Career progression and personal development
All of our staff are encouraged to improve and refresh skills for their current role, to enhance transferable skills and to develop their career through learning and development opportunities.
A wide range of technical, personal and professional development initiatives are available to support career development at all levels.
All our staff have an annual performance review, an opportunity to reflect on progress, discuss reward and promotion opportunities and to consider future development and training needs.
We also offer a range of courses designed to develop technical scientific skills including bioinformatics, statistical analysis, biophysical analysis and image processing.
For management and leadership skills we offer courses that include career planning, networking, recruitment and selection skills training. There are courses for presentation skills, teaching and project management, and we offer mentoring and coaching opportunities that compliment a diverse range of activities to support wellbeing and personal resilience at work.
Mandatory training includes Health and Safety, Equality and Diversity and Bullying and Harassment Awareness. Our development programmes include:
- Leadership and Management
- Mentoring and Coaching
- Technical Skills Development
- Careers Advice
Leadership and management
Our focus on identifying, nurturing and training future research leaders is a primary driver of our scientific effectiveness.
Experience gained at the John Innes Centre is highly valued and provides a springboard for career development in the scientific community both nationally and internationally.
Bespoke leadership and management events and programmes are developed according to need, a recent example was a ‘Women in Wheat’ mentoring programme.
Mentoring and coaching
Mentoring and coaching support is available at the John Innes Centre, and is designed to support your career and personal development needs. All staff and students have access to the trained internal mentoring and coaching pool, and this can be in the form of one-off sessions or longer mentoring/ coaching support.
The mentoring and coaching pool is a diverse group whose roles and experience range from Directorate and Group Leaders to Research and Support Specialists.
Tenure Track Group Leaders are also allocated a mentor to provide guidance and an independent view of their intended work plan and progress. The mentor can provide advice on any challenges during the Tenure Track period and offer support with personal and career development. We also offer a mentoring group for early career Group Leaders.
Professional skills development
Personal and professional skills development programmes are delivered in our seminar rooms, training suite and online. These cover a wide range of subjects including communication skills, time management, project management, ethics, effective presentation skills, and are often led by experts at the John Innes Centre.
You can also request bespoke training to support Continuing Professional Development (CPD) needs.
Personal resilience and mental health awareness courses are included in the programme to meet increasing need for support in these areas.
Technical skills development
Our training facilities include an IT theatre where the latest bioinformatics, statistical analyses and research design training courses are delivered. These are designed, delivered and supported by John Innes Centre experts and international visiting specialists.
Individual support is provided through ‘drop-in’ clinic sessions for applied informatics and statistics.
Bespoke learning opportunities in the latest crystallography and imaging techniques are available from our specialists on demand.
Careers advice
Everyone has access to the UEA careers service via Career Central drop-in sessions. Individual appointments and one-to-one career clinics are run at the John Innes Centre.
The John Innes Centre community Voices also organise career talks with both internal and invited external speakers.