Chief Executive Officer, Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
Dr Helen Pain CEO, Royal Society of Chemistry speaks at HETS2021
Dr Helen Pain, CEO, Royal Society of Chemistry and Chair of the Technician Commitment Steering Board speaks at the Higher Education Technicians Summit 2021.
About Helen Pain
Dr Helen Pain, Chief Executive Officer of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), has continued to engage with early career researchers and advocate for inclusion and diversity in STEM. In November 2024, she spoke to PhD students at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru, discussing the changing publishing landscape, the importance of communicating research, and career opportunities outside academia. Pain told the students that publishing during a PhD is not always possible and that this "is not a reflection on the student." She also addressed a comment made during her own PhD that pursuing a doctorate meant choosing not to have a family, calling that notion "absolute nonsense" and noting that she has two sons who studied chemistry. Pain has also highlighted the RSC's work on equity and data-driven change. In a 2024 podcast, she described a turning point when the RSC decided to publish uncomfortable findings about workplace culture in chemistry, saying a colleague told her to "be brave" and that "we've got the evidence, we've got the data therefore we publish." She has credited her school chemistry teacher, Dr Sheila Cousins, with inspiring her career, and noted that her first boss at the RSC, Jane Sutton, gave her the initial opportunity. Pain also chairs the Technician Commitment Steering Board, which she said has secured over 100 signatory institutions and unlocked millions of pounds in investment for technical roles in higher education and research.
Transcript (1 segments)
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Helen Pain0:01
Hello, a very warm welcome to the Higher Education Technician Summit. I'm Helen Pain, I'm Chief Executive of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and I'm also Chair of the Technician Commitment Steering Board. I'm so sorry that I'm not able to join you in person today, but I am delighted that I am able to record a video to share with you. The work of technicians in higher education and research is incredible. You enable research to be undertaken, you enable new technology to be developed and deployed, you have the vision and creativity to influence the solutions to local, national, and global challenges, and you support the next generation of the UK's workforce. The Technician Commitment was established in 2017 to create a more positive culture for the technical community in higher education and research by working collaboratively across the sector to advance visibility, recognition, career development, and sustainability of technical skills, roles, and careers across all disciplines. So a really important piece of work, a very important initiative. The Technician Commitment is led by a steering board of sector bodies with the support of the Science Council and also the Gatsby Charitable Foundation. But most importantly, it is a collaborative endeavor that would not be possible without the input and contributions of many across the sector. We would like to take the opportunity to say thank you to everyone who has worked collectively to get the initiative to this stage, and we look forward to continuing our work together in the future. The vision of the Technician Commitment is a culture where technical careers are recognized, respected, supported, developed, and aspired to as professional careers in higher education and research institutes. University research institutes are invited to become signatories of the Technician Commitment and pledge action against the key challenges affecting their technical staff. In recent years, a number of supporter organizations, including learned societies and professional bodies, have joined the initiative and developed action plans to increase their engagement with the wider technical community. I am particularly proud to highlight the Royal Society of Chemistry's action plan in support of the commitment and, more broadly, the important role that professional bodies play in support of higher education and technicians. Since its inception, the Technician Commitment has secured over 100 signatory and supporter institutions. We've unlocked investment in the technical community in the region of several million pounds from signatory institutions, with many now providing new financial and in-kind support to develop and deliver Technician Commitment related activities. It has also triggered cultural change at higher education research institutions across the UK and enabled several million pounds of external funding to support the higher education research technical community. Alongside this, the Technician Commitment has established partnerships and engaged a range of supporting learned societies and professional bodies to raise the profile of and engage and support the technical community. There is, of course, more work to be done. The Technician Commitment is not yet five years old, and we recognize that culture change like this does not happen overnight. I very much welcome the findings of a recent independent review, and we will build on these strong foundations to strengthen further the Technician Commitment's reach and effect on technical roles across the UK and also ensure that the principles of the initiative become embedded in everyday processes within these organizations. Just to highlight a few of these successes to date: since May 2017, the Technician Commitment has initiated and built the profile of the initiative from scratch. The Technician Commitment has rapidly become high profile in its own right in the sector and sits alongside similar initiatives such as the Researcher Concordat and the Athena Swan Charter. We've also advocated for inclusion of technician development in sector assessment exercises and funding calls. We're delighted that we have partnered with Midlands Innovation to deliver today's UK Higher Education Technician Summit, along with successful events in 2017 and 2019. Of course, the HEaT events are believed to be the largest conferences dedicated to the development of technicians in higher education and research in the world. We've also established ourselves as a source of expertise on technical roles in higher education through the publication of hot topic reports and policy work with government and organizations such as the Russell Group, Wellcome Trust, Academy of Medical Sciences, and Learned Society. We've built a very strong and visible presence on social media, which I'm sure many of you have been engaging with. We've established partnerships and worked directly with a range of supporting learned societies and professional bodies to raise the profile of and engage the support of the technical community. These include the Royal Society, the Royal Institution, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Institute of Physics, the Royal Society of Biology, the Institute of Science and Technology, and the Institute of Animal Technology. As a consequence, with the Technician Commitment's support, these organizations have all developed their own Technician Commitment action plans to engage and support technicians across all sectors. At the Royal Society of Chemistry, we have been inspired to put in place funding for professional development awards, training courses, outreach grants, mentoring and networking, as well as providing opportunities to become professionally registered as registered scientists or scientific technician. The professional registers, which are hosted by the Science Council, recognize technician skills, knowledge, and professionalism. These registers provide independent recognition of achieving and maintaining the exacting standards required to join the global community of professional scientists. The Technician Commitment has created an environment where technical skills, roles, and careers have increased visibility, recognition, and development opportunities. The importance of sustainability of these roles and skills is beginning to be recognized and addressed by the signatories. Whilst it is important that institutions sign up to the initiative, it is more important that they take action and that they deliver. To gain an understanding of the progress to date and the views of the technical community on the impact of the initiative, in 2021, earlier this year, we commissioned an independent review of the Technician Commitment and its impact. The feedback from the review has been so constructive, both in terms of the evidence of good practice that has been shared and the positive endorsement given by technicians, supporters, and signatories who took part. Of course, there is still much more that we need to do to ensure that progress and impact is being felt across the sector at all levels. The commitment is great, but it's the actions and impact that need to really deliver a change in culture where technical careers are recognized, respected, supported, developed, and aspired to as professional careers in higher education and research institutes. To fulfill this vision, the Technician Commitment, together with signatories and supporters, will continue to focus on support for individual technicians and coordinate, drive, and evaluate collective action across the higher education research sector to ensure visibility, recognition, opportunity, and sustainability of technical roles and skills. We will continue to work to ensure that technicians are motivated, engaged, and proud to be technicians, and that others aspire to technical careers in the higher education and research sector. We will influence policy pertaining to technical roles and careers in higher education research. We will continue to advocate for technical skills and careers in higher education and research and strengthen our reputation as a nationally recognized source of sector expertise. So collectively, much has been delivered in a very short space of time. Thank you so much for being part of the Technician Commitment and for helping us drive forward change. I really hope you enjoy the rest of today's summit and I look forward to being with you in person at a future event. Thank you very much.