Staff development fund
The School of Informatics has an annual Staff Development Fund which may be used to fund, or part-fund, training and other staff development opportunities
About staff development fund
The School of Informatics’ Staff Development Fund may be used to fund, or part-fund, training and other staff development opportunities, such as external training courses and similar, including travel, accommodation and subsistence, if applicable.
It may also be used to fund ‘in-house’ training, where there is an identified need amongst a number of staff within the School.
Who Can Apply?
All Informatics staff, whether academic, research or professional services, who have successfully passed their probationary period, may apply for funding from the Informatics Staff Development Fund.
Criteria
Before applying for funding for external courses and similar, opportunities available within the University through workshops (e.g. listed on ‘MyEd’), online learning (including ‘Lynda.com’), etc., should be fully investigated and taken advantage of, where available.
The staff development opportunity for which funding is sought should:
- be relevant to the applicant’s current post or next foreseeable career move within the School or elsewhere within the University of Edinburgh;
- normally have been identified as a development need in the applicant’s PDR.
The applicant should have the support of their line manager.
Applications will be accepted at any time of the year, subject to there being sufficient funds remaining in the budget at the time of application. The School’s financial year commences on 1 August and finishes on 31st of July. Funding is finite in any year, therefore not all applications may be successful. Awards must be spent within the financial year for which they are awarded. For example, awards made from 2018/19 funding must be fully expended by the end of July 2019.
Awards will be made normally in the region of £50-£2,000 per individual.
Where there is a personal benefit to the individual, as well as an organisational benefit, in the member of staff undertaking the training or personal development opportunity (e.g. in the case of certificated and/or professional qualifications to be gained) then it will be normal for the School to part-fund the cost - typically 50%.
In addition to funding, the School will consider requests for time to be allocated for study, attendance at examinations and similar.
All funding and other support is discretionary and not a contractual entitlement however the School has a stated aim of supporting the professional development of its staff. There is a statutory right to request time off for training.
The Staff Development Fund is not normally intended to fund academic conference attendance, which is normally funded from other sources.
The duration of any staff development funding will not extend beyond the employment contract end date of an applicant.
Management and organisation of any award are to be undertaken personally by the applicant, not the School’s administrators. Applicants should check whether they are registered on eExpenses (should they require to claim expenses), or whether a purchase order is required to be generated by the School to make payments to external course suppliers.
A short report on the benefit gained from the funding is to be submitted to Inf HR within 1 month of completion of the opportunity.
Erasmus funding: School funding (if applicable) for Erasmus activities must be made through the staff development process with confirmation of support from line manager. Note that the expectation is that staff will take advantage of the University's Erasmus or Erasmus+ scheme not more than once in every three years.