Vitae, an organisation supporting the development of researchers in higher education, released an interesting report in 2010 describing the current state of the laws around fixed-term contracts and their implementation in higher education.  The Foreword gives a good summary of the intent of the report:

“We believe that a positive management culture which supports the development of staff is essential to building a successful higher education institution. To make the case that a well- managed workforce is a productive workforce it is important that we are able to provide institutions with high quality, evidence-based information to benchmark themselves against. This Vitae report represents a major contribution to the evidence base about how to successfully manage researchers to ensure positive outcomes for researchers, their managers, the  institutions where they work and the sector as a whole.”

The report stresses the importance of productive, cooperative communication between institutions and researchers, in order to ensure that the arrangements in place take into account the needs of both parties.  For those members on fixed-term contracts, or for those who manage fixed-term contract staff, please take a look at this report and spread it around to anyone who may find it of interest.

——-

Eric Silverman (President) and Joe Viana (Fixed-Term Contract Representative)