Dr Mark Light
X-ray Diffraction Manager
"I joined the UoS as a PDRA with the National Crystallography Service in 1998 and was subsequently appointed to the permanent role of X-ray diffraction manager in 2004. During the following years, my professional development was fostered by my line-managers and senior colleagues, enabling me to develop skills outside the role, such as teaching, student supervision and contributing to grant proposals."
"As I reached the top of level 5, I expressed my desire to develop my technical role into a research direction. Senior management were very supportive of this idea and put things in place to enable the transition. I was assigned an academic mentor to help me fulfil my potential and was provided with a 3-year studentship to get my research started. As a result, my transfer from a technical to academic job pathway was smoothly completed in 2016.
At this time, I also talked to a member of the promotions panel who helped me align my ideas and goals with the requirements for promotion, and provided detailed and constructive feedback on a recent application. This was extremely useful in shaping my future plans and promotion expectations/aspirations.
As a manager of two research facilities, my workload does not fit easily within the University job family model and I had the reassurances of management that they understood this position. I have a reduced teaching load, and Chemistry effectively rewrote my job description allowing me the scope to develop personally and intellectually.
I have always felt very appreciated and supported throughout almost 20 years in Chemistry and indeed this support has improved throughout this time. In particular, I have found senior research staff extremely supportive of my ‘early career’ needs in terms of both advice and practical assistance."