Organised around the different campuses of the University and throughout wider Scotland, our events provide you with an opportunity for you to network, discuss practice, talk about CPD, explore the benefits of professional qualifications and registry with professional bodies, and share resources. 2024 Events Edinburgh Open Research Conference 2024 The forthcoming Edinburgh Open Research Conference (EOR) will take place on Wednesday 29th May 2024. While the conference will be hybrid, we ask that all contributors attend in person. Edinburgh University is committed to making Open Research the new normal and a vital part of achieving that is by contributing to positive culture change within research Find out more and register: https://www.ed.ac.uk/information-services/research-support/open-research/edinburgh-open-research-conference Save the date - Thursday 6th June 2024 Surgeons' Hall We are excited to announce the next date for the Scottish Association of Histotechnology - 45th Scientific Meeting on Thursday 6th June 2024 will be held at the Surgeons' Hall in Edinburgh and to reveal a taste of our amazing line up. This will include several professional speakers, including Kat Irving, Human remains conservator at Surgeons' Hall, Jules Kenicer and Pamela McCall Head of the Glasgow Tissue Research Facility and will be covering topics from Anatomy, Dissection and many other areas. A Full programme for our event will also be sent out soon as well with the Registration form for our meeting which is attached for now. This is an excellent opportunity to network with fellow professionals from all over Scotland in many different areas ranging from Hospital and research laboratories to universities and private hospitals as well. Group Tour Surgeon Hall In addition Surgeons' Hall have also kindly agreed to provide a free group tour of the anatomy museum at the end of the meeting between 4-5pm, for those interested please mark this on our registration form. Registration Open Registration is £30 per person. Payment can be made on the day by cash, card or cheque. The meeting is free to full time students with a valid student card. Catering Tea, Coffee will be available and there will be a Hot buffet Lunch as well. Please advise the committee of any dietary requirements when registering so that we can notify Surgeon Halll. Poster Event This year we are also having a poster competition. posters can be from any BSc/MSc project or other departmental research. A panel of judges will make the decision and there is a cash prize of £50. If you would like to enter a poster, please add the poster title on the meeting registration form or contact any of the committee here. 2023 Events Council for Higher Education in Art & Design (CHEAD) Technical Alliance Event 2023:Community & Connection - 15-16th November 2023 The University of Edinburgh colleagues based at Edinburgh College of Art will be co-hosting the Council for Higher Education in Art & Design’s Technical Alliance event 2023 alongside external colleagues at The Glasgow School of Art, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design and Robert Gordon University. This year’s themes are Community, Sustainability and Alignment with day one of the conference held at ECA and day two giving rise to a series of different workshops and presentations across Scotland’s Arts focused Higher Education Organisations. Day 1- Edinburgh College of Art- Reid Hall (morning) ECA Main Building (afternoon) Day 2- Scottish Art Colleges-various events, Robert Gordon University Aberdeen-Gray’s School of Art , Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, The Glasgow School of Art, Edinburgh College of Art More information can be found on the website. https://www.chead.ac.uk/events/chead-technical-alliance-event-2023-community-and-connection/ Good Research Practice Week: 20-24th November 2023 The University of Edinburgh Good Research Practice Week wasbe held during 20 - 24 November 2023. Good Research Practice Week showcased the University's commitment to supporting good research practice, a healthy research culture and best practice in research and researcher evaluation. The week celebrated and shared some of the excellent initiatives already happening across the University, dentified areas where we can go further and included a variety of events, workshops, co-creation sessions and networking opportunities. The week was open to all University of Edinburgh researchers, postgraduate research students, technicians and research support professional services colleagues. The week was been organised by a University wide group. More information on Good Research Practise Week can be found on their website. Good Research Practice Week Research Support Services Conference: 31st October 2023 Technician's across the University of Edinburgh were invited to attend the Research Support Services Conference held on 31st October. The conference was structured around three themes: Developing and Improving Research Support Services, Developing your technical knowledge of research and careers in research support. Sally Morgan and Lee Murphy presented a poster outlining the work of the Technician Steering Committee at the University of Edinburgh over the past few years. More information on this conference, the posters and the full programme, can be found on the Research Support Services Conference webpage. Research Support Services Conference Technician Week 2023 Celebrating Technician Week 2023 at the University of Edinburgh. The University of Edinburgh held its first Technician Week in early September 2023. This event celebrated the invaluable contributions of technical staff to education, research and the broader University community. Organised by the Technician Steering Committee, Technician Week featured activities across all five campuses and served as a tribute to the diverse roles and dedication of the University’s technicians. Over 300 people attended the event, which highlighted the resources and career development opportunities available to the technical community. The week’s programme was structured as follows: Monday September 4th – Central Campus, The Bayes Centre The week began at Central Campus with a focus on career development, knowledge transfer and teaching. The day featured sessions on various topics, including the Technician Commitment at the University of Edinburgh, research libraries, job shadowing and teaching accreditation for technicians. The University’s Provost, Kim Graham, gave the welcome talk for the event and there was opportunity for attendees to network and interact with the events sponsors. Tuesday September 5th - Edinburgh BioQuarter, IRR South The week continued at BioQuarter with the theme of visibility and recognition, focusing on professional registration. Christina Boswell, the Vice Principal of Research and Enterprise opened the event, and there were presentations on the experience of technicians who had completed the registration process and a look at the professional registration fund. Technician spotlight presentations and a poster session allowed a variety of Technicians to talk about their work. Wednesday September 6th – Western General Hospital, Institute of Genetics and Cancer Wednesday’s event was opened by senior leaders Denise Nesbitt, the Director for Talent and Development, and Sara Brown, professor of Dermatology. Helen Nickerson also launched the MRC HGU Technician Training Fund. The afternoon seminar had the theme of laboratory sustainability, with a series of discussions on climate change, sustainability and the vital role that technicians can play in addressing these global challenges. Experts in the field shared their insights, experiences and ideas on how technicians can contribute to a more sustainable world. Thursday September 7th – Easter Bush, The Roslin Institute Thursday’s theme was career development and was opened by Catherine Martin, Vice Principal Corporate Services. There were sessions on digital profiles, career development and continuous professional development, and technician spotlight presentations also featured, allowing technicians to give insight into the varied and important work that they do. The Easter Bush Career Development Committee held an enlightening question and answer session, with the event closed by Bruce Whitelaw, the Director of the Roslin Institute. Friday September 8th – King’s Buildings, The Nucleus Friday’s event, opened by Christina Boswell, Vice-Principal Research and Enterprise, had the theme of skills sustainability and career development, with a focus on apprenticeships and succession. Technician spotlight presentations featured apprentice technicians, and talks discussed the benefits of employing apprentices. Technician Week closing remarks were given by Iain Gordon, Vice-Principal and Head of the College of Science & Engineering. Technician Awards One of the highlights of Technician Week 2023 was the introduction of the Technician Awards. The awards aim to recognise the exceptional contributions of technical staff to the University, and in particular to reward those who excel in what they do, who go the extra mile in their work, in their contribution to the life of the University and in the provision of support to their colleagues, school or college. The winners of the 2023 Technician Awards are: Contributions to Learning & Teaching: Linda Clark and Michael Mullin Contribution to Infrastructure and Facilities: John Blackhurst Contribution to the University's Culture, Community and Environment: Charli Corcoran Contribution to Research and Innovation: Edith Paxton Apprentice/Trainee Technician: Matthew Proudfoot Image Competition Technician Week also featured an image competition themed ‘We are Technicians’. There were 40 incredible entries to the image competition. The winners are: 1st Place: Shareen Sorour 2nd Place: Michael Merlin Runners up: Lisa McKie Holly Morton Alix Johnston Brian Park Online Participation Technician Week was also celebrated online, on our X/Twitter page @UoETechnicians. University of Edinburgh Technicians shared why they love being a technician, and why they felt Technician Week was important, they shared videos of themselves talking about their work, and they participated in Instagram live sessions with their colleagues. Our Sponsors The success of Technician Week 2023 was made possible by the generous support of our sponsors: Merck, Arco, Brand, Somalogic, RS group, Unite the Union, Biopharma Group, Starlab, Mascot and the University of Edinburgh’s College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, College of Science and Engineering and Human Resources. Central Scotland Technical Conference: 6th June 2023 The joint University of Glasgow and University of Edinburgh Central Scotland Technical Conference was held at Hunter Halls, University of Glasgow, on Tuesday 6th June 2023. It was attended by over 200 technicians from 12 different universities around Scotland. Sponsors of the event included Merck, ThermoFisher, VWR Avantor and was supported with a network grant from the Scottish University Life Sciences Alliance. Opened by Professor Frank Coton, Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Glasgow, the day began with an opening address from the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Graeme Dey and a sector update from Kelly Vere, Technician Commitment lead. The day ended with awards for poster prizes and was closed by Dr Anne-Marie Coriat from the University of Edinburgh, who included a fitting tribute to our colleague Val Gordon who died after a short illness last month. Val played a pivotal role in the technician commitment at the University of Edinburgh and the day was full of reminders of her influence. The programme had great representation from across different universities in central Scotland. We heard highlights from Brian Robb from the University of Glasgow, and from Dr Natalie Homer and Dr Sally Morgan from Edinburgh University on action plans and initiatives. This was followed by a session chaired by Russ Wilson from Heriot Watt University on success stories that included Lee Murphy who spoke of building technical networks. More information about the Technician Commitment can be found on our website. The Technician Commitment at the University of Edinburgh This article was published on 2023-11-14
