Celebrating our Sector-Leading Commitment to Technical Staff
02 May 2025
Supporting, empowering and developing our community of technical professionals
We’re proud to share that the University of Manchester has been recognised with an Award of Impact for our most recent submission to the national Technician Commitment initiative – a reflection of our continued dedication to supporting, empowering and celebrating our community of technical professionals.
The Technician Commitment is a national initiative aimed at ensuring visibility, recognition, career development and sustainability for technical professionals working in higher education and research.
As a founding signatory of over 100 organisations to the Technician Commitment, our recent self-assessment and forward looking action plan have been reviewed by an independent panel of peers, who praised the scale and impact of our ongoing work.
The panel further recognised our ambitious vision, collaborative approach and sector-leading practices to embed the Technician Commitment across the University with the Award of Impact, which will be presented at the Signatory Event, taking place at Belfast’s Queens University in May.
Beth Micakovic, Executive Director of Faculty Operations for Biology, Medicine and Health and Institutional Sponsor for the Technical Workforce, said: “With over 900 technical professionals working across the University’s three faculties, our technical workforce is central to research, teaching and innovation.
“Over the last six years we have been at the forefront of sector best practice including establishing Heads of Technical Operations in each faculty – a structural change that’s helping to streamline communication, provide leadership and embed consistent, supportive line management for our technical professionals.”
Alongside new and emerging structures and ways of working, initiatives such as technical apprenticeships, research grant leadership by technical professionals and the introduction of new Grade 8 technical expert roles were all highlighted as successes by the independent panel.
Looking ahead, Sam Ryder, Director of School Operations and Business Lead for the University’s Technical Workforce, outlined what’s next: “The University will be working to an ambitious 36-month action plan, which will build on the foundations that have been established to continue our commitment to making Manchester a great place to build a technical career. Now this action plan has been peer-reviewed, it will soon be shared with Technical Operations colleagues.”
Patrick Hackett, Registrar, Secretary and Chief Operating Officer and the University’s signatory to the Technician Commitment, commented: “Thank you and congratulations to all technical professionals involved in this achievement, including our five Heads of Technical Operations, for their vision and commitment. I’m looking forward to continuing to work together to support and champion our technical community.”
Alongside the Technician Commitment action plan, the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health (FBMH) is currently undergoing a review of their Technical Services provision to ensure their teams are positioned to continue to deliver innovative services for the future underpinned by fantastic technical expertise.