Keele University is an organisational member of Vitae, the global leader in the professional development of researchers. As part of the University's membership subscription our staff and students are able to access resources and benefit from the work that Vitae does.  

Available on the Vitae webpages there is a wealth of resources and advice tailored specifically to researchers, whether their ambition is to stay within or move outside academia.

All of our staff and students get full access to the Vitae website once registered with their Keele email address. Registration can be completed on the Vitae webpage.


Some of Vitae's most popular resources for researchers include CV examples, advice on pursuing an academic career, the Vitae Researcher Development Framework (of knowledge and skills) and completing a doctorate.

We recommend the following resources which are available on the Vitae website and encourage staff and students to make use of them as part of their researcher development training plan:

Researcher Development Framework RDF The Researcher Development Framework (RDF) sets out areas of knowledge, behaviours and attributes that are relevant to the success of high-quality researchers and encourages them to aspire to excellence.

The RDF is structured into four domains: Knowledge and intellectual abilities, Personal effectiveness, Research governance and Engagement, influence and impact. Each domain contains three subdomains. The courses offered to Researchers through KIITE are mapped onto these subdomains.

Find out more about the RDF on Vitae's website.

How do researchers use the RDF? Read case studies from ten researchers.

The Professional Development Planning for Researchers Online Course (PDP ROC) is an online course run by Vitae. It is aimed at researchers at any career stage and complements the courses offered through KIITE. It consists of six modules which can be dipped in and out of, although if you are new to PDP, then Vitae recommend working through them in order.

Find out more about PDP ROC on Vitae's website.

The following pages give advice on various aspects and stages of doing a doctorate and how to access further support and guidance:

Vitae have created a selection of booklets containing practical advice and tips which are tailored to different aspects of professional development of researchers. Each booklet includes advice and suggested exercises to work through. The Vitae website also contains accompanying podcasts to some of the booklets. There are eight titles in the series which are available to download from the Vitae website.

  • The Enterprising Researcher
  • The Informed Researcher
  • The Leading Researcher
  • The Engaging Researcher
  • The Career-wise Researcher
  • The Creative Researcher
  • The Balanced Researcher
  • The Researcher on Placement

Nine successful part-time researchers from a range of disciplines and career stages answer questions about doing a doctorate on a part-time basis. They give tips and advice for prospective and current part-time researchers and their supervisors. Watch their videos.

Vitae produce a number of resources focused for research staff who are employed full-time fixed term research contracts. Visit Vitae's pages for research staff.

Vitae host a suite of career related webpages that are tailored to researchers. They are applicable to those who want to pursue an academic career and those who want to use their skills elsewhere. For inspiration or advice visit Vitae's career pages.

Vitae offers useful advice to PhD supervisors and has pages on applying for research funding.

There are over 150 research career stories on their site, example research CVs and various publicationsguides and briefings.