processes, developed practical toolkits and templates, and embedded citizenship and knowledge-sharing expectations into role descriptors and job profiles. The group has laid strong foundations to enable continued sustainable workforce development activities.

Outcomes: This project has demonstrated that meaningful succession planning for technical services staff in university settings is both achievable and essential to safeguarding institutional impact. The CPAG initiative has moved succession planning from a sensitive and often avoided topic to a constructive and empowering conversation.

Impact: Reduced single points of failure within technical communities, and supporting the continued creation of resilient technical career pathways. Most importantly, it reinforces the message that technical expertise is a valid institutional asset to be nurtured and developed for future generations.

Lessons learnt: Continued commitment, investment, and cross-institutional collaboration will help embed succession planning as an ongoing practice (rather than a reactive response to problems) securing a confident skilled, and future-ready technical workforce.

Part of theme: Technical Talent Management

Explore Technical Talent Management resources:

• A practical guide for technical managers to help with building resilience and health of a team.
• Succession planning through annual reviews.
• Succession planning through good communication.
• Succession planning through job descriptions.
• Succession planning through strategic tools.

Project title: Mapping the Technical Workforce

Collaboration between: King’s College London, Imperial College London, University of Cambridge, Ulster University, University of Edinburgh

Challenge: While progress has been made in recognising these technicians through the Technician Commitment and initiatives such as the TALENT project, technical staff are still undervalued, underappreciated and under-supported in their career development and progression. This project set out to improve the technical career pathways at the five institutions by considering recruitment processes, people data, workforce planning, staff mobility and research culture.

Approach: The project began by reviewing existing definitions and mapping practices for technical roles across institutions, before gathering broader sector perspectives on the challenges and opportunities of workforce mapping. These insights informed a series of structured institutional exercises, piloting mapping strategies that centred the lived experiences of the technical community. Findings were then consolidated into a practical ‘how to’ guide, complete with recommendations and examples of good practice.

Outcomes: The resulting toolkit provides a practical best practice approach to workforce mapping which can be applied in other higher education institutions. The toolkit includes a user-friendly roadmap with helpful top tips as well as a detailed step-by-step guide of the process to follow.

Impact: This project’s findings have contributed to ongoing internal and external reporting, such as for the Research Excellence Framework (REF) and strategy, people, and culture initiatives. The organisations involved in the project have now completed a mapping process within their institutions and are using the results to inform future planning

Lessons: Workforce planning can be more straightforward and less resource-intensive than expected. Key takeaways from the project include the value of visualising workforce structures to inform strategic decisions, the importance of engaging stakeholders to build trust and clarity, and how mapping can surface valuable EDI insights at both local and institutional level.

Part of theme: Technical Career Pathways

Explore Technical Career Pathways resources:

• ‘How to map a technical workforce’ toolkit
• ‘A roadmap to workforce mapping’ toolkit

Project title: Toolkit for Career Pathways

Collaboration between: Northumbria University, University of Liverpool, Manchester Metropolitan University, and University of Leeds.

Challenge: Technical staff frequently encounter unclear or inconsistent career pathways, making it difficult to understand how to progress or move between specialisms. Across the sector, a lack of standardised job titles, role descriptors, and career frameworks contributes to ‘role drift’ – where responsibilities shift without formal recognition or reward. Without a transparent and consistent career scaffold, institutions risk losing talented staff.

Approach: Drawing on existing initiatives and wider sector expertise, our team collaborated to develop a comprehensive online interactive toolkit. We utilised Articulate Rise to create an accessible, practical resource for technical staff, managers, and HR teams navigating career development and institutional change.

Outcome: Technical staff and their institutions now have access to clear, standardised framework for understanding and structuring career progression – from apprentice to executive level. They also have the tools to engage senior leadership, present an effective business case and consult and engage stakeholders about technical career pathways.

Impact: By providing a shared framework and practical resources, the toolkit supports institutions in building more transparent, consistent technical career structures. This will, in turn, reduce role drift, improve staff retention, and ensure the technical workforce is recognised.

Lessons learnt: Structural change in how technical careers are defined and recognised requires both bottom-up engagement from staff and top-down commitment from senior leadership. Having ready-made business case templates and sector evidence to hand is key to making that case effectively and securing the buy-in needed for lasting change.

Part of theme: Technical Career Pathways

Explore Technical Career Pathways resources:

• Technical Career Pathways Toolkit

Project title: Exploring Technical Careers

Collaboration between: Cranfield University, Liverpool John Moores University, Science & Technology Facilities Council, and ITSS.

Challenge: Technical staff often lack access to structured support for career development, leaving many unsure of how to navigate progression or articulate their ambitions. Without the right tools or guidance, meaningful career conversations between technicians and their managers can be difficult to initiate, limiting opportunities for growth.

Approach: Drawing on shared experiences across our institutions, we mapped the gaps in existing career development support for technical staff, before collaboratively developing three practical resources that we each piloted locally.

Outcomes: We created a library of nine short videos featuring technicians sharing their roles and career journeys, designed to inspire and engage technical staff across the sector. Alongside this, two career conversations workbooks, one supporting technicians, and the other equipping managers and colleagues to guide technicians through their career choices.

Impact: Initial pilots of the videos and workbooks were well-received by technical staff and managers, demonstrating clear appetite for this kind of structured career development support across the sector.

Lessons learned: Career conversations don’t need to be complex, but they do need dedicated time and space to be meaningful. When introducing these resources, consider how they can complement and integrate with existing institutional guidance, such as appraisal frameworks, rather than sitting alongside them as separate tools. The closer they are embedded into familiar processes, the more likely they are to be used.

Part of themes: Career Development for Technical Professionals and Technical Talent Management

Explore Career Development for Technical Professionals resources:

• Career Conversations for technical staff
• Video Library

Explore Technical Talent Management resources:

• Career Conversations for managers

Project title: Creating a Hub for Technical Opportunities

Collaboration between: University of Salford, University of Durham, King’s College London, British Geological Survey, and ITSS.

Challenge: There are many barriers preventing technicians from personal improvement including, visibility of progression routes, lack of funding, and accessibility of development opportunities.

Approach: The project’s aim is to enhance technical development opportunities provision, by creating an accessible, web-based information hub.  This hub provides greater access to development activities for technicians, with the aim of breaking down siloed working practices across institutions.

Outcomes: Across our project institutes and partnered professional bodies we have created eighteen development opportunities.

Impact: 12 development opportunities were taken by technicians, with 100% of technicians recommending the opportunity in a survey, highlighting the benefits of attending development activities to upskill themselves and institutional practices.

Lessons learnt: More effort should be made to share developmental opportunities across regional institutions to break down logistical barriers. A central hub will increase opportunity visibility and lead to greater access to developmental activities.

Part of theme: Technical Staff as Partners

Explore Technical Staff as Partners resources:

• Technical opportunities case study (Attendee)
• Technical opportunities case study (Host)
• Technical opportunities report

Project title: Technical Recognition

Collaboration between: Queen’s University Belfast, Newcastle University and Nottingham Trent University.

Challenge: Technical staff play a critical role in higher education, yet their contributions are often underrecognised, both in terms of institutional visibility and structured professional development. Compounding this, technicians work across a wide range of disciplines, each with distinct accreditation pathways and routes for formal recognition. This breadth makes it difficult for individuals to navigate development requirements and, in some cases, to access the right resources and support.

Approach: As a group, we undertook research into the support already available for technical staff in terms of recognition opportunities, alongside gathering qualitative data and feedback on their perceptions of recognition.

Outcome: We created three structured resources designed to enhance sector-wide recognition of technicians and the work they undertake, including a recognition toolkit for technical staff, a blueprint for an online technician community, and a ‘buddy builder’ for technical managers.

Impact: The overall impact that we expect from these resources are that they encourage staff to pursue professional recognition and accreditation. Our resources enable viewers to enhance their career development, promoting peer-to-peer support and knowledge sharing.

Part of themes: Career Development for Technical Professionals and Technical Talent Management

Explore Career Development for Technical Professionals resources:

• Recognition Toolkit for Technicians

Explore Technical Talent Management resources:

• Buddy Builder
• Online Technician Community

Project title: Working with Academics

Collaboration between: The Institute of Cancer Research, Oxford University, London South Bank University, and Queen Mary University London

Challenge: Technical staff and academics often work together reactively, responding to immediate needs rather than engaging in structured, forward-looking collaboration.

Approach: The team conducted a national survey to understand the challenges technical and academic staff face when collaborating, to identify their needs and improve collaborative working. Three key themes emerged: setting expectations, respect and recognition, and inclusive collaboration and engagement.

Outcomes: The toolkit is designed to improve communication and collaboration between academics and technical staff, addressing real gaps in research culture and project alignment.

Impact: Direct feedback from users has highlighted that the toolkit has given technical staff more agency, and that the resources help with accountability and setting clearer expectations.

Lessons learnt: Cultural change is dependent on support at multiple levels, whether it is line manger engagement or institutional support, ongoing conversations across all levels is crucial. Taking small steps has helped technicians build confidence (whether that’s by empowering technicians to start conversations or try new approaches) and encourages more collaborative habits over time.

Part of theme: Technical Staff as Partners

Explore Technical Staff as Partners resources:

• Technical staff as partners: Strengthening collaboration through conversation