Readers, Personal Chairs & Professorial Equivalent staff
Conferment of the title of Reader and promotion to Personal Chair
Reader
The title of Reader is awarded as a mark of personal distinction in scholarship and research as attested by external assessors. Although the title is not formally attached to any grade, the salary scale would normally be Grade 9.
Criteria for conferment of the title of Reader is available to download via the link to the right of this page.
Personal Chair
Promotion to Personal Chair is one of the highest academic distinctions the University can confer upon its staff.
In considering cases for promotion to Personal Chair, the University seeks to ensure its position and reputation as one of the best Universities is upheld and as such the process for promotion to Personal Chair includes consideration by formal Committee. Promotion to Personal Chair confers the title of Professor.
Criteria for promotion to Personal Chair, dependent on the main focus of the role is available to download via the links to the right of this page.
Readerships & Personal Chairs Committee
Final decisions over the conferment of the title of Reader and promotions to Personal Chair are undertaken by the Readerships & Personal Chairs Committee – a formal Committee established as part of the University’s governance arrangements.
Cases considered for conferment of the title of Reader or for promotion to Personal Chair by the Readerships & Personal Chairs Committee must be supported by references provided by external assessors and Faculties must have established that there is a strong case for conferment of the title/promotion.
Faculties may establish for themselves the process of how they determine whether or not to submit a case to the Readerships & Personal Chairs Committee for consideration, having first satisfied themselves that there is a prima-facie case for conferment of the title of Reader, or promotion to Personal Chair and verified that there is sufficient support from external assessors.
A suggestion for this process is outlined below, however Faculties may choose alternative approaches, provided they meet the basic requirements of the Readerships & Personal Chairs Committee.
Suggested approach to Readers & Personal Chair cases:
- The DRP establishes which staff present a prima-facie case for conferment of the title of Reader/promotion to Personal Chair and identifies suitable external assessors
- Where the Department does not establish a prima-facie case for a member of staff who wishes to be considered for the conferment of the title of Reader, or promotion to Personal Chair, that individual may self-submit to the Faculty panel having first provided details of external assessors who may be approached for references.
- In conjunction with the Faculty PVC and Faculty Directors of Research and of Learning & Teaching the Head of Department selects which external assessors are to be approached.
- References are sought by Human Resources, based on the information provided by the Head of Department and any self-submissions.
- The Faculty convenes a meeting at which all cases for the conferment of the title of Reader and promotion to Personal Chair are considered taking into account the external assessors references, the candidate’s CV and the supporting statement from the Head of Department. This should include any self-submissions.
- The Faculty forwards details of those cases it wishes to support for the conferment of the title of Reader or promotion to Personal Chair to the Readerships & Personal Chairs Committee via the Department of Human Resources at promotions@sheffield.ac.uk
- Where the Faculty does not support a case being presented to the Readerships & Personal Chairs Committee, and where that case was initially supported by the Department, the candidate may self-submit directly to the Readerships & Personal Chairs Committee
- If a candidate has already self-submitted to the Faculty panel and subsequently not been supported at Faculty level for consideration by the Readerships & Personal Chairs Committee, they may not self-submit to the Committee.
- The Readerships & Personal Chairs Committee will consider all cases presented to it and will provide details of the outcomes to the Faculty PVCs for dissemination within each Faculty.
Documentation Required by the Faculty Panel and Readerships & Personal Chairs Committee
Head of Department Supporting Statement |
CV |
External References |
Evidence Based Portfolio |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
Personal Chair - Research |
X |
X |
X |
|
Personal Chair - Teaching and Reserach |
X |
X |
X |
|
Personal Chair - Teaching |
X |
X |
X |
X |
The Head of Department Supporting Statement:
This should address the criteria and the extent to which the candidate is seen to meet them. Guidance from the Head of Department would also be welcomed as to the extent of the candidate´s contributions in the case of joint or multi-authored publications. This statement should be seen and signed by the candidate.
Curriculum Vitae:
Staff being considered for conferment of the title of Reader or promotion to Personal Chair should submit an up-to-date CV which includes a one-page summary of achievement. The CV should be geared specifically to the criteria, namely distinction in scholarship and/or research, leadership, and standing in the profession. The format of the CV should follow that suggested in the model CV in relation to publications, including an indication of principal or joint authorship for each multi-authored work. Please refer to the CV Proforma guidelines available in the downloads section to the right of this page which provide guidance on how to format a CV.
External References
As part of the decision-making process, the Head of Department should complete the Independent External References Form found to the right of this page in the downloads section, providing the names of no less than five external independent referees, with at least one international referee (only when applying under the Teaching and Research criteria), who may be approached for an assessment of the case. The Head of Department should also provide a brief statement of the academic background of each external referee. Guidance relating to the references required is contained on the Independent External Referees Form.
The referees proposed should be directly involved in the area of scholarship of the candidate concerned to an extent which will allow them to provide an authoritative statement as to the candidate´s academic standing and scholarly distinction.
It is desirable to nominate referees who have personal distinction in the discipline and might normally be from a 5 or 5* Department or one of equivalent standing. It is desirable to nominate at least one person who has served on the relevant RAE panel (or sub panel).
As far as possible, referees should not be former supervisors of, or regular collaborators with, the candidate, nor should they be former colleagues who have recently moved from this University to appointments elsewhere.
Heads of Department are advised to seek the views of the Faculty PVC and the Faculty Directors of Research and of Learning & Teaching when considering which external referees to approach.
Human Resources will support the collation of references from the selected external referees.
Should a Head of Department/Faculty PVC feel it necessary to forward a case for conferment of the title of Reader or promotion to Personal Chair outside the annual round, explicit written reasons need to be given to the Vice-Chancellor as to why urgent consideration should be given to a case and relevant evidence should be provided.
The Vice-Chancellor is empowered to initiate enquiries and make decisions on any particular urgent case without reference to the Committee. (This is normally where there are pressing retention considerations.)
Evidence Based Portfolio
An evidence based portfolio should accompany any cases for promotion to Personal Chair via the mainly teaching focused route. The contents of a portfolio may vary for each individual depending on what the Department feels would best demonstrate how the individual merits recognition of the impact and quality of their work through the conferment of the title of Personal Chair.
Portfolios may include, but are not limited to, the following types of supporting information:
- Student satisfaction data
- Examples of outputs including guidance documentation where considered to be exemplary e.g. though inclusion within MVI
- Internal supporting statements/ testimonies
- Evidence of external impact and public profile e.g. this could include media articles/ coverage, video clips, speaker invitations etc
Promotion to Professorial Equivalent
Promotion to Professorial equivalent is a promotion to the most senior level in the University on the basis of Management / Administration/ Professional Specialisation.
Cases for promotion to Professorial Equivalent within Faculties should be considered in the first instance by a Faculty-based panel, with cross-University membership from within Professional Services.
Cases for promotion to Professorial Equivalent within Professional Services will be considered by a panel as determined by the Professional Services Executive based on Departmental recommendations.
Cases will be considered against the criteria outlined in the Professorial Equivalent Pay Scheme which is available to download via the link to the right of this page.
Promotions to Professorial equivalent are ratified by the Readerships & Personal Chairs Committee following the Faculty/Professional Services decisions.
Summary information on each promotion to Professorial Equivalent will be required by the Readerships & Personal Chairs Committee, normally in the format of a statement from the HoD/Faculty PVC/Professional Services Executive outlining the reasons for the promotion.