Specialist Skills
If you need to take a course on a specialist subject that is relevant to your work needs, you should first explore whether you can get funding from a research grant, your Department or Faculty. Staff preparing grant applications should include funding for specialist training as a budget line.
If you cannot obtain full funding from a research grant, your Department or Faculty, partial funding may be available through the Staff and Educational Development Programme. A contribution up to a maximum £200 will be considered in suitable cases. No request will be agreed without the full documentation being present.
Please apply in good time (at least 2 months) before the course commences as applications will be considered in groups, and not individually. Funding is not given retrospectively.
Procedure for Application for Talent and Educational Development funds for specialist skills training
Initially, a request should be made to the Head of Talent and Educational Development (via the Talent and Educational Development Co-ordinator) for funding for a specialist course by the person concerned, outlining:
(i) the title, nature and date of the training course, with full details attached;
(ii) the need for the training in relation to the person's job, and the benefit expected from it;
(iii) what other sources of funding have been explored, and where other contributions to the cost of the course will come from.
This should be followed by an email from the person's line manager, outlining the need for the training and the need for partial funding from Talent and Educational Development.
Following agreement on funding, the staff member (or their Department/Office) should book and pay for the course themselves, if funding to cover the full costs has been obtained.
In order to claim the SED contribution (up to £200) the procedure is that the following details should be sent to the Talent and Educational Development Co-ordinator:
- the cost of the course, and evidence that it has been paid for (copy of cheque, credit card statement, etc.);
- a copy of details of the course, programme, etc.; and
- a grant number (or bank account) to which the money should be transferred.
