An international survey of Training Needs and Career Paths of Core Facility Staff

Abstract

Core facilities (CFs) provide a centralised access to costly equipment, scientific expertise, experimental design, day-to-day technical support and training of users. CFs have a tremendous impact on research outputs, skills and educational agendas, increasing the competencies of staff, researchers and students. However, the rapid development of new technologies and methodologies for the life sciences requires fast adaptation and development of existing core facilities and their technical and scientific staff. Given the scarcity of well-defined CF career paths, CF staff positions are typically filled by people having followed either academic or technical tracks. Each academic institution follows different policies and often fails to adequately recognize the merits of CF personnel and to support their training efficiently. Thus, the Core Technologies for Life Science association (CTLS), through the Training working group, has conducted an anonymous online survey to assess the training needs of CF personnel, as well as to identify common characteristics and challenges in this relatively new and dynamic career type. 275 individuals, including core managers and directors, technicians, technologists and administrators, participated in the survey. The survey was divided into 2 sections; the first, applied to all respondents, and the second, specifically targeted core management issues. Training needs in technological areas, financial and soft skills, management and administrative issues were surveyed as well. The lack of clarity and consistency regarding established career paths for CF professionals was evident from the second part of the survey, highlighting geographical or cultural differences. Gender balance was achieved and the distribution was always taken into account. The results of this survey highlight a need to develop better training resources for CF staff, to improve their recognition within academic institutions, and to establish a recognized career pathway.

Keywords: Core Facilities · Career development · Staff · Education · Skills.

FIGURE 1.

Pie Chart of survey results question: “What country do you work in?” Results compiled into geographic area from the 14 countries selected in the answer.

FIGURE 2.

Pie graph of Survey Results for “In what type of organization do you work?”

FIGURE 3.

Bar graph of survey results “What is your field of activity?”

FIGURE 4.

Bar graph of survey results for question “What is your role within your Institution and Core Facility/Infrastructure/Shared Resource Lab?,” including information about highest degree attained.

FIGURE 5.

Bar Graph of survey results – What management skills would you like to improve on?

FIGURE 6.

Bar graph of survey results for question “What soft skills would you like to improve on?”

FIGURE 7.

Bar graph of survey results for question “What training formats do you feel would most benefit you?” Percentage is relative to the staff category.

FIGURE 8.

Bar graph of survey results for Core Heads. Percentage of PhD vs. total is indicated.

FIGURE 9.

Bar graph of survey results for question “How is your position ranked within your organization (i.e., equivalent level of responsibility)? In the lower right quadrant, the answers to the same question are reported by geographical distribution, for the 3 most voted equivalent positions (PI, Junior PI and postdoc).

FIGURE 10.

Bar graph of survey results for question “Do you have a permanent work contract?”

FIGURE 11.

Bar graph of survey results for question “What position did you hold previous to your current job?”

FIGURE 12.

Word cloud of survey results for question “Why choose a core facility job?” In black are the reasons suggested by the survey, in other colors the wording from the open-ended field.