Career Development

The DDU strategy relies on our people. Our 130 staff come from a diverse background both in terms of prior experience and geographical origins. We are committed to ensuring that the DDU is an enjoyable, rewarding and challenging place to work and offers opportunity for career progression.

Keeping our people connected as physical access to the university premises was restricted was a primary objective with routine “virtual coffee breaks” and team meetings supplemented with quiz nights and other social activities.

As part of the DDU’s ongoing commitment to members personal and professional development the Senior Leadership Team has established a Training Matrix to support the development of our next generations of leaders. The Training Matrix identifies key general skills required at each grade and provides a framework for discussions between line mangers and team members to set individual learning objectives for current and potential future roles. Cohorts of next generation team and discipline leaders have also been identified for leadership development. We have identified external trainers to supplement on the job training and university run professional development courses. These individuals will be presented with portfolio, discipline-based and line management advancement opportunities. Training is also an important aspect of succession planning within the DDU.

Looking towards the next 5-years our focus is on succession planning and the alignment of our next generation of leaders. Our Portfolio and discipline leads have been brought together to form an Extended Leadership Team. These individuals, who already have significant leadership responsibility and experience are going through rigorous external leadership training in support of their current roles and also to develop them to the level where they could be considered for opportunities arising to add to or replace members of the current DDU Senior Leadership Team.

Overall, we commit to recognising and rewarding good work and behaviours at a team and individual level.

The DDU is widely recognised as the most developed and complete drug discovery engine working across multiple therapeutic areas in UK academia. One of the DDU’s core strengths is our people and the ability to draw on a wide range of skills under one roof. Our expertise from across the biopharmaceutical industry and academia, combined with outstanding facilities, has created a unique position for industryready drug discovery within a powerful academic environment. Our scientists are passionate about making a difference to the lives of patients and are particularly motived to deliver new therapeutics to diseases impacting low-and middle-income countries where unmet need is highest.As part of the University of Dundee we offer attractive employment conditions including the University Superannuation Scheme and flexible working policies.

The diversity of our staff (and students) helps to make the University of Dundee a UK university of choice for undergraduate, postgraduate and distance learning. Family friendly policies, staff networks for BAME, Disabled and LGBTQ+ staff, membership of Athena SWAN, the ECU Race Equality Charter and Stonewall as well a full range of disability services, create an enjoyable and inclusive place to work.