Researcher Education and Development Scholarship Conference

REGISTER TO ATTEND
THE ONLINE CONFERENCE HERE

The Researcher Education and Development Scholarship Conference conference takes place online 12-6pm (GMT) on the 21^st January and 8.00am-1pm (GMT) on 22^nd January, 2026.

The conference is always online, and free to attend.

Call for abstracts on ‘Getting creative: shaping a culture of development’

Creative approaches to the development of researcher and research ecosystems are needed now more than ever as financial, moral and philosophical challenges sweep across the global Higher Education sector. Developers are asked to ‘do more with less’, to remain resilient, to resist, to advocate for the importance of professional development and to provide value for all. Read the full conference theme information and register to present here.

This conference asks:

1. How did/do researcher developers create and sustain a culture of development?
2. ⁠What are the sites and spaces through which Researcher Developers innovate?
3. What can we learn from the evolution of the Research Developer profession?
4. What are the defining features and essential components of a developmental research culture?
5. What creative approaches can universities apply to succeed despite established challenges?
6. What are the sector and institutional drivers that can be leveraged to support strong cultures for development?
7. What can the demonstrable adaptability of Researcher Developers in response to sector challenges teach us about how we support creativity and resilience in researchers?

To bring these themes together, REDS 2026 will explore how all those who make up the research ecosystem and community, including (but not limited to) funders, employers, senior leadership teams, PGRs, supervisors, principal investigators, research staff, researcher developers, careers advisors, directors of PGR programmes, culture specialists, research professional staff and HR colleagues can take collective and collaborative responsibility for the research culture.

REGISTER TO ATTEND
THE ONLINE CONFERENCE HERE