“Our technical services staff carry out vital roles to deliver the university’s education, research, and service ambitions. I am delighted that we signalled our early support for the profession when King’s became a founding signatory to the Technician Commitment in 2017.

We have made significant progress towards recognising the significant and diverse contributions of technicians at King’s and are strongly committed to further enabling improved connectivity, communication, and career development opportunities for this key group of staff.

Our internal Technical Services Network has gained exciting momentum over the past seven years. King’s College committed to ensuring that our technicians have a genuine voice in decision-making and strategic development processes, and to recognising the innovation in techniques and ways of working that will safeguard our future sustainability.”

Stephen Large, Senior Vice President (Operations)

King’s College London is very proud to be a founding signatory of the Technician Commitment. 

The Technician Commitment is a university-wide initiative recognising the crucial role of technicians in supporting education and research. Technical staff are a large diverse group working across all disciplines and at all levels, from apprentices to highly skilled professionals. The Technical Commitment acknowledges the wider role of technical staff in supporting efficient operations, keeping staff and students safe, engagement activities, and community building which make them an important part of the team. Their commitment to staying up to date with the latest developments and ability to work both independently and collaboratively are key assets to universities and research institutions. King’s College London is proud to support the Technician Commitment.

The Commitment includes 4 key areas:

• Visibility - Ensure all technicians within the organisation are identifiable and that the contribution of technicians is visible within and beyond the institution.
• Recognition - Support technicians to gain recognition through professional registration and external awards schemes.
• Career Development - Enable career progression opportunities for technicians through the provision of clear, documented career pathways
• Sustainability - ensure the future sustainability of technical skills across the organisation and that technical expertise is fully utilised.

Our current action plan report and summary can be viewed here:

King’s Technical Services Network was launched in 2016 as a testament to the university’s strong commitment to supporting this community of staff. The Network acts as a way for technical services staff to meet each other, get involved in projects and programmes across the university, and participate in key decision-making and strategic processes.

The Network is regularly consulted as a key forum to gather views on university-wide developments and proposals.

The Network also plays a key role in driving and promoting relevant development opportunities and career pathways through the Centre for Research Staff Development & Organisational Development.

The Network is open to all technical services staff – and we also warmly welcome supporters and friends from across other staff groups at King’s. We hold regular workshops, training sessions, and away days. If you are interested in joining the Network, or have any questions about it, please email stephen.franey@kcl.ac.uk

King’s Organisation Development team offers a suite of development and learning opportunities for all levels and categories of staff. Technical Services staff are well represented in cohorts for leadership development programmes, as well as on short courses and bitesize sessions.

Technical Services staff are supported to attend external scientific and fact-finding events and activities.

King’s has actively encouraged our technical services staff to invest in their development through professional registration with the Science Council.

This year King’s agreed to cover the cost of professional registration year on year.

This year King’s will launch its new Technical Apprenticeship Scheme, working with a local HE College. The two-year scheme has created opportunities for a cohort of apprentice technicians to rotate across several core activities supporting King’s education and research portfolio. The apprentices will be considered full members of the university’s Technical Services Network, to enable their early integration into our university community and also align them to professional registration standards (RSciTech).

Technician Commitment Signatory and Technical Network Sponsor

Stephen Large
Senior Vice-President (Operations)
King's College London

Technician Commitment Signatory Institutional Lead

Stephen Franey CSci
Technical Staff Development Manager
Research Management & Innovations Directorate

The Technical Representative Committee (TRC) is made up of representatives from each campus (campus technical network), faculty (technical representatives) and research staff, sustainability and EDI networks as well as the technical development manager and head of technical services. The remit of the committee is to receive updates from representatives, review and support the planning and coordination of campus technical network events, produce a quarterly report for technical leadership on outcomes, community feedback, and requirements, approve and oversee communications to the technical community, discuss and feedback on sector development, support professional registration, identify gaps in skills and training and to summarise and inform changes to improve careers for technicians.  By bringing together representatives that sit on different committees and with representatives from all faculties and every grade, the goal is to encompass a holistic technician voice and enable two-way communication between management and technical staff. Each year representatives can reapply for the position and will be voted by the network.

King’s College Technical Network and Technical Representatives Committee members

Specialist network leads