The LMB is proud to announce that we have joined the Technician Commitment as a signatory. The commitment aims to ensure visibility, recognition, career development and sustainability for technicians working in higher education and research, across all disciplines.
As a signatory, the LMB pledges to develop and deliver an action plan to address key challenges affecting technical staff. The LMB Technician Committee, a core group of six LMB technical specialists led by Alison Lane, Head of Genotyping Services, are leading development of the action plan.
The committee have already implemented actions during the past two years whilst the LMB has been acting under the UKRI Technician Commitment action plan, including encouraging and supporting professional registration and recognition via the Research Institute Technicians Awards, and hosting an inter-institute symposium to celebrate technical specialists. The LMB has also introduced the Eileen Southgate Prize, named in honour of Eileen Southgate, a technician at the LMB from 1956 to 1993, to reward staff who have made an exceptional contribution in supporting science at the LMB.
Jan Löwe, LMB Director said: “The LMB’s success is critically dependent on the outstanding work our technical staff deliver. LMB signing the Technician Commitment is an important stepping stone towards better recognition of their contributions and will help to develop careers in more impactful ways.”
Alison Lane, Chair of the LMB’s Technician Committee commented: “The Technician Commitment Committee and I are looking forward to working with our technicians and technical specialists to create and execute an action plan tailored to the LMB. As technicians, we play a vital role in facilitating LMB science, and becoming a signatory of the Technician Commitment will give us a fantastic opportunity to work on our visibility, recognition, career development and sustainability.”
David Brittain, Head of Human Resources added: “The LMB is committed to supporting the career development of its technical staff and encouraging them to gain professional recognition for the work they do. The work of our talented technical staff is vital to the continued success of the LMB and we want to recognise and celebrate their invaluable contribution.”
Simon Breeden, Technician Commitment Associate Lead said: “The MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology is the latest addition to the ever growing Technician Commitment community. With the all important support of technicians, they have made great strides to tackle difficult and long-term research problems, resulting in revolutionary scientific contributions. We very much look forward to working closely with the team to fulfil their goals ensuring visibility, recognition, career development and sustainability for their technical community.”
Further references
Technician Commitment
Inter-institute symposium celebrates technical specialists
Professional registration and awards: Celebrating the Technician’s Commitment at the LMB
Eileen Southgate Prize