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Win

Concession won for research staff at Birkbeck, University of London

2 December 2022

Following lobbying by the UCU branch, the employer at Birkbeck have agreed to pay for Advance HE Fellowship applications for research staff who teach (subject to a teaching load of 0.2FTE).

This is a win for research staff across the college especially as Birkbeck cut the PG Cert in Teaching in Higher Education relatively recently as part of a broader range of cuts limiting access to learning for staff. Advance HE Fellowships are paid for by the institution for teaching fellows and for 'academic' staff at lecturer and above, but not for research staff at all because they were not recognised as academics, until now. 

It's not everything the branch wanted (which was access to Advance HE fellowship funding for ALL researchers who teach), but it is a significant win and means that postdocs and other early career researchers on fixed-term contracts can access accreditation that's increasingly essential on the job market without a hefty hit to their wallets of several hundred pounds.

Congratulations to everyone at Birkbeck.

Last updated: 2 December 2022