In February 2022 the TALENT Commission Report was released and the occasion marked with an online virtual event. As we return to attending in person events, on Tuesday 24^th May a Parliamentary reception to commemorate the report realised hosted. There were a small number of invited guest and, of course, the MI TALENT Commission Board who brought this report into being.

MI TALENT Commission Board
L-R: Professor Nishan Canagarajah, Dr Helen Pain, David Sweeney, Lord Sainsbury, Jiteen Ahmed, Dr Helen Turner, Kelly Vere MBE

For those of you who are not aware of what I am talking about… go and have a look at the report for yourself (https://www.mitalent.ac.uk/theTALENTCommission). The TALENT Commission’s focus is the technical community working within UK HE and research. The overall vision is:

The UK will be a global superpower in science, engineering, and the creative industries, enabled by its technical capability and capacity across academia, research, education and innovation. Technical skills, roles, and careers will be recognised, respected, aspired to, supported and developed.

The report provides a foundation for new strategic understanding of our technical community, making a series of recommendations for how the vision can be achieve. Aiming to aspire “for a future where technical skills, roles and careers are recognised as essential for research, education and innovation within the sector, and therefore, for the sector’s contribution to society as a whole”.

An important component in making this vision a reality is action. Action from Government and policymakers, professional bodies and learned societies, funders, employers of technical staff, and the technical community themselves.

There has been almost 2 years of research conducted to provide evidence to support the overarching recommendations that have been presented in the report. It is clear that the technical community can no longer be the ‘invisible workforce’.

We, the Manchester Technical Commitment Leadership Group, call upon you all to take action and build a wave of support for the TALENT Commission Report. We need and deserve a workplace environment that encourages is technical people to thrive. Let’s work on reducing or removing the barriers that have been in place for far too long. It is time to be brave and be bold.

We are excited about the possibilities this report and its recommendations will bring. We hope that all engage, so that with one small step at a time we can start to build a more collegiate workplace with inclusion and recognition for all.

If you have any questions or comments about Manchester’s Technical Commitment, contact TCLG@manchester.ac.uk.

Author: Cassandra Hodgkinson
Date: 28th May 2022

Related