The University of Manchester has become a founding member of the ‘Technician Commitment’ – a national initiative launched by the Science Council to raise the profile of Technicians and their contribution to the UK’s higher education sector.

As a highly skilled workforce within Higher Education Institutions and Research Institutes, Technicians bring a diverse range of expertise and knowledge to their role providing essential support to research and teaching activities. The University of Manchester currently employs over 700 Technicians across its three Faculties.

Universities are under increasing pressure to improve quality of teaching and research outcomes which impacts on all staff including Technical Staff. Yet Technical Staff have not always received the professional recognition or structured career development opportunities they deserve.

Within the UK as a whole more Technicians are retiring each year than are entering the profession. The resulting shortfall will have a negative impact on our future research and teaching if action is not taken to encourage sustainability within the profession.

Launched on 31 May 2017, the Technician Commitment builds on previous work carried out by the Science Council, supported by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, towards gaining professional recognition for Technicians. Signatories are asked to commit to taking action across five key areas:

 

Visibility – ensure that all Technicians within an organisation are identifiable and that the contribution of Technicians is visible within and beyond the institution.

Recognition – support Technicians to gain recognition through professional registration

Career Development – enable career development opportunities for Technicians through the provision of clear, documented career pathways

Sustainability – ensure the future sustainability of technical skills across the organisation and that technical expertise is fully utilised

Evaluating Impact – regularly assess the impact of actions taken in support of the commitment to ensure their effectiveness

 

A Steering Group led by the Science Council will monitor progress and institutions signed up to the Commitment will assess their own progress using a specially developed toolkit of resources.

The University of Manchester signatory to the commitment is Karen Heaton, Director of Human Resources, and our Institutional Leads are Peter Crowe, Faculty Head of Technical Services [FBMH] and Colin Baines, Faculty Head of Technical Services [FSE].

This is an Important opportunity for the University of Manchester and all its Technical Staff to engage with a national initiative to improve the recognition of Technical Staff and their significant contribution to research and teaching. The expertise held by the Technical Staff, which is considerable in its range and depth, is highly specialised and often unique. Providing development opportunities for these expert staff will be critical in adapting their support to new emerging technologies and innovations.

In addition, clear support by Karen Heaton, our HR Partners, Jonathan Winter (Head of Staff learning & Development) and our Training Partners, demonstrates wider University commitment that will assist us greatly in our future aims.

In many ways we are fortunate that the aims of our own Technical Excellence at Manchester [TEaM] mirror many of the aims of the national Technical Commitment. However, TEaM aims to tailor the initiatives to our local needs and preferences, whilst still achieving or exceeding the national goals. TEaM is currently shaping the way forward through consultation with as many Technical Staff as possible over the coming months to ensure that the ‘tailoring’ is appropriately placed for you and your colleagues. Please do engage with the workshop consultations.

Further information is available from:

http://technicians.org.uk/techniciancommitment/

http://scienccecouncil.org/techniciancommitment/

Peter Crowe                                                      Colin Baines

   

 

Geography (SEED) tours at the Arthur Lewis building were a huge success, thanks to John Moore for leading them.

Fidel Peacock “I was really impressed by the lengths with which John and his colleagues at the Geography Labs went to accommodate us. To start, we had a freebie (LED light keychain) commemorating 125 years (1892-2017) of Geography at Manchester.  Not only could we observe as many of the different equipment and facilities they had but we also learned about the breadth of their applications. First, we were shown how soil and water samples were taken, the various equipment they took on fieldtrips (such as a CO₂-measuring chamber) and the different types of tree pollens under a microscope.

One of the topical projects involved looking at microbeads – the variety of sizes, colour and quantity, across different commercially available products. We were then shown state-of-the-art equipment, only a handful in the country, which made possible to automate the study and analysis of soil samples. They also had mass spectrometry machines to achieve greater sensitivity. We then went on to learn about a computational project involving data from different satellites and how they were being used to curate geographical locations.

Lastly, we walked across to the basement of the Humanities Bridgeford St. building where the workshop for architect students was housed. We had the chance to speak and listen to architect students about their latest projects as well as the workshop technicians about how they supported the students’ visions. Besides all the equipment you would expect with model making, they also had a 3D printer which could be really handy for anyone in the University.

All in all, this was a very well-planned, thought out and executed tour. There was a good balance of show and tell and all the designated people at each station articulated their stations with confidence, passion and a touch of humour. I would really hope they would be running the tour again in the future and highly recommend others to get themselves onto this tour!

Gail Millin-Chalabi – GIS and Remote Sensing Officer for the School of Environment, Education and Development (SEED) led the Virtual Vivarium stand for the Community Festival on 17 June 2017 at Manchester Museum.

She was supported by the dedicated help of MSc Geographical Information Science students Judith Angwech, Zhadra Taibassarova and Sandaru Weerasinghe from the Geography department.

The event provided an excellent opportunity for the Geography postgraduate students to showcase to the general public the Virtual Vivarium Google Earth app and Fabulous Frogs augmented reality app (see below photographs). The stand which ran for four hours was well attended with over 75 visitors from a variety of different age groups.

The Virtual Vivarium team would like to thank Peter Leigh – Multimedia Technician (SEED) for installing the Blippar augmented reality app onto several iPads in readiness for this public engagement event.

Virtual Vivarium Team – Community Festival, Manchester Museum, 17 June 2017. Top left photo from left to right: Gail (SEED Technical Team), Sandaru (Geography PGT student), Zhadra (Geography  PGT student) and Judith (Geography  PGT student).

December will mark the end of TEaM’s first full year and, as we’re planning to host a large celebration event then, we’d like to be able to report your feedback on what we’ve done so far, and whether the direction we’ve taken has been useful to all technical staff.

To get that feedback, we have arranged a series of workshops at Staff Learning and Development, and we’re inviting all technical staff to come and discuss how worthwhile the events, information and resources we’ve produced have been, what needs to change, and where you’d like us to take things from now on.  Discussions will be in small groups and the ideas from those will be pooled to give us a list to work through.  Tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided!  We’d be very grateful if you can spare the time to share your thoughts.

The following dates are available:

Thursday 24/08/2017 13:00 – 15:00, Roscoe Building 5th Floor Reception

Wednesday 30/08/2017 10:00 – 12:00, Roscoe Building 5th Floor Reception

Monday 02/10/2017 10:00 – 12:00, Roscoe Building 5th Floor Reception

Monday 02/10/2017 14:00 – 16:00, Roscoe Building 5th Floor Reception

Tuesday 31/10/2017 10:00 – 12:00, Roscoe Building 5th Floor Reception

Tuesday 31/10/2017 14:00 – 16:00, Roscoe Building 5th Floor Reception

Please sign up through the SLD catalogue: https://app.manchester.ac.uk/HUMNS8596

We do need to control numbers, so signing up is essential.  We really hope you can help us provide the right support for technical staff: thanks in advance!

TEaM

 

The Firs Botanical Grounds are tucked away between Owens Park and the Armitage Sports Centre in Fallowfield, on land that previously formed part of Joseph Whitworth’s estate – the house of the estate is now known as Chancellors, but Whitworth had a long brick firing range on the grounds, and part of this was converted into greenhouses.  Further greenhouses have since been built on the site, as well as a specialist section for mosses and ferns.

The two tours were led by David Grantham, who has worked as the technician and effective manager of the site since 2009.  It was amazing how many plants from different parts of the world could be made to grow and even fruit using relatively modest amounts of heat and humidity.  A range of different experiments were in progress, as well as mass plant propagation for use both in experiments on main campus and for outreach projects elsewhere.

Through a programme of plant exchange with other institutions and with the various volunteer groups that help maintain the Firs,  the range of plants housed there has been increased over the years.  Banana plants, ginger, tea and coffee grew next door to giant (and toxic) euphorbia cacti and delicate Norfolk Island pines.

The greenhouses themselves are very vulnerable to both the weather and damage from the plants growing up inside, so it is a constant battle to keep the plants alive, but cut them back and contain their growth, particularly the cacti which grow much faster than in their arid native conditions.

Alongside all of the larger plants, David is also experimenting with propagating large quantities of seedum for potential use as green roofing material, and looks after a number of Venus fly-trap plants, which will be sent off to be prodded and poked by schoolchildren as part of the University’s Widening Participation programme.

  In early June, Sandra Taylor led three tours of the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, on Sackville Street.  MIB is a largely research driven environment with mostly Masters or Postgrad level students and research staff. There is a small core of technical staff underpinning the work and the running of the building. The groups are by design multidisciplinary and have a range of core facilities to support their research themes: Industrial Biotechnology, Biomedical and Healthcare (such as drug production), Biofuels and Synthetic Biology.

Tour-goers were shown a selection of the Bionanotechnology, Biophysics, EPR, Mass spectrometry, NMR, Protein expression, Protein structure and Transcriptomics core facilities, each of which is administered by their own Experimental Officer.  Further detailed information on these core facilities can be found here.

While the tours were well-attended, we did have some last-minute cancellations – please hold back from booking if you’re not sure you can make it as it prevents other people from going on the tours.

Karen Fry
Master Technician
Biological Services Facility, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health

Describe your work area and its importance.
Working with animals used in the field of medical research is an important and valued job.   Caring for animals used in medical research means you are also contributing to helping find treatments for debilitating human diseases and conditions.  Many people’s lives have been saved or just made so much better using the information gained from this type of work.  You only have to look at the treatments discovered using animal research and how these treatments have improved the lives of men, women & children to know that it’s important.  The animals in our care are looked after with compassion and respect, and we as a University are constantly doing everything we can to ethically reduce the number of animals we use.  Whenever possible, animals within our care are replaced to use other non-animal methods to gain the same results.  When replacement isn’t possible and animals are used we are constantly looking for ways to refine the work to use the least number of animals possible.

On a typical day, what do you spend most of your time on?
My typical day at work consists of the general husbandry and care of rodents.  This mainly involves the health checking, cleaning and feeding of mice.  I have many other duties such as staff supervision, ordering of supplies, contact with researchers and the cleaning and general upkeep of our SPF (Specified Pathogen Free) animal unit.  There are also many other areas to my job (too many to mention) and this variation is one of the reasons that I love it so much.

Describe your career path to date, including highs and lows.
I started in retail work which suited my family situation at the time.  As soon as the children were older I began to pursue my dream of working with animals.  I studied for a BTEC National Diploma in Animal Care alongside working part-time.  After completing the course in 2004 I got the trainee animal technician job at the University but carried on studying whilst working.  I did several Open University courses (all biology based) and some work defined courses (1 year/2 year) all whilst working full-time.  Finally I completed level 5 & all but one module on level 6 animal technology degree level course.  I stopped studying late 2016.
High: Completing all of my study work whilst working full-time and raising a family, and of course my recent upgrade.
Low: Not being able to speak about my job openly.  I am proud of what I do and it would be wonderful to speak about it without fear of reprisals. Close friends and family know what I do but I’m not sure they fully understand what’s involved.

What drives you?
Firstly working with animals.  I have always had a life-long love of animals.  Being paid for doing what you love is the best motivation in the world.   This Job is challenging and different everyday which is why I love it. I know that I am making a huge difference and I am helping towards medically treating some terrible human illnesses.  Now that I have been upgraded I have a new level of responsibility, which adds a new interesting dimension to my job.  I work with an excellent hard-working team which enables the animal unit to run as efficiently and ethically as possible.  I am lucky enough to work in a pleasant work environment which makes going to work every day a pleasure.

Tell us a funny story, work-related or not:
On the day of my very first interview for the trainee position at the University I was asked to come to the Stopford Building reception and ask for Mr Terry Priest.  I was so nervous that I told the receptionist that I had an interview scheduled with Terry Waite!  I quickly corrected myself and I think (hope!) that I got away with it.

What’s the best career advice you’ve received?
I don’t recall being given any specific career advice.  The best career advice I could give is that it’s never too late to train for something you’ve always wanted to do.  I came into this type of work quite late because of family commitments, but have never regretted it.  Yes it was a struggle sometimes, but I’m glad I did it.  You spend too much time at work to be doing something that doesn’t make you happy.  If you’re unhappy with your present role, retrain.  You’ll be so glad you did.

Thomas Bishop
Teaching and Research Technician
Geography Laboratories, School of Environment, Education and Development

Describe your work area and its importance.
I work in the geography laboratories. We cater for students on both taught and research programmes, as well as supporting research staff. I specialise in methods that allow workers to reconstruct past climate conditions from clues left in sediments like peat bogs and lakes, but I’ll turn my hand to whatever our lab users are working on.

On a typical day, what do you spend most of your time on?
I usually start the day by preparing analytical equipment that I or a laboratory user will be needing that day. I might begin preparing or analysing samples, or if there is a class in the laboratory I’ll set their equipment out and join the class to help out. Occasionally I’ll prepare or receive equipment used for field-work, or prepare instructional materials associated with the laboratory equipment and teaching programme.

Describe your career path to date, including highs and lows.
I read for a degree in Geography in Manchester, and took the opportunity of research council funded doctoral study immediately after graduating. I worked for some years on the past 10,000 years of climate change in southernmost South America. Before entering academia I had worked as a technician in photographic processing, theatre and television, so a laboratory technician role suited me when I finished my postgraduate study. I worked at the University of Southampton for some as a field and laboratory technician in the Geography Department there, before moving to Manchester last year.

What drives you?
I enjoy the variety of roles I fulfil – specialist technical and analytical work, undergraduate teaching, field-work, and more. Even the research work is varied – sometimes I might work on environmental pollutants, in archaeological contexts, on archives of past climate change, or sand dune formation in Africa. I’ve travelled the world in my short career, working in cold Patagonia, the Alps and Iceland, to tropical Vanuatu and Cambodia, and much in-between. I’ve got involved in outreach work which has hugely advanced my ability to teach and communicate my work. I believe that universities should be models of good practice and excellence, both so we can excel in research and our students gain the most from their time at university. I’m always looking for ways to improve and advance what we offer.

Tell us a funny story, work-related or not:
Whilst rounding-up a large group of students for a field-trip, in my enthusiasm for the task I accidently encouraged a passing tourist into the waiting coach. It was only en-route did the confused visitor ask whether this bus would meet up with “the others” at the bottom of the mountain. We had to turn around and take her back. Worst still, in a desperate attempt to distract her from my mistake, I talked at length about the “interesting” geological and geographical features along the journey!

What’s the best career advice you’ve received?
I was told that in academia, moving around and being exposed to different ways of working, institutional cultures, and ideas is good for personal development. I’ve created opportunities to be seconded to several laboratories around the country and although I’m early in my career, these experiences have been hugely beneficial in quickly building my skillset.

Julia Cheung
Senior Safety Advisor
School of Materials, Faculty of Science & Engineering

Describe your work area and its importance.
The activities in my School vary a great deal: from high-tech biogels, polymer composites and thermomechanics, to traditional weaving and design fashion business.
My job is to help maintain the Health and Safety standard in all these areas.  Health, safety and wellbeing of all personnel are really important to the University. As well as the legal requirement, everyone should be able to go home at the end of the day without anything bad happening. When things go wrong, it often costs a lot of time and resources to rectify it.

On a typical day, what do you spend most of your time on?
The School is spread out between 7 buildings with ~1900 people. So I spend a lot of time advising or problem solving on activities across the sites.  Every single risk assessment that gets submitted is checked by me to ensure they are sufficient – that’s the less exciting paperwork!  My School is also moving to the new MECD building in 2020, so I’m helping to plan the building design and operational arrangements.

Describe your career path to date, including highs and lows.
After gaining my degree in Biology from Sheffield, I joined the University as an undergraduate teaching lab technician in the School of Biological Sciences in 2001. After 2 years I moved into research in the Faculty of Life Sciences. This was followed by a promotion into Research Assistant, in which I managed research projects and contributed to publications. During my time in research I contributed to multiple publications, the latest one was accepted in Nature Communications in December 2016, which was great news, considering I left the lab bench some time ago!  I also attended and gave talks at several international conferences. These were great experiences and very beneficial opportunities for someone in a technical role.
I worked in research labs for 12 years, until a period when I was placed under immense and unnecessary work pressure, causing a workplace injury making lab work very difficult. I’ve always wanted to work in labs and didn’t know what my next job could be; the uncertainty made it a very worrying time.  But, leaning on my scientific background, I was able to take a secondment with the Faculty Safety Team, allowing me to gain professional H&S qualifications and valuable experiences, ultimately leading to my current role as a Senior Safety Advisor in the School of Materials in 2015.

What drives you?
– My days are very varied and never boring
– Changing people’s perception through persuasion.  I love seeing baby-step changes that lead to big improvements
– My colleagues who are very supportive and fun to work with
– Staff and students who really appreciate my help

Tell us a funny story, work-related or not:
One of the buildings my School occupies is 15 storey high. I once found 2 PhD students on the rooftop, spray-painting metal samples they use in their research. There are no barriers on the rooftop, so it’s a sheer drop straight down to the ground if you’re not careful. Their excuse: it’s a well-ventilated area!

What’s the best career advice you’ve received?
– Take part in the Manchester Gold mentoring scheme!
– Ask for opportunities to try out new job roles, even if t’s just a few hours shadowing.
– Be proactive when applying for jobs, use the criteria in the job description as sub-headings to structure the application. This helps to show the relevant skills clearly and increase your chances of being selected.

Professor Colin Bailey
Deputy President & Deputy Vice-Chancellor

The University of Manchester is dependent on the quality of the entire workforce it recruits across the organisation. Every member of staff is critical to the delivery of world-class teaching, research and knowledge transfer, and in addressing the ever-changing challenges we face.

Without the skill, knowledge and dedication of technical staff across the University it will not be possible to teach our students, push the boundaries of knowledge through our research or have an overall beneficial impact on society and the economy.

Our technical roles encompass all operational areas of the University.  Technical Excellence at Manchester has come into being with the mission to support this highly skilled, dedicated and adaptable workforce, as well as attracting new people into this rewarding career.

The University has a clear and firm commitment to support the technical workforce. For the University to be competitive nationally and internationally it must engage with the promotion, development and recognition of its technical workforce to ensure continued success and to retain its talent in this environment of rapid change.

Technical Excellence at Manchester is a networking opportunity specifically for all technical staff.  I encourage all technical members of staff at the University to connect through the network, to support each other and help shape the growing technical role within the University.  As someone who started their career as an apprentice, I am very pleased to be the Academic Technical Champion and fully support this important initiative.