The funds are being provided by TALENT, a programme led by Midlands Innovation which is advancing status and opportunity for technical skills and supporting the roles and careers of technicians across UK higher education and research.
The three funds available for are the:
- TALENT Technician Led Training Fund
- TALENT Technical Placement Fund
- TALENT Technical Conference and Skills Fund
The Technician Led Training Fund provides technicians with funds in order to develop their skills by undertaking appropriate training in partnership with colleagues across the Midlands Innovation partnership.
The Technical Placement Fund facilitates and funds placement opportunities for technical colleagues across Midlands Innovation institutions and TALENT industry and sector partners.
It enables technical staff to spend up for five days at another organisation to learn new skills and techniques and further develop their expertise.
The third fund, the Technical Conference and Skills Fund enables technical colleagues to access funding to attend conferences to aid their professional development and build their professional network.
Speaking about the Technician Training and Development funds, Kelly Vere, Director of the TALENT programme, said: “We’re delighted to launch three new, fully funded opportunities for technical colleagues across Midlands Innovation today.
"We recognise that tailored professional development for the technical community hasn’t always been easily accessible.
"By working together across our eight universities we’ve identified opportunities for technical colleagues to acquire new skills, access novel training opportunities and work across the partnership to share experiences and best practice."
The £4.99 million TALENT programme is a four-year programme which is centred on the development of the technical community, piloting initiatives within the Midlands Innovation partnership before sharing learnings across the whole sector.
It supports up to 30,000 higher education technicians in the universities of Aston, Birmingham, Cranfield, Keele, Leicester, Loughborough Nottingham and Warwick.
If you are a technician in Higher Education you can apply for one of the funds here.
For more information about the funds, please email Lucy Williams, TALENT Project Manager.
About MI TALENT
MI TALENT is a project which leads and influences change to advance status and opportunity for technical skills, roles and careers in UK Higher Education.
It is led by the Midlands Innovation (MI) consortium of eight universities in collaboration with key stakeholder and industry partners.
It is the largest ever investment into technicians in higher education, whose specialist skills often go unrecognised despite the crucial role they play in the success of universities and the growth of the UK economy.
England Development Fund. Other funding is being provided by the consortium university members as well as key partners including the Science Council, Technician Commitment, Wellcome Trust, British Geological Survey, Manufacturing Technology Centre, Rolls-Royce Plc, Unilever, Thales Alenia Space, Cobra Biologics and Midlands Engine.
ENDS