Concerns have been raised over “unfair” and “undisclosed” expectations at a Russell Group university that union leaders claim will require recently appointed researchers to win sizeable research grants or lose their jobs.
In a paper submitted to a recent Senate meeting of the University of Liverpool, the institution’s University and College Union (UCU) branch explained it was increasingly worried by the “interpretation of grant-related expectations” used in confirmation-in-appointment (CiA) processes to decide whether academics on probation retain their roles.
“In some Health and Life Sciences (HLS) contexts, early career researchers [ECRs] have been refused confirmation on the basis of insufficient grant income, notwithstanding the absence of any specified income threshold within the [probation] framework,” says the paper, which argues the agreed expectation is that researchers must only show they are applying for grants rather than having to win them.
Recent cases demonstrated a “material divergence” between Senate-approved policies on CiA decisions, published institutional and faculty criteria and “operational practice”, it explains, stating managers were now using “de facto numerical thresholds” on grant income which created “significant risks of procedural unfairness [and] inconsistent standards across faculties”.
