Welcome to your new career

NEW ENTRANTS' HANDBOOK

Congratulations
and welcome

Organisatio n structure

Our routes

The leadership team

Introduction

We own, operate and develop Britain’s railway infrastructure; that’s 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts, and thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We manage 20 of the UK’s largest stations, while over 2,500 others are managed by the country’s train operating companies.

Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands
of projects every year forming part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan. The Plan will grow and expand the nation’s railway network
to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced – a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.

We are building a better railway for a better Britain.

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Congratulations and welcome

A warm welcome and sincere congratulations on
your successful appointment. You have already
shown us that you have great potential for the
future and you should be very proud of securing
a place on our scheme. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for making the choice
to join us.

We believe the development and success of our business goes hand in hand with the development
of our people and we are committed to this pledge. From you, we expect you to ask what you can do for
the business rather than waiting to be told, we expect you to challenge unsafe behaviours and always strive
to continually improve.

In return, you will find that your fresh thinking, innovative ideas and passion will be welcomed and embraced by a community of knowledgeable and experienced professionals from all areas of the business. Your ideas and innovations matter and
will make a valuable and positive difference to the future of our railway.

Use your early years to learn, grow and develop, embrace and welcome the support and guidance
you are offered. My advice to you is to grab this opportunity with both hands and make the most
of everything you have at your disposal. You have
a fantastic opportunity here and I am sure you will achieve more than you ever thought possible.

Joe Guy, Head of Talent

We believe the development and success of our business goes
hand in hand with
the development
of our people.

Contents

A better railway
for a better Britain

Contents

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Big innovation, small budget

Running a successful

secondment scheme –

a knowledge exchange

and commercialisation

practitioner’s guide

A note to knowledge exchange and technology transfer professionals

Running a successful secondment scheme − good practice guide

Prepare

Publicise

Support

Evaluate

Translate – a successful secondment scheme case study

Dr Sareen Galbraith, Leeds Beckett University

Dr Elena Mancuso, University of Leeds

Viswadeep Sarangi, University of York

Prof Stephen Smith, University of York

The successful secondment scheme toolkit

Acknowledgements

About Translate

A note to knowledge exchange and

technology transfer professionals

As a Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation (KEC)
practitioner, you translate research outcomes into products and services that have an economic and social impact, often with tight budget constraints. You know that this isn’t always straightforward.

Gaining fresh perspectives and new approaches for research is at the heart of successful innovation.

This guide explains how temporary placement of academic, industrial, clinical and other collaborators on a shorter-term basis, with a small amount of resource, can lead to significant innovation and knowledge exchange outcomes.

The second part of this guide is a case study of a successful secondment scheme, delivered through the HEFCE (now Office for Students) Catalyst-funded programme: Translate.

Since the secondment scheme launch in 2016, Translate has funded 45 secondments with destinations to academia, industry and healthcare settings.

Five reasons for running an innovation secondment scheme:

Low budget

Tight timescale

Progress technologies

Develop people

New collaborations

Running a successful secondment

scheme – good practice guide

Prepare

Publicise

Support

Evaluate

Prepare

1

2

Agree the aims and

objectives of the scheme

Firstly you need to establish the aims and objectives of the scheme.

The aims of the secondments could:

promote the progression or transfer of technologies

promote business development

promote capability development

The objectives might be to:

• increase knowledge and skills

• establish professional links and collaborations

• develop particular technologies

• identify new lines of research and innovation.

Identify who

can take part

You need to identify the potential pool of participants. Bear in mind that there may be limitations on how your funding can be spent.

Participants could include:

• Students (what level?)

• Postdoctoral researchers

• University research and other staff

• Clinical staff in health care organisations

• Staff in technology businesses

• Staff at innovation enabling/intermediary organisations.

You will also need to identify who will assess the applications.
Your panel might include:

• Academics

• KEC practitioners

• Researcher development professionals

• Industry representatives.

Prepare

3

Allocate the budget

and timeframe

The way that the scheme is delivered will depend on the size of the budget and how you choose to spend it.

1. Approve the total budget and the period it will
be available.

2. Decide how to allocate the budget: lots of small grants,
a few larger ones or a mix of the two.

3. Define the terms of funding:

• what can be paid for e.g. travel, salaries, consumables

• who can receive funding e.g. individuals, educational
organisations, businesses

• period that funds must be spent by.

4

Identify who

can take part

To run a successful secondment scheme you need to consider ‘success’ and how you will measure it. Metrics could include the number of secondments carried out, types of secondments, spread/diversity of participants and outcomes of the secondments.

Tip: Flexibility will be crucial to the success of the scheme.

Think about allowing your participants to take part on a full or

part-time basis, and the opportunity to apply more than once.

Prepare

1. Create an accessible point of information

To ensure the scheme is a success it must be advertised in a way that captures the attention of your chosen participant groups.

Having everything an applicant needs in one easy-to-find webpage not only helps potential participants
but will reduce the burden of responding to enquiries.

Two key documents are required to run a simple and efficient scheme:

1. A comprehensive guidance document with clear section headings outlining everything an applicant needs to know:

• Types of opportunity available/scope of the scheme

• Funding available

• Duration of the scheme / opportunity

• Key dates

• How to apply

• Assessment process

• Conditions of award

• Contact details.

2. A form that collects everything required to assess the application, report to funders on key metrics, and allow follow-up with all parties. The form should also be light touch and simple for the applicant – remember that the sums of money available might be quite small, and the application process should be proportionate.

• Biographical and contact details

• Secondee and organisation host (inc. letter of support)

• Applicant objectives and purpose of secondment

• Justification of funds.

Tip: Forms can be created online using tools like OnlineSurveys (BOS). If these are used, ensure applicants can see all questions so their responses can be prepared in advance.

Publicise