Commit to the Concordat

Any organisation with an interest in the career development of researchers can become a signatory of the concordat by the head of the organisation by publicly committing to implementing the concordat principles.

To sign up to the concordat, please send a letter from the head of your organisation to Universities UK. Find a template letter below.

Template letter for new signatories.

Reporting Expectations

After signing the concordat, a gap analysis, action plan and annual reports will be used to monitor the continuous improvement of each organisation’s research culture and career provision. 

  1. Send a letter from the head of the organisation, committing to the concordat, to Universities UK
  2. Conduct a gap analysis
  3. Produce an action plan to identify the steps to meet the concordat’s obligations. Publish action plan publicly within a year of signing the concordat.
  4. Produce an annual report in each subsequent year to report on progress implementing their action plan. The date of submission will be taken from the date the organisation signed the concordat. The annual report should include strategic objectives, measures of success, an implementation plan and progress. This report must be made publicly available and easy to find on the organisation’s website.

Within the Concordat there are systemic challenges that require the engagement of all stakeholders.

Signatories are encouraged to collectively engage in initiatives to make progress in these areas. For example:

  • Seeking ways to provide more security of employment for researchers, such as, through reducing the use of fixed, particularly short term, contracts, providing bridging facilities, and flexible criteria for maternity and paternity benefits.
  • Sharing examples of emergent practice in implementing various aspects of the Concordat, particularly in tackling difficult and complex issues, such as insecurity of employment.
  • Gathering and publishing data on the career destinations and subsequent career paths of researchers.
  • Aligning the Concordat with other concordats and frameworks to minimise reporting requirements and drawing on existing data sources.
  • Signatory responsibilities
    1. Raise the visibility of the Concordat and champion its principles within their organisation at all levels.
    2. Identify a senior manager champion and associated group with relevant representation from across the organisation with responsibility for annual review and reporting on progress.
    3. For organisations employing researchers, ensure that they are formally represented in developing and monitoring organisational efforts to implement the Concordat Principles.
    4. Undertake a gap analysis to compare their policies and practice against the Concordat Principles.
    5. Draw up and publish an action plan within a year of signing the Concordat.
    6. Set up processes for systematically and regularly gathering the views of researchers they fund or employ, to inform and improve the organisation’s approach to and progress on implementing the Concordat.
    7. Produce an annual report to their governing body or equivalent authority, which includes their strategic objectives, measures of success, implementation plan and progress, which subsequently is publicly available.