These expectations and responsibilities are aligned to the University of Liverpool values and strategy, Liverpool 2031.
Updated: October 2025
Approved: October 2025
Next review: October 2026
Responsibilities of Principal Investigators in Managing Research Staff
If you are a Technical Manager / Leader (including research leads managing technical staff), you can view information on the Technician Commitment and Statement of Expectations for this group of staff here.
Leadership and Communication
1. Understand and embed within daily practices, their obligations as Principal Investigators and Managers of Researchers as outlined in the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, via the University’s information module on the Researcher Development Concordat (Responsible and Ambitious).
2. Provide leadership and direction to assist research staff in establishing their publication records, impact plans and career objectives making full use of the University’s annual PDR process, PDR quarterly update facility and PDR guidance to facilitate individual discussion and recording of objective, plans and development (Responsible and Collaborative).
3. Ensure research staff are fully integrated into discussions regarding relevant decision-making, wider School and University plans and initiatives, including representation on relevant committees (Inclusive and Collaborative).
4. Awareness of equality and diversity considerations, including unconscious bias and promotion of inclusivity and opportunities for all researchers (Inclusive and Responsible).
Skills Development
5. Demonstrate full commitment to enhancing professional skills development for supervised research staff, e.g. Career Coaching, Media Skills Development, Recognised Academic Development, Project Management, Entrepreneurship (Innovative and Ambitious).
6. Adoption of a flexible approach to supporting supervised research staff, taking into account expectations associated with primary research, researcher career development and work/life balance (Responsible and Inclusive).
Research Environment
7. Provide sufficient resources to enable research staff to carry out their role appropriately in line with agreed aims and objectives (Responsible).
8. Promote a collegial and vibrant research culture, encouraging the engagement of research staff in discipline and cross discipline networks (Collaborative and Inclusive).
9. Inclusion where appropriate of research staff on interview and internal grant panels and relevant committees (as observers or otherwise) to foster a greater understanding of the research system (Ambitious and Responsible).
Career Development
10. Engage with formal regular review via PDR process in line with University policy, together with more frequent informal review as appropriate (Ambitious and Responsible).
11. Ensure PDR review process reflects the requirements of research staff, including consideration of guidance appropriate to career stage as outlined in the Contributions Framework (Inclusive and Ambitious)
12. Encourage and support research staff to undertake professional development beyond the needs of the primary project. Allocate a minimum 10 days pro rata, per year, for their researchers to engage with professional development opportunities, supporting researchers to balance the delivery of their research and their own professional development, recognising that researchers will pursue careers across a wide range of employment sectors - for example by using the Guidance for the Researcher Annual Professional Development Allowance (Responsible and Collaborative).
13. Support and encourage research staff to find a mentor, either through the University of Liverpool Mentoring Network or independently (Responsible and Collaborative).
Responsibilities of Research Staff
If you are a Technician, you can view information on the Technician Commitment and Statement of Expectations for this group of staff here.
Leadership and Communication
14. Have an understanding of and embedding within daily practices, their obligations as researchers as outlined in the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, via the University’s information module on the Researcher Development Concordat (Responsible and Ambitious).
15. Demonstrate leadership by driving the direction and progress of research and delivering project aims and objectives, including those leading to research outputs and impact (Ambitious and Innovative).
16. Participate with supervision and teaching, where appropriate, of more junior members of the groups (Collaborative and Inclusive).
Skills Development
17. Take responsibility for participating in development activities that will contribute to self-development, the local research environment and the discipline (Ambitious and Responsible).
18. Undertake development activities in line with regularly reviewed development plans and maintain a record of achievement, equivalent to the Record of Achievement used for students (Innovative and Responsible).
Research Environment
19. Engage with University communications and participate in consultation and debate around matters relating to the research environment within the local and wider HE context directly and through Post Doctoral Forums (Collaborative and Inclusive).
20. Explore opportunities afforded for engagement and communicate research within and beyond the University, including research-based activities and outreach. (Innovative and Responsible).
21. Act in a collegial and ethical manner towards all levels of University staff, according to the University’s broader values and ethics (Inclusive and Responsible).
Career Development
22. Engage with formal regular review via PDR process in line with University policy, together with informal review as appropriate, including utilising the Development Activity Guidance, where appropriate (Ambitious and Responsible).
23. Reflect on and respond to feedback and guidance as part of a constructive dialogue (Ambitious and Collaborative).
24. Develop a plan for a career pathway, with support from the PI and using specialist University skills, advice and development, and/or with the advice of a mentor (Ambitious and Collaborative).
25. Take ownership of their career, identifying opportunities to work towards career goals, including engaging in a minimum of 10 days professional development pro rata per year (Responsible and Innovative).
Faculty / Departmental / School / University Actions
26. Ensure that all research and research-related staff have an awareness and understanding of their of obligations as outlined in the Concordat to support the Career Development of Researchers, via the University’s information module on the Researcher Development Concordat (Responsible and Collaborative).
27. Ensure processes in place to monitor dissemination and implementation of the agreed ten days of development time for research staff, utilising the University’s Guidance for the Researcher Annual Professional Development Allowance (Responsible).
28. Commitment to review relevant professional skills and development opportunities linked to the Contributions Framework as part of the wider University development offer for research staff (Ambitious and Innovative).
29. Commitment to support research staff in finding a mentor, either with local mentoring opportunities or promoting the University mentoring scheme (Collaborative and Responsible).
Back to: Researcher Hub