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School of Environment, Education and Development

SEED Academic Promotions Round 2025-26 now open

28 Oct 2025

Applications for academic promotion within SEED are open, with a deadline of Friday 28th November for promotion to Professor or Reader and Friday 5th December for promotion to other grades

The 2025-26 academic promotions round within the School of Enviroment, Education and Development is now open. 

Please see SEED’s online form for Promotions applications

Please review this online form carefully as you prepare your application as it includes guidance about the correct format and presentation of your CV and candidate statements (which you must upload as separate documents into the online form). 

Guidance: 

  • Promotions Criteria: https://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/people-and-od/current-staff/career-development/academic-promotions-procedures/criteria/ 
  • University Guidance for applicants, including useful examples of how to evidence your achievements in each relevant domain (e.g. “Research”, "Scholarship," “Service and Leadership, etc”) and how to prepare candidate statements: https://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/people-and-od/current-staff/career-development/academic-promotions-procedures/guidance/ 
  • Faculty CV template:  https://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/humanities/support-services/people-and-organisational-development/current-staff/ 
  • SEED Guidance for the completion of the Scholarship section of the CV (for T&S track) : https://documents.manchester.ac.uk/protected/display.aspx?DocID=77305

    • Process 

    The Academic Promotions process covers promotions to the following titles: 

      

    Academic T&R 

    Academic T&S  

    Research only 

    Grade 9 

    Professor T&R  

    Professor T&S 

    Professor R 

    Grade 8 spinal points 45-54 

    Reader T&R 

    Reader T&S 

    Reader R 

    Grade 8, spinal points 45-51 

    Senior Lecturer T&R  

    Senior Lecturer T&S 

    Senior Research Fellow 

    Grade 7 

    Lecturer T&R 

    Lecturer T&S 

    Research Fellow 

    Grade 6 

    n/a 

    n/a 

    Research Associate 

    I’d like to note that of the cases SEED Promotions Committee forwarded to the 2025 Faculty Promotions Committee [FPC], we had a 69% success rate.  

    If you wish to be considered for promotion you should discuss this with your line manager/HoD beforehand.  The role of the line manager is to advise candidates on how well they meet the criteria and how best to present their CV.  Line managers may also wish to consult with (or delegate this advisory role to) another senior colleague (usually a Professor). 

    To apply, you must submit an application through the new online form by the deadlines listed below, which differ depending on the title you apply for. 

    The SEED Deadlines for Applications: 

    5pm, Friday 28th November 2025 

    5pm, Friday 5th December 2025 

    Professor (T&R, T&S, Research only) 

    Reader (T&R, T&S, Research only) 

    Senior Lecturer (T&R, T&S) 

    Lecturer (Grade 7, T&R or T&S) 

    Senior Research Fellow 

    Research Fellow 

    Research Associate 

    Due to the delayed launch of this year's application round, SEED will especially allow a different submission date for colleagues applying to titles other than Reader or Professor as part of this year's process. We are unable to offer this for Professor and Reader applications, as we need to allow time for the School to seek references as part of the applications at these levels. 

    Guidance about Referees 

  • Promotion to Reader – the candidate should supply the name of 1 referee and the Head of Department (HoD), or appointed deputy, should provide a further 2 names (i.e. 3 references in total). These 2 referees should be academic leaders who are independent of the candidate (i.e. not suggested by the candidate).  At least 2 of the 3 names should normally be international referees. It is expected that referees will be from leading research institutions. All 3 referees will be approached by the School and asked to submit a reference within the required timescales. 
  • Promotion to Professor/Chair – the candidate should supply the names of 2 referees and the Head of Department (HoD), or appointed deputy, should provide a further 3 names (i.e. 5 references in total). These 3 referees should be academic leaders who are independent of the candidate (i.e. not suggested by the candidate). At least 3 of the 5 names should normally be international referees. It is expected that referees will be from leading research institutions. The Head of School will approach all 5 referees and they will be asked to submit a reference within the required timescale. 

    • Co-authors should not be approached to provide references unless this is unavoidable.  In those circumstances the co-authorship should be highlighted in the Head of Department’s assessment. 

    Where the promotion case is for an academic following the Teaching and Scholarship route, it may be necessary to use additional referees from within the University who are able to comment reliably on the candidate’s teaching and learning ability, and teaching scholarship. It is important in these cases that where possible, some of the referees are external to the candidate’s School. 

    SEED will contact referees to request references immediately after the submission deadline. Please make sure that any nominated referees will be able to provide their references before 15th January 2026.  You will have the opportunity to provide up to 2 additional references when submitting your Promotions application through the new online form, and should forward information about any additional potential references to your Head of Department. 

    Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) focus on academic promotions 

    The School of Environment, Education and Development is committed to equality of opportunity and to increasing the percentage of leaders from underrepresented groups. Our 2024 report into the Gendered Experiences of Promotion and Career Progression Processes helped us to identify priority areas for action to remove barriers and provide equity of opportunity.  

      

    Since 2024, informed by the report's findings and as part of our wider EDI work, we have: 

  • Run school promotions workshops to increase access of information and attendance  
  • Led targeted promotions workshops at a faculty level for racially minoritised colleagues, women, and disabled academics 
  • Provided colleagues considering applying for promotion with access to successful CVs and statements for guidance 
  • Asked our People Partner to ensure that HoDs receive data on how long staff have been at a particular grade in their area, ahead of the promotions cycle 
  • Introduced a structured pro forma for HoDs to ensure fair grading against promotion criteria  
  • Ensured that candidates received written feedback on applications from school promotions committee, with tailored advice for those graded C/D and suggestions for A/B candidates (where the committee feel they could be useful) prior to Faculty submission  
  • Provided further guidance on noting the impact of mitigating circumstances (such as health conditions or caring responsibilities) in applications 
  • Run a workshop for women who are Senior Lecturers and have been at the same grade for the past 5 years (or women at Reader for the past 2 years), to discuss applying for promotion to Professor. 
  • Developed guidance on encouraging colleagues to plan for academic promotions, and circulated to all P&DR reviewers 
  • Provided practical support to colleagues through initiatives like our conference caregiving scheme, disability action plan, and academic returners' scheme. 

    •   

    SEED has made some progress, and we have seen increases in: 

  • the percentage of women senior lecturers from 45.3% (2020/21) to 52.7% (2025/26) 
  • the percentage of women professors from 29.8% (2020/21) to 40.6% (2025/26) 
  • the percentage of racially minoritised senior lecturers from 7.8% (2020/21) to 19.8% (2025/26) 
  • the percentage of racially minoritised professors from 14.9% (2020/21) to 15.9% (2025/26) 

    •   

    We continue work to reduce inequalities at school level. We are also engaging in work to address barriers to equity in academic promotions within the University, via our links with the central UoM Athena Swan and through specific meetings with the UoM Director of Reward. 

    FAQs for using online forms: 

  • If you experience issues accessing the online form, try logging into MS Office 365 (https://www.office.com/) in your web browser using your UoM IT account username and password and Duo 2-factor authentication, and then try the specific link to the online form again. 
  • If this does not resolve an access issue, you can also try logging in using a different browser or the incognito/private setting of your browser. 
  • If you are not able to access the form after trying these steps, please contact SEEDHeadofschool@manchester.ac.uk for advice. 
  • The online form includes document upload questions for your CV and candidate statement (separate documents). Please make sure you upload the correct document to each question and wait for the form to confirm that your document has been successfully uploaded before moving to the next question. 

    • If you require any further information or clarification, get in touch with SEEDHeadofschool@manchester.ac.uk or our People Partner, Christina Collier: christina.collier@manchester.ac.uk