PROFESSORIAL BANDING

DISCIPLINARY NORMS AND EXPECTATIONS

Department/School:Biological Sciences

Discipline (only if different to the above):Discipline

Faculty: Science

I confirm that the discipline norms detailed below were completed following consultation with Professors in the department, and have been verified by an external advisor.

Completed by: Dr Dave MorrittDate: 28/04/2016

RESEARCH

  1. What are the top-rated forms of research work in your discipline? E.g. journal articles, monographs, editions

The main form of research outputs in biological sciences are peer-reviewed journal papers. Review papers can be very useful and influential too, especially invited those in Annual Review of... and in the Trends in... journals. Monographs are occasional,and can be very influential, but are not a common way of communicating results or insights. Authored or edited books are rarest of all, but can be extremely important.

  1. What lesser publications such as encyclopaedia entries, programme notes, reviews etc. command respect in your discipline?

Book chapters and edited conference proceedings can be a successful way to disseminate, but tend to carry less weight than publication of papers. Government policy reports, trade journal articles or advice notes may represent a form of impact, but also tend to carry less weight. Invited reviews in stakeholder publications command respect, as they are a measure of esteem.

  1. What are the top-rated outlets for dissemination of research in your discipline? E.g. major publishers, top journals?

These are commonly perceived to be the multidisciplinary journals Cell, Science and publications in the Nature family. At a slightly lower tier, but still verygood are Ecology Letters, PNAS, Plant Cell, PLOS Biology, Royal Society journals, EMBO Journal, and original research published in Current Biology. Below this are thesubject specific journals. Within a subject, impact factor gives areasonable, but not perfect, indication of a journal's quality. Impact factors vary widely within the overall discipline; for example biomedical and biochemical journals have considerably higher factors than ecological ones, driven by the nature of the science itself. Citation indices, such as H index carry some weight, but are discipline-dependent.

  1. What are the guiding assumptions about sole authorship, PI status, percentage contribution, joint editorship, etc.?

Generally, first, last and communication positionscarry higher status. As such middle authorship is of less importance, thus increasingly joint-last or joint-first authorship status is being seen. For papers with large authorship lists, this is particularly evident, making it difficult to quantify authorship contribution without a specific declaration of each author’s contribution.Alphabetical order of authors in multi author papers is quite common. Some of the higher ranked journals now expect author contributions to be detailed, but this is not a universal occurrence. Sole authorship of research papers is rarely seen.

  1. What is the volume of productivity over what sort of timeline that might signify a.) a reasonable performance; b) a positive step-change for a professor in your discipline?

Output is clearly related to the size of the academic’s research group, the area that the academic works in, and impact factor of the journals. An academic with a sizable research group might expect a contribution of at least four papers per annum in good quality journals. A positive step change would be indicated by several papers in top journals (Nature, Science,Cell, etc.) within a REF census period,rather than per year, although this can be discipline-dependent.

  1. What are the top-rated funding sources for Research in your discipline? E.g. ESRC, AHRC, Leverhulme Trust, Wellcome etc.

RCUK (mainly NERC, BBSRC, MRC and ERC). Charities (in particular Wellcome Trust, Leverhulme, Esmee Fairbairn Trust, and a range of medical charities) and Government offices (FSA, Defra, Dfid). International funding (e.g. EU) is highly regarded. Direct industrial funding is also prestigious, as is industry collaborations such asiCASE awards. Technology Strategy Board success would be a good source.

  1. What levels of funding would you regard as indicating a) a reasonable performance; or b) high performance in your discipline?

Funding level is highly discipline-specific, but over 100k p.a. is a rough indication of above average performance. Sustained funding of over £300-500k (depending on area of research, as costs differ) p.a. is sufficient to have a constant team of 3 postdocs in place and requires at least one successful grant application every year. This would be high performance. It must be noted that PDRA grants differ hugely within the subject, driven mostly by high consumable costs in some areas. Thus, the number of grants won is often a better indicator than just total funding.

  1. Are invited lectures/ conference plenaries/ conference organization/ visiting professorships/ particularly significant in your discipline, and in what sort of ranked order?

Invited lectures at international (and national meetings) provide a good indication of scientific standing. Keynote addresses and plenary speaker invitations are particularlyimportant and are an indication of recognition and esteem. The ranked order might be: plenaries and keynote addresses,conference organisation (significant role / leading), invited lectures at conferences, other invited seminars, visiting position (rank may change depending on the type of position this is).

  1. What awards, prizes and honours if any, are significant in your discipline?

Absolute top prize is the Nobel Prize, with the Crafoord prizearguably equivalent, and FRS very highly regarded. Many smaller prizes and awards per field exist and include those from learned societies. Any fellowship or title that comes with an award in terms of travel or subsistence costs, or salary is a serious indication of esteem.

  1. Membership of which learned societies or other discipline-specific groups or organizations carry weight in your discipline?

Fellow of the Royal Society is the top accolade and applies to all aspects of Biological Sciences. Thereafter, each discipline has its own learned society, some of which one can simply join, others (generally those with the prefix ‘Royal…’) require nomination and election.

TEACHING

  1. How many PhD students (in FTEs) would you expect to be supervised by Professors in your discipline?

An intake of at least 1-2 p.a. every year would be considered as a good to high level of performance. The nature of their acquisition is important; competitively-won grants or approach by students with funding would be considered as marks of esteem, more so than simply being awarded a departmental grant.

  1. What are the norms for contribution by Professors to Masters courses and their validation in your discipline?

We only run one Masters course so there is limited opportunity. All professors are expected to contribute to such teaching if asked to do so. External validation of undergraduate or (more prestigiously) postgraduate courses is highly regarded.It is difficult to come up with a norm for such external engagement and this will change depending on lengths of appointments, etc.One per year is a reasonable expectation.

  1. What are the norms for Professors devising and teaching undergraduate courses in your discipline?

New course design is viewed favourably, but is not an expectation. Thus, new course design would be a high level of performance. Professors contribute to teaching commensurate with the size of their research group. Lecture loads vary greatly from one institution to another, determined by staff:student ratios. A load of 30 lectures p.a. plus associated practicals, tutorials, projects and dissertation students would be considered reasonable, but can vary greatly and is, in part, determined with reference to work load models (see above).

EXTERNAL ENGAGEMENT AND IMPACT

  1. What are the norms for external involvement in your discipline within University of London, UK universities, international HE activity etc. that indicate a) a reasonable performance; b) a high performance?

Advisory positions to Government, chairing of grant award panels, membership of RCUK Peer Review Colleges are important and a reasonable performance would be 1 or 2 of these, while high performance would be all and more at the same time. Appearances in television programmes, the written media and as an interviewed ‘expert’ are seen as marks of esteem. The number of invitations to conduct PhD vivas is seen as a measure of recognition. Editor of a journal or membership of editorial boards is another measure of esteem, and high performance would be at least two positions.

Acting as external examiner is expected and one appointment at any one time would be the norm. High performance would be indicated by invitations to advise on Professorial or higher positions elsewhere in the UK or overseas.

  1. What particular forms of external academic, and where relevant non-academic,impact would indicate an acceptable and high performance in your discipline?

Government advisor, policy advisor, and input to changes in educational practises would be high performance. Generation of lasting impact outside academia, through effect on, change or benefit to: the economy, society, culture, public policy or services, health, the environment or quality of life, is important. High performance would be seen as contribution to several areas, while acceptable performance would be contribution in at least one.

  1. What kind and volume of Third Stream activity (including patents, spin-outs, outreach, knowledge transfer, consultancies, cultural interventionsetc.) of benefit to the College etc. would be important in your discipline?

Again, this is discipline-specific. All of those listed could be important, but are not equally spread across subject areas. Most highly regarded are spin-outs, knowledge transfer and patents. Funding from industry is highly regarded, but also withKTPs or CASE studentships.

LEADERSHIP AND ENHANCEMENT

  1. What forms of leadership, internal and external, command respect in your discipline?

Chair of College Committees, Chair of external review panels, major departmental administrative roles (Head of Department, Director of Research), Officer in Learned Society. Representation of the College on external committees or organisation of stakeholder workshops within the discipline. Leading role in international or national bodies, such as policy forums, strategic review panels, educational bodies.

  1. What forms of enhancement, such as support of improved performance by colleagues, command respect in your discipline?

Contribution to agendas driven by the Society of Biology, other Learned Societies, mentoring programmes within the College,tutor onstaff development course.