The IST was delighted to attend and support the recent excellent Central Scotland Technical Conference. which was held at the University of Glasgow on 6th June. It was great to see so many technical staff from several Scottish universities gathering for the event. The Keynotes and workshops offered a great range of topics for the delegates, with the Scottish Government’s Minister for Higher and Further Education, Graeme Dey MSP addressing the group.
The conference was the first large-scale meeting for technicians from universities across the central Scottish area and was organised by the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh as part of their Technician Commitment action plan. The group plans to use the conference as the beginning of a journey towards creating a Scottish Technical Network which unites universities across central Scotland, and the IST are excited to be helping with the development of this network group, via our new IST Coordinator for Scotland, Russell Wilson.
If you are interested in joining the Scottish Network group please sign-up via https://t.co/7ugS6miQUQ and Russell will get back to you.
We are really looking forward to this exciting development for the Scottish universities, if you need any more information, please don’t hesitate to contact us via office@istonline.org.uk
Views & shots from the conference
Russell Wilson: “It was fantastic that the UoE & UoG decided to open this conference up to other institutions across central Scotland. Indeed there was such a desire for a Scotland Technical Conference that technicians from institutions right across the country managed to attend including those further afield such as UHI & Robert Gordon. It is an exciting time to be a technician and for those based in Scotland I am delighted to announce that work is currently ongoing towards launching a new IST Scottish Technical network, to specifically support and address the challenges faced by technicians within the country. This conference will prove to be a crucial launch pad towards the future network that with the support of the IST will look to share best practice, bring forward future collaborative projects and increase opportunities for all Scottish based technicians.”
Professor Frank Coton, Senior Vice Principal and Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic), is chair of the University of Glasgow’s Technician Commitment steering group: “We’re proud to be a signatory to the Technician Commitment, which recognises and supports the vital contributions of technical staff to universities across the UK. Here at Glasgow alone we have more than 1000 highly trained and qualified technicians on staff, without whom our world-leading research and teaching simply wouldn’t be possible. The Technician Commitment helps us to ensure that our technical community is properly prepared to tackle the challenges of the future through investment, training and career development. The Central Scotland Technical Conference offered attendees an invaluable opportunity to meet to share stories of best practice, new ideas, and to plan for the future. I’m looking forward to helping our technicians build on the outcomes from the conference and work towards a Scottish Technical Network.”
Dr Natalie Homer of the University of Edinburgh said: “The University of Edinburgh are delighted to have worked together with the University of Glasgow to put on the first Central Scotland Technical Conference. With the recent 6th anniversary of the Technician Commitment it is timely and important that we bring technical colleagues together to celebrate and share our experiences. We hope it will be the start of fruitful collaborations and widening opportunities for technicians across Scotland.”
