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Academic Career Pathways (Research and Teaching)

You are required to provide names, titles and contact details of nominated referees and must declare any conflict of interest or areas of collaboration.  It is recommended that you do not nominate close colleagues as referees. Your PhD supervisor or academics with whom you have collaborated on their research may be nominated as referees, as appropriate, but they will be required to declare their interest as set out in the letter requesting the reference.

A referee’s input is critical in enabling a full and objective assessment of an applicant’s contribution. Referees are therefore requested to comment across the entire range of your duties with explicit reference to the relevant Assessment Criteria and to provide a full and frank appraisal of your suitability for promotion/progression. 

Referees can provide useful insights into all aspects of your work, but are especially important in assessing your contribution and standing in scholarship and research.   

Referees’ reports are subject to the strictest confidentiality; however, referees will be made aware that in providing a reference, they give their explicit permission for the use of that reference for consideration under the ACP R&T scheme.  Confidential references normally are exempt from disclosure to the applicant under the terms of data protection legislation.  Despite this, we often receive requests from applicants for copies of their references.  By default we will not disclose references without checking with the referee first.

Additional references might be sought in the case of an interdisciplinary/cross-departmental application or internal nomination from cognate subject areas.

Prior to nominating referees, both applicants and Faculty Committees must confirm with the individuals they wish to nominate that they are willing and able to provide a reference.

 

Application Applicant Nominates Faculty Committee nominates Total References
Professorship (Grade 11 and 12) and Clinical Professorship 2 (+ 1 reserve) 3 (+ 1 reserve) 5
Associate Professor (G10) (Progression / Promotion Scheme A) 1 (+ 1 reserve) 1 (+ 1 reserve) 2

Table 2: Summary of first time application referencing requirements

 

 

Promotion to a Professorship (Grade 11 and 12) and Clinical Professorship

Referees for promotion to a Professorship (Grades 11 and 12) or a Clinical Professorship should normally be external to the University but there may be circumstances where it is appropriate to nominate referees from cognate subject areas in the University. 

In choosing your nominated referees, you should note that referees are expected to be international leaders in their field, research active and familiar with your field of research. At least one of the referees should be able to comment on your service to the academic community externally.  

Progression to Associate Professor Grade 10 (Associate Professor Progression / Promotion Scheme A)

For progression / promotion to Associate Professor (Grade 10), two references are required, at least one of which should be internal and one of the referees should be able to comment authoritatively on the quantity of teaching and service to the University and academic community.

In choosing your nominated referees, you should note that referees are expected to be leaders in their field, research active and familiar with your field of research. You must supply the details of one internal referee and one reserve and the FC will provide the details of one referee and one reserve. 

Re-applicants

For re-applicants, i.e. those who unsuccessfully applied for the same office in the ACP R&T 2023 round, the references from the previous round are carried forward and additional references are required, as set out in Table 3 below.

A referee cited in a previous application should only be requested to update the earlier reference if there have been significant changes in the applicant's publication record or other circumstances relating to the case for promotion since the referee was last approached.  Updated references are counted as additional references.  References relating to the previous application for the same office should be listed and carried forward.

 

Application Applicant nominates Faculty Committee nominates Total Referees
Professorship (G11 and G12) and Clinical Professorship 1 (+1 reserve) 2 (+1 reserve) 3
Associate Professor (G10) (Progression / Promotion Scheme A) 1 (+1 reserve) 1 (+1 reserve) 2

Table 3: Summary of re-applicant referee requirements (additional to the references carried forward from the previous year)

Statements

In certain circumstances, additional statements will be sought in support of an individual's application, as follows:

  • If an applicant requests that their College teaching or work as a Director of Studies be taken into account, an additional statement will be required from the Senior Tutor of the College at which the applicant has regularly undertaken the greater part of their College teaching (the details of which the applicant should provide in their application).  The statement should provide a factual description of the scope and amount of such teaching work, and comment on the effectiveness of the applicant's contribution.
  • For clinicians who hold an honorary clinical NHS consultant contract, an additional statement will be requested from the appropriate NHS Trust to provide comment on the applicant's role and effectiveness of their contribution to clinical work and postgraduate medical teaching and training.
  • For applicants engaged in clinical veterinary work and postgraduate veterinary teaching and training, an additional statement will be required from the relevant Clinical Manager to provide comment on the applicant's role and the effectiveness of their contribution to clinical work, including postgraduate veterinary teaching and training.  The information provided in relation to teaching will be considered in relation to the teaching criteria, and the information provided in relation to clinical duties will be considered in relation to the service criterion.