Professor

Teaching

Note: In order to achieve a score of 2 for an area, applicants must meet the criteria in bold for the grade to which they wish to be promoted.

• Subject Delivery and Teaching Activity

  Candidates will be recognised as very high quality teachers and national and/or international subject experts in their area. They will be able to demonstrate evidence of mature successful teaching innovation, and will have disseminated best-practice nationally and/or internationally.

  This may be evidenced by such things as:

  • A sustained track record of positive peer evaluations.
  • Disseminated effective practice (Both nationally and/or internationally and through University-level initiatives).  Innovative development and sustained leadership within the faculty and the university more widely in the use of teaching, learning and assessment methods e.g. the creative utilisation of electronic resources and active learning pedagogy.
  • A reflective narrative as to how the candidate has engaged with and acted upon student and peer feedback, with robust evidence of a number of enhancements to academic practice.
  • Other evidence of effectiveness and/or innovation as the applicant feels might be appropriate to their case for promotion.
• Contribution to Viability and Growth of Provision

  Candidates will have a sustained track record of leading initiatives that support the viability and growth of provision e.g. non-regulated teaching income, grants or other income generating activity (short courses, summer schools etc.).

  This may be evidenced by some of the following:

  • Leadership in the development of and the successful marketing of curricula or methods of teaching, designed to attract new student groups - for example international students, part-time students, post-graduate students or apprenticeships. Leadership across modes of delivery - for example distance learning and/or work-based (bespoke) learning - including apprenticeships.
  • An established national or international reputation with external agencies/clients and a portfolio of activities that leads to financial, reputational or other significant benefits to the university.
  • Grants awarded in support of pedagogic research.
• Mentoring and Supervision 

  Candidates should have a sustained track record of mentoring staff and supervising staff and students.

  This may be evidenced by:

  • A sustained leading contribution to teaching development through programmes or activities that benefit others e.g. contribution to teaching events or to internal/external publications about teaching.
  • A track record of mentoring and providing leadership to academic and/or support staff.
  • Leading involvement in the broader arena of the faculty and/or the university, including where appropriate, a significant period in a role providing pastoral care and guidance to students or colleagues.
  • Being a role model for learning and teaching practice within their faculty and/or the wider university.
• Esteem

  Candidates should  lead on activities that contribute to the national and international teaching reputation of the university.

  This may be evidenced by at least five of the following:

  • Candidates will hold as a minimum, Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy.
  • Considerable external examining experience.
  • Principal Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy.
  • Extensive external experience of the evaluation of learning, teaching and assessment e.g. QAA reviewer and/or sustained involvement in external examining.
  • Recognition through the University’s Distinguished Teaching Fellowship scheme (or predecessor scheme) and/or a university nomination to the National Teaching Fellowship scheme.
  • Other national individual or team awards for teaching excellence.
  • Editorial roles including the chairing of editorial boards of international journals or conferences in the field of HE pedagogy or subject-specific education/pedagogy.
  • Recognition through the Students’ Union Learning and Teaching Awards.
  • Leadership role within a professional body or academic society.
  • SEDA Senior Fellowship and/or ALT certified membership.
  • Invited keynote presentations at other institutions or at conferences.
• Scholarship

  Candidates should have a track record of scholarly activity that articulates their individual teaching practice with a wider national and international Scholarship of Teaching and Learning community at a level commensurate with the role.

  This may be evidenced by some of the following:

  • A significant record of high quality pedagogic related publications. Through their publications in the area of pedagogy in peer-reviewed academic journals, refereed conference proceedings and/or books and particularly in the case of the creative and performing arts, other public output that demonstrates quality and impact.
  • Adoption and evaluation of published effective teaching practices.
  • Authorship (individually or with others) of at least one well-received book. Evidence of esteem may include reviews and/or usage figures.
  • Recognition as a national and/or international authority in their area of teaching excellence and/or their subject/discipline.
  • Representation on national and/or international working groups/advisory groups in relation to learning and teaching policy and/or practice.
• Leadership

  Candidates should demonstrate leadership in their subject area as commensurate with the role.

  This may be evidenced by:

  • Sustained leadership in course management and curriculum design and pedagogy.
  • Sustained leadership in learning and teaching activities (including those relating to quality assurance and enhancement and those related to placement activity) at faculty and university level, student retention and progression, assessment and feedback, student and graduate employability.
  • Leadership of marketing and course promotion activities.
  • Leadership of course development in partner institutions.
  • Leadership of change in relation to teaching delivery - e.g. the rollout of new pedagogies, practices or (learning, teaching and assessment) policies.
  • A track record of supporting the work of the subsidiary committees of the Senate.

Research and Impact

Note: In order to achieve a score of 2 for an area, applicants must meet the criteria in bold for the grade to which they wish to be promoted.

• Outputs

  Candidates will have a sustained record of high quality research publications, appropriate for their subject area. Through their publications in international peer-reviewed academic journals, refereed conference proceedings and/or books, and particularly in the case of the creative and performing arts, exhibitions and other research output that demonstrates quality and impact, candidates will have established themselves as recognised international authorities in their area of research.

  Commensurate with the nature of the Unit of Assessment (UoA)/subject discipline, this may be evidenced by such things as:

  • At least 5 outputs attributed to you in the most recent 6 year period that are regarded as internationally excellent with at least 2 of these outputs regarded as world leading.
  • An appropriate volume of total outputs.
  • A sustained track record of outputs with international co-authors.
• Income Generation

  Candidates will have a sustained track record of securing external funding as a principal investigator or key contributor for research/research studentships.

  This may be evidenced by some of the following:

  • Sustained research income over several years in excess of the Benchmark Group Upper Quartile for the discipline.
  • A sustained track record of grants awarded from prestigious sources, for example, Research Council, Charities, Government and Industry.
  • Leadership in the development of research funding with national/international partners.
  • Leadership of successful collaboration with national and/or international centres of excellence in research.
  • Multi-disciplinary and/or multi agency research activity.
• Mentoring and Research Supervision

  Candidates should have a substantial record of research student supervision to completion and/or staff supervision.

  This may be evidenced by some of the following:

  • A record of sustained successful supervision of PGR students, including as main supervisor of the supervisory team.
  • A sustained track record of leading supervisory teams mentoring less experienced supervisors and ECRs who have not yet supervised to completion.
  • International co-supervision of PhD researchers.
  • Act as internal examiner and chair of PhD viva panels.
  • Supervision of postdoctoral researchers.
  • A track record of mentoring and/or providing leadership to academic staff and/or support staff.
• Esteem

  Candidates should contribute substantially to the national and international research reputation of the university.

  This may be evidenced by some of the following:

  • Recognition through the University's Distinguished Research Fellowship scheme.
  • Other national and/or international individual or team awards, or other distinctions, for research excellence.
  • Editorial roles including membership of editorial boards of international journals or conferences.
  • External Appointments demonstrating recognition and esteem relevant to the discipline.
  • Regular presence and keynote presentations at international conferences in chosen discipline, visiting scholarships, international academic research visits.
  • Membership of national or international committees associated with research.
  • Membership of external grant awarding bodies.
  • Commissions from recognised funders; exhibitions, installations or performances in high profile venues; performances by renowned artists; broadcasts on national and/or international media.
• Impact

  Candidates should have undertaken research that has demonstrated sustained impact or pathways to impact in areas such as policy, culture, healthcare, quality of life, society, economy, academy or discipline.

  This may be evidenced by some of the following:

  • A sustained track record of contributions to outreach activities that uses knowledge generated by Ulster research, where appropriate to the subject area.
  • Leadership of technology commercialisation and knowledge exchange project activity such as - consultancy, KTP projects, invention disclosures, patents, licensing activity.
  • Adoption of discoveries and policy-to-practice by external entities.
  • Leadership of a Research Impact Case Study.
  • Leadership in the development of research collaboration with industry or commerce.
  • Directorship/stake holding in commercial ventures.
• Leadership

  Candidates should demonstrate substantial leadership in their subject and research area.

  This may be evidenced by some of the following:

  • Membership of university committees and/or working groups in the area of research and development.
  • Leadership in research informed/research led/research driven teaching.
  • Leadership of a substantial programme of research (which may include research groups and/or facilities) which includes responsibility for the mentoring and development of academic colleagues e.g. contract research staff, early career researchers and peers.
  • Sustained leadership of research activity at faculty and university level.

Civic and Institutional

Note: the criteria on Civic Contribution (within the assessment area on Civic and Institutional Contribution) should not be confused with the section on Research Impact (within the assessment area on Academic Excellence in Research and Impact). These are two distinct assessment areas.

The section within Civic and Institutional Contribution focuses on the applicant’s contribution to the full spectrum of intellectual, economic, social and cultural life of Northern Ireland and the alignment of this civic engagement to institutional contribution.

The section on impact within the assessment area on Academic Excellence in Research and Impact, focuses on the translation of research into value for the economy, society, culture, public policy or services, health, the environment and/or quality of life, beyond academia.

[1] Academic Excellence in civic and institutional contributions comprises three areas namely Civic, Institutional and Professional.   It is anticipated that the expected contribution of staff will be perceived at School, Faculty, University levels with sectoral contributions cross-cutting each of these levels.   This ordering is aligned to the perception of e.g. an early career member of staff who will perceive his/her contributions at School then Faculty then University level.

Note: In order to achieve a score of 2 for an area, applicants must meet the criteria in bold for the grade to which they wish to be promoted.

• Civic Contribution

  Candidates should contribute to very high quality civic activities at a national and/or international level. They will be able to demonstrate evidence of established successful civic engagement that demonstrates quality and impact and will complement the University's reputation as a leading civic university.

  This may be evidenced by:

  • Leadership of relevant discipline or industry associations or role on executive/working groups.
  • Leading the organisation of seminars, conferences and activities for the profession.
  • Effective use of teaching, learning and assessment methods which incorporate civic engagement activity e.g. programmes, short-courses and modules incorporating charitable components, community-based problem-solving and demonstrating wider economic and societal impacts as appropriate.
  • Leadership of university/faculty civic events.
  • Leadership of university/campus outreach such as schools or community engagement activity.
  • Leadership in widening access activities at university level.
  • Leadership in the promotion of Ulster as an international university.
  • Supporting the university in the wider community with meaningful impact of the faculty/university.
  • Supporting Ulster in national/international civic agenda.
• Institutional Contribution

  Candidates should contribute to national and/or international activities supporting the institutional imperatives as captured within the University's five and fifty strategy and operationalised in the core business at the level of school/department.

  This may be evidenced by some of the examples below:

  • Sustained evidence of leadership of university/faculty and school wide committees or initiatives with demonstrable outcomes and benefits.
  • Contribution to/influence of faculty/university/sector wide activities that deliver the 5&50 strategy.
  • University committee chair.
  • Research impact leadership.
  • Leadership in consultancy and knowledge exchange.
  • Staff mentoring.
  • University committee membership.
  • Senior leadership role; Research Director, Head of School, Associate Head of School, Provost etc.
  • Leadership of strategic initiatives e.g. City Deals.
  • Leadership of international collaborations in research and teaching.
  • Leading activities that raise the external profile of the university (events, conferences, media etc).
  • Leading significant income generation initiatives.
  • Contribution of the Doctoral College’s Researcher Development Programme.
• Professional Contribution

  Candidates should demonstrate leadership positively within the collegial environment.

  This may be evidenced by:

  • Demonstrable leadership of team building activities and or promoting university/ faculty/school wide improvements for staff well-being.
  • Sustained leadership of improvements in student experience (recruitment, mentoring, support networks, etc.) and employment programs.
  • Sustained leadership in university outreach activities.
  • Sustained leadership in mentoring peer academics.
  • External board membership aligned with subject.
  • Ministerial appointments to boards and strategic reviews.
  • National/international advisory roles.
  • Contribution to vigour and depth of discipline at national or international level.