Promotion to Senior Lecturer

Annual review will be undertaken at local level of staff eligible for consideration for promotion to Senior Lecturer. Consideration of all applications made will be via a two-stage panel process, the first undertaken at faculty-level, the second at College-level. All applications will be presented for consideration to both levels of panel.

The College’s two academic pathways: Research & Teaching and Teaching & Education, allow advancement and reward for colleagues who focus all or part of their career on education and student experience or, equally, those who maintain a research focus.

Applicants should demonstrate that they meet the criteria particular to the academic pathway, as applications will be assessed on this basis.

Applicants are considered for promotion on the basis of performance across the following four areas, in line with the stated criteria:

In the majority of cases, promotion decisions will be made on the basis of performance to the relevant standard across all four areas, usually including at least two areas assessed as being 'Excellent’. In order to allow colleagues flexibility to have a particular focus on one or more area, in line with their expertise and career development, the panel can discount one area from consideration: this is outlined further under the section headed ‘promotion criteria’ below.

Promotion to Senior Lecturer is on merit but is subject to the limited financial resources of Birkbeck.

SCOPE

Applicable to all academic staff at the level of Lecturer who have:

• completed their Academic Probation (if this has not been complete, support for approval should be first be sought from the Executive Dean and will be at the discretion of the Vice Chancellor) and
• had or agreed a date for Academic Review this academic year and
• Undertaken all mandatory training and
• have Fellowship status or higher of Advance HE. If applicants have yet to submit their application for fellowship to Advance HE, this will not preclude them from applying in the current promotion round, however, this should be noted on the application form for promotion, including whether the application has been submitted or is yet to be submitted and with the expected timescale. Any decision on the application will be subject to fellowship being awarded.

Promotion to Senior Lecturer

The applicant's Head of School, or other line manager if applicable, will assess each criterion using the following scale:

• Exceeds expectations
• Met
• Partially met
• Not met

Assessments of ‘met performance’ are typically required in two areas - one of which must be either Education and Student Experience or Research/Scholarship. A minimum assessment of ‘partially met’ performance is typically required in at least one other area.

IMPACT OF PERSONAL CIRCUMSTANCES

For all applications, where personal circumstances have significantly impacted performance output volumes, and where this potentially mitigating information is disclosed by the applicant, appropriate consideration will be given to this within the review process. 

Any personal circumstances that have been disclosed by applicants are only shared with Human Resources, the staff member's Head of School (or other equivalent role), the Executive Dean of Faculty, and the Vice-Chancellor. The person assigned to present the application (Head of School at the Faculty panel, and Executive Dean at College panel) will share with the wider panel only details of the amount of time that the circumstances disclosed have had on the individual’s work outputs and with no details of the circumstances in question being disclosed. It will then be for the panel to take this factor into account when assessing all of the evidence, considering the quality of the contribution in the different areas rather than simply the quantity (for example, number of publications).

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

• Eligible staff shall normally be invited annually to submit applications to the Academic Staff Review Panel (Lecturer to Senior Lecturer) for consideration of their cases for promotion. In special circumstances, applications may be considered at other times of the year.
• Advice and guidance on making an application will be provided annually in the form of a briefing/workshop to which staff will be invited to attend.

THE ROLE OF THE APPLICANT

• The staff member needs to submit an application using the application form provided, completing all sections and include any additional attachments.
• The whole form should not exceed eight pages. Applications in excess of eight pages will be returned for revision.
• A separate supporting statement, of no more than two pages, must be submitted alongside the application form. 
• The applicant needs to include the names of two external specialists whom they nominate as referees, at least one of whom should be employed at a university outside the University of London. As a minimum, referees should be of the same standing as the position being applied for. The applicant must ensure that their chosen referees are willing to act on their behalf and will be contactable on the email addresses they provide. 
• Applicants should clearly prioritise the key achievements underpinning their case for promotion, as would be expected in an external recruitment process.
• The panels will have access to the feedback given on any unsuccessful applications made, and candidates are strongly advised to ensure that their application gives evidence that the feedback has been acted upon.
• Applicants have the option to disclose, via the submission of an Impact of Personal Circumstances form, if any individual circumstance have affected their volume of output.
• The applicant must send the following documents to their Head of School and Academicpromotion-SLandCRP@bbk.ac.uk by the designated closing date (see below) with the following:
  • Fully completed application form (maximum eight pages) - mandatory for all applicants
  • Supporting statement (maximum two pages) - mandatory for all applicants
  • Impact of personal circumstances form - optional
• Where applicants receive confirmation of grant funding, acceptance of articles for publication or significant updates or achievements after they have submitted their application, it is acceptable to submit one list of updates, of no more than one page, to summarise this information, and to do so by (TDB) in line with the anticipated date that papers will be made available to the panel. This should be sent as a Word or PDF document to Academicpromotion-SLandCRP@bbk.ac.uk. 

THE ROLE OF THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

• The Head of School will annually undertake a positive review of all staff eligible to apply for promotion.
• The applicant’s Head of School may consult with colleagues at the College who are senior to the applicant and within the subject discipline and/or others (if appropriate), before completing the form ‘Head of School’s Recommendation’ and in selecting referees.
• The Head of School will return any applications that exceed the eight-page limit to the applicant for revision.
• The Head of School will nominate an additional referee who is expert in the discipline or subject area concerned and who is external to Birkbeck. As a minimum, the referee should be of the same standing as the position applied for.
• The Head of School’s referee nomination form should be completed, providing referees’ contact details, and should be forwarded to Academicpromotion-COT@bbk.ac.uk by (TBD).
• The Head of School should send the completed recommendation form to Academicpromotion-COT@bbk.ac.uk by (TBD)
• The Head of School will attend the Faculty-level panel to both present the applications from their own school and to contribute to the discussion on all other applications from within the faculty.

THE ROLE OF THE EXECUTIVE DEAN

• The Executive Dean will chair the faculty-level annual panel and will provide a record of that panel’s recommendations to go forward for determination at the College-wide second panel.
• The Executive Dean will attend the college-level panel as a member of that panel, and to present cases from their faculty as directed by the chair.
• The Executive Dean will provide feedback to any applicant who is unsuccessful in their application for promotion and confirm the detail of that feedback given to the relevant member of Human Resources tasked with management of the over-arching process.

THE ROLE OF HUMAN RESOURCES

Human Resources will:

• Manage the administration of the promotions process, including arranging annual briefings/workshops.
• Undertake annual review and update of process as appropriate.
• Provide professional advice and guidance to the panels and to applicants on the process.
• Make every effort to obtain the nominated references. If a nominated referee fails to provide a reference to ask the applicant or Head of School (as appropriate) for an alternative (please note an incomplete set of references will not preclude the application from being put forward to the panel for consideration).
• Circulate electronic copies of the panel papers approximately two weeks in advance of the Faculty-level panel and approximately four weeks in advance of the College-level panel. The papers for both panels will include:
  • a reminder of the College’s equalities and diversity considerations
  • the applications
  • the references received
  • the Head of School's recommendation.
  • Provide the College-level panel with the Recommendations from the Faculty panels, approximately one week in advance of meeting i.e. as soon as available and with this as the typical minimum gap between the two.
  • Any disclosure of Personal Circumstances forms will be shared only with the Head of School, the Executive Dean, and the Vice-Chancellor.

THE ROLE OF THE ACADEMIC STAFF REVIEW PANEL

• The panel will normally be composed of the Executive Dean as Chair, and will include as ex officio members, the Heads of School within the faculty, the Head of Research Innovation & Knowledge Exchange, and the Head of Education and Student Experience. The panel will also include two Academic staff at the level of Professor, who are external to the faculty, typically one from each of the other two faculties. The external panel members will serve a term, typically, of three years.
• Human Resources will be represented at the panel in an advisory capacity. A note taker will also be present.
• No panel assessments for the same applicant shall be carried over from one year to the next in respect of previous applications. The panel will, however, have a report of the applicant’s previous applications and their outcomes.
• The Heads of School will introduce the applications for promotion for their school. All panel members will participate in discussion and voting where necessary on all applicants irrespective of school affiliations and at all times will be required to exercise collective responsibility.
• Full consideration will be undertaken of the Head of School’s performance assessment against each of the four areas of Education and Student Experience, Research or Scholarship, Leadership and Management, and Engagement, and of the opinions of the applicant’s two referees, and the three external referees nominated by the Head of School. Only after discussion, will the panel come to a collective decision as to whether to support the case for promotion or not.
• The Executive Dean will complete a record of the panel’s recommendations with the rationale recorded against each of the four areas that performance has been considered against. That record, in the form of the Executive Dean’s Recommendations will be included in the panel papers of the College-level Panel.
• All applications for promotion, regardless of the decisions of the Faculty-level Panel, will be given to the College-level Panel for review and approval.

THE ROLE OF THE COLLEGE-LEVEL ACADEMIC STAFF REVIEW PANEL

• The panel will normally be composed of the Vice-Chancellor as Chair, and includes the Deputy Vice-Chancellor - Research, Knowledge Exchange and Innovation, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education and Student Experience), and the Executive Deans of the faculties, or those acting up in that capacity.
• Human Resources will be represented at the panel in an advisory capacity. A local UCU official will be invited to attend in the capacity of observer. A note taker will also be present.
• The Executive Deans (or other nominee as determined by the Vice-Chancellor) will introduce the applications for promotion for their Faculty.
• The Panel will undertake review of the Faculty-level Panel’s decision and with particular scrutiny applied to any applications not supported at the Faculty-level.
• All panel members will participate in discussion on all applicants selected for review, and voting where necessary irrespective of school and faculty affiliations and will, at all times, exercise collective responsibility.
• The decision to approve the recommendations of the Faculty-level Panels and/or to overturn a recommendation not to support promotion, rests with the College-level Panel who will be the body that Confers the Title of Professor or Reader of the University.
• A summary note of the reasons for unsuccessful applications will be recorded in the meeting notes
• Applicants will be notified in writing of the panel’s decision by the Chair. Unsuccessful applicants will be invited to discuss the outcome with the Executive Dean who will provide feedback in support of ongoing professional development and to aid with any future application for promotion.
• Academic promotion procedures will be monitored in accordance with the Equality Act 2010.

summary of timeline and deadlines

FORMS

The forms associated with promotion are only available to current Birkbeck staff members.

applicant documents

• Application form (Word)
• Impact of Personal Circumstances form (Word)

executive dean's documentation

Referees:

• Executive Dean referee nomination form (Word)

Recommendation forms for Senior Lecturer:

• Executive Dean recommendation for Senior Lecturer (Teaching and education) (Word)
• Executive Dean recommendation for Senior Lecturer (Research and teaching) (Word)