Imperial-led consortium to nurture careers of research technicians

These RTPs are responsible for maintaining our research computing platforms, such as the high-performance computing and research data store - Imperial will lead a new London programme to boost the training, careers, and recognition available to digital research technical professionals (RTPs) The work of RTPs is at the heart of world-class research. The new £2m consortium, which is called A Strategic TEchnical Platform for University technical Professionals (STEP-UP) and funded by UKRI , aims to plug gaps in their recruitment and nurture retention. These highly-skilled, specialist staff lend their expertise to a variety of roles within research. Their responsibilities include developing technologies and running experiments, writing software, and managing data, logistics and operations. RTPs represent the beating heart of research..it's important that we have the infrastructure in place to support and provide the career pathways, training opportunities and professional communities that our RTPs need. Dr Jeremy Cohen Department of Computing - Although RTPs are increasingly significant in solving real-world problems through research, they experience limited career development opportunities and recognition, together with a lack of access to structured training. These factors have compounded a skills shortage affecting institutions that strive to recruit people with the necessary technical professional skills and experience.