Technical Services Review

Update to technical services staff, February 2015

Our vision

To have a Technical Service that represents a unique strength for Exeter:

• Providing consistently outstanding service to academics and students

that other HEI aspire to

• Constantly seeking ways to be more resilient, efficient, agile and

compliant

• Leveraging the talent we have to develop the highest levels of

professional capability in creative and collaborative ways

• Offering attractive careers for the next generation of scientific talent to

aspire to

• Delivered by excellent leaders and managers

There was a variety of feedback from technical services

and academic staff but some key themes emerged

The technical services feedback fell into the following

categories:

How the service is structured:

• Structure and leadership

• Capacity and resilience

How we deliver the service:

• Facilities, equipment and process

• Funding

• Compliance

• Excellent and effective management

How the service supports us / we support the service:

• Community / sharing / communication

• Skills / training / career development

• Career progression / succession planning / retention

• Feeling valued

Comments about the project itself

• wide ranging including timescales, parallels with VS

Overall comments supported the thoughts of the

working group, although there were some concerns:

• Losing specialisms

• Maintaining business as usual through the transition

• Understanding what we have and what we need

effectively

• Joining up with other projects and initiatives

Technical services staff feedback was most

predominant in:

• How the service support us / we support the service,

with career progression being a clear area of concern

Academic staff feedback was most predominant in:

• Structure and leadership, with keeping delivery local a

key concern

Some common areas of opportunity came out from

both the technical services and academic staff

The next phases of transformation…

Project Phase

Establish structure & leadership

Matrix management

Job descriptions

Implementing delivery model

Optimise grant funding

Career development and progression / reflection

renewal

Issues raised to consider

Local delivery and management

Clear expectations

Future proofing

Resilience and efficiency

Improved process for adding technical staff to

grants

Establish clear career progression

Opportunities for career development

Plan for attracting and retaining staff

Structure and Leadership

We have developed a new operating model to demonstrate how a

community of technical professionals can operate across the university

and fulfil our vision

Key features

• Agreed across all colleges

• Delivers clear line of sight to academic strategies and performance led

• Promotes transparency and shared accountability

• Is matrix-led: from a management and operational standpoint

• Focussed on local delivery and devolved

• Enables expertise to be leveraged wherever it exists

• Embeds peer-to-peer networks and promotes continuous development

• Designed to be flexible to optimise resources and promote staff

development

• Financially accountable to colleges and SMT

Research delivery functions

units of activity

Teac

hin

g d

eliv

ery

fun

ctio

ns

CEGs &

Governance

HoDs; DoRs

Ho

Ds;

Do

Es

Proposed STEMM technical services operating model

Key responsibilities and interactions

units of activity

Research delivery functions

Lab managers: fixed geographically, team

leaders of C and D grade staff, members of the ‘buyers

network’. Each location risk profiled e.g. radiation,

lasers, human tissue etc.

Lab assistants/GBPs/apprentices: flexible

workforce directed strategically by unit of activity

manager according to changing operational needs.

HoDs; DoRs

res

earc

h s

erv

ice

s

pu

rch

as

ing

se

rvic

es

H&

S an

d e

thic

s

Unit of activity managers: not discipline specific or

geographically fixed, H&S coordinators. Risk management

defined according to profiling set out below.

Interfacing examples

Proposed cross-cutting delivery functions

Including examples of potential facilities

Space and logistics (including stores)

Facilities Workshops

1 2 3

Mining & minerals

Bio-informatics

Imaging

Analytical chemistry

One Exeter

IT

Clinical research facility

Graphene centre

EDS/ FXPlus

Potential Research Units of activity

UoA (Research) Discipline College Building Campus

Biological Services Unit Multi Multi Multi Multi

Biosciences/Medicine Multi Multi Multi Multi

Xat Multi Single Single Single

VES Group Single Single Single Single

Renewables Single Single Multi Single

Manager

Lab manager

Unit of Activity

Psychology

Medical School

Biosciences

What does this mean for me?

• You will likely be aligned to a community of technical services

professionals in either:

1. Research delivery

2. Teaching delivery

3. One of the cross cutting delivery functions

• Head of Service will be responsible for overall service supported by

managers and team leaders

• Managers responsible for teams of staff

• Roles will be clearly defined and remunerated as appropriate

• Enhanced opportunities for career progression

• Grant funded (fixed term) technicians will be embedded / aligned in the

structure but remain in the same research groups

What are the next steps?

• Unions briefed

• Alignment to overall Transformation Programme

• Institutional signing off proposed operating model and

business case

• Detailed structures – job descriptions and roles

• Recruitment of Head of Service

Support for change • Information on Technical services website with opportunity to feedback

http://www.exeter.ac.uk/staff/technicalservices/

• Your line manager or Assistant College Manager

• Project Sponsor – Linda Peka

• College HR Partners

• Training – Several courses available on the impact of change and how to

manage

• Care First - 0800 174319 - http://www.exeter.ac.uk/carefirst/

• Union representative