The first step when thinking about promotion is to familiarise yourself with the latest process and criteria. These can be found on the main Academic Promotions webpage. Please note that major changes will be communicated to colleagues, however we recommend that you check the process and criteria each year, just in case any changes have been made. 

Once you have familiarised yourself with the latest process, criteria and guidance, we recommend that you have early conversations with your Senior Academic Lead (SAL), Head of Department (HoD) or line manager (whichever is most appropriate) about your intentions to apply for promotion. The reason for this is they can help guide you through the process, give feedback on your current application and if required help you find opportunities to strengthen your application. These conversations should be ongoing as part of your 1-2-1s or in your PDR.

There are a number of resources available to help you with getting the most out of these conversations including:

• Getting the Most Out of Your PDR training
• Utilise the PDR Resources SharePoint Site - Information for Reviewees, particularly the tips under 'Career Planning' and 'Development Planning'.
• The PDR policy and Academic PDR form can be found on the PDR Resources SharePoint Site.

For colleagues who are planning on taking an extended period of leave such as Maternity Leave, Adoption Leave, Study Leave, or Planned sickness absence (for example an non-emergency operation), and if this time period falls during the promotion application window (September- December), colleagues are advised to submit an application early and this will be held on file until the application round opens.

If submitting early, please put a note on your application so the panel are aware, just in case any changes are made to the criteria whilst you are on your extended period of leave.   

It is recognised that there is variation in the relevance and importance of different criteria between different faculties and departments.  Each Faculty will be running their own promotions workshops with the help of their HR Business Partner, to help disseminate this local context. Please do look out for these in local faculty communications

As part of the application process, you will be required to submit a copy of your up-to-date CV, below is some guidance to support you with writing your CV.

• CV Guidance for E&R and Research
• ‌CV Guidance for E&S

Those in the Research job family should follow the E&R CV guidance. 

The assessment summary form will contain the summaries and reasons for the assessments made at departmental, faculty and University panels and will provide the basis of feedback to you when the process has concluded. The intention is to make this as transparent and useful as possible to you in your career development, including during subsequent promotion cycles.

Resources on receiving feedback:

• Read through this short article to get some hints, tips and approaches to help you use feedback: Making Feedback Work for You. 
• For a more specific approach The Feedback Matrix is a great tool for understanding and moving forward with any feedback. 
• Further guidance of relevance can be found on the PDR resources SharePoint site.