Children’s Cancer Institute has become the first Australian medical research institute to commit to the Technician Commitment, ensuring the equity, strength and longevity of a workforce that is critical to achieving their vision of curing every child of cancer.
The Technician Commitment is an internationally recognised program that aims to improve the standing of Technicians amongst the international scientific community. Since its inception in 2017, it has helped pave the way for ongoing career sustainability of those that play key support roles and enable academic scientists to achieve traditional measures of academic success, such as papers, grants, talks, supervision etc.
Technology and innovation platforms within medical research are rapidly evolving and require professionals with specialised skill sets and knowledge to manage them effectively. But these careers don’t align with traditional academic pathways and historically, there has been a shortage of frameworks to support them, resulting in challenges around gaining recognition, visibility and career progression.
“For me, the Technician Commitment is fundamentally about respect and recognition. Respect for our non-academic scientists, engineers, technical specialists, technicians, research assistants, staff scientists, really anyone that has developed a unique, technical skillset that supports CCI to achieve its research objectives. When Rob first brought the Technician Commitment to my attention, I thought this would be perfect for CCI, given our unique focus on translational research, our world leading Team Science approach to delivering Personalised Medicine, and our unique Enabling Platforms”, says Associate Professor Mark Cowley, Deputy Director, Enabling Platforms and Collaboration at Children’s Cancer Institute.
By becoming a Signatory, the Institute has committed to developing a roadmap to integrate this commitment into its operational framework over the coming 12–18 months. This roadmap will require both formal and informal engagement and co-design, and we invite you to join us on this significant journey.
Over this period the Institute will commit to developing a strategic approach to the four pillars of the Technician commitment:
- 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”
- Sustainability of skills: “Ensure the future sustainability of technical skills across the organisation and that technical expertise is fully utilised”
- Career Development: “Enable career progression opportunities for technicians through the provision of clear, documented career pathways”
Around 120 organisations worldwide are signatories that have committed to the four pillars, and the only other Australian signatory is the University of Sydney.
“Achievements reported by existing TC signatories, include elevated staff engagement, improved morale and motivation, a more productive and skilled research professional workforce, and increased staff retention” says A/Prof Cowley.
Rob Salomon, Technology Innovation Platform Lead at Children’s Cancer Institute adds, “Successfully fulfilling these pledges will help technical skills, roles, and careers be recognised, understood, developed, respected, and aspired to; this is absolutely essential if we are to continue to improve outcomes for children with cancer.”
