Vitae Annual Programme 2025-26
We have an exciting range of events, activities and opportunities for members through our 2025-26 annual programme.
Register your interest for Vitae's annual programme 2025-26This year’s annual programme brings together three key themes aimed at supporting researcher development.
Connect and Create returns with a renewed focus on outcomes, offering informal, collaborative spaces where participants co-develop practical and achievable solutions.
Evidence and Insight highlights data, evaluation, and shared experiences to better understand and support researcher careers through evidence-led approaches.
Policy and Practice focuses on how leadership, collaboration, and collective responsibility can drive positive change, fostering research environments that are inclusive, sustainable, and supportive.
On this form you can register your interest in Vitae’s events and initiatives that are part of the 2025-26 Vitae annual programme. For the events that you select we will email you relevant updates including letting you know when booking opens.
Connect and create: developing solutions for researcher development
This year we are bringing back the Connect and Create theme for this year’s annual programme with a focus on outcomes. Our aim is to ensure participants leave with practical, realistic, and achievable solutions to support them in their work. These events are designed to be informal, collaborative spaces where practice sharing is key.
This theme includes the below events:
Connect and create: Sustainable Researcher Development
Wednesday 18 March 2026 14:00-15:30 (GMT)
Vitae member only
In the current environment, it’s more important than ever to explore new, collaborative ways of working, sharing expertise to strengthen development provision across the sector. Focused on the sustainable delivery of researcher development, this session will explore efficient and collective approaches to researcher development programme development and delivery. Participants will leave with practical ideas to support their work, shaped by peers’ insights and experience.
Supporting Others Through Change (Without Carrying It All)
Thursday 21 May 2026, 12:00 to 13:00 (GMT+1)
Vitae member only
This session will focus on the often-overlooked emotional and practical load of supporting others while managing your own change. It will explore how to recognise and manage emotional spillover, maintain healthy boundaries, and protect your energy, while still offering meaningful support to those around you. We hope this session will provide a valuable space for reflection, discussion, and practical takeaways.
Evidence and Insight: supporting and understanding researcher careers
This theme explores how data, evaluation, and shared experiences can deepen our understanding of researcher careers. By focusing on evidence-led approaches, we aim to support better career development practices.
This theme includes the below events:
Embedding the Vitae Researcher Development Framework (RDF)
Thursday 29 January 2026 10:00-11:30 (GMT)
Vitae member only
The publication of the Vitae RDF 2025 articulates the values, knowledge, and behaviours, of today’s researchers who can work across sectors and look to society’s future needs. Join this session to explore the potential of the RDF as a driver for researcher development, aligning with evolving sector and institutional priorities. Participants will discuss how institutions are embedding the refreshed RDF and engaging with senior stakeholders to influence strategy and shape provision for researchers.
Evidence and insight: evaluating researcher development
Wednesday 11 February 2026 10:00-11:30 (GMT)
Vitae member only
This interactive workshop will explore early findings from Vitae’s Evidence and Evaluation survey, which examined how organisations evaluate researcher development activities and gather evidence to demonstrate their impact and value.
The session will share key insights from the survey and highlight common approaches and themes emerging across the sector. Participants will discuss the challenges of evidencing the strategic value of researcher development and reflect on how evaluation and insight are currently used in practice.
The workshop will provide space to explore and discuss how robust evaluation and insight can inform decision making and enhance researcher development practice across the sector.
Researcher Career tracking – What do researchers do?
Tuesday 3 March 2026 10:00-11:00 (GMT)
Vitae member only
In this session we will outline the primary findings of ‘What do researchers do?’ 2025. Based on Graduate Outcomes data for PhD graduates this research aims to equip RD professionals and researchers alike with insights into the early career outcomes of English doctorate holders.
Policy and practice: championing sustainable, inclusive and supportive research environments
In this theme we’ll explore how institutions and individuals can drive positive change through leadership, collaboration, and shared responsibility. We will focus on how we can create research cultures that are inclusive, sustainable, and supportive.
This theme includes the below events:
Using CEDARS insights to drive change
Wednesday 19 November 2025 10:00-12:00 (GMT)
Vitae member only
This session will explore how findings from the recent CEDARS and pulse surveys are shaping the next Research Culture Landscape survey. We will look at how the results can be used to improve the survey, inform institutional and policy decisions, and support real change. The focus will be on how to turn insights into practical actions that strengthen research culture across the sector.
EURAXESS Webinar – Horizon Europe focused event
Wednesday 14 January 2026 13:30-15:00 (GMT)
Open access
Our EURAXESS events will provide an overview of how EURAXESS supports researcher mobility, career development, and international collaboration. It will offer the opportunity to connect with researchers, institutional representatives, and EURAXESS experts, and to explore tools and resources relevant to various stages of the research journey, including funding, job opportunities, and mobility support.