On 2 June 2026, I attended the 16th Signatory and Supporter event of the Technician Commitment, organised by the UK Institute of Technical Skills and Strategy (ITSS) in London, followed by a reception for the launch of the ITSS Three Year Impact report at the House of Lords. The Technician Commitment is a university and research institution initiative that aims to ensure visibility, recognition, career development and sustainability for technicians working in higher education and research, across all disciplines. There are now over 150 supporters and signatories as it celebrates 9 years since its launch in 2017.
The signatory events are an opportunity to hear from ITSS and the wider community about their work including the recent Technical Skills Landscape report, the launch of a new career resources hub and the revision of assessment for signatories (not supporters) with a pilot Technician Community Maturity Framework.
RLUK became a supporter of the Technician Commitment in 2022 and late last year we submitted an updated Action Plan (2026-28), reflecting on our engagement across the Commitment’s four pillars: Visibility, Recognition, Career Development and Sustainability. The Action Plan provided an opportunity to describe our partnership with AHRC, highlighting the RLUK-AHRC Professional Practice Fellowships and the Research Catalyst Programme, and our wider Research Engagement Programme. We also looked to new challenges such as the impact of AI.
Four Pillars of the Technician Commitment
Our new strategy for 2026-2030 recognises the value of collaboration and that ‘RLUK will help drive forward the transformation of the library sector. We will enhance collaboration within our membership and beyond, building stronger partnerships, and ensuring that libraries remain central to advancing knowledge, research integrity, and societal impact.’
Our support of the Technician’s Commitment provides a key opportunity to engage communities beyond our own and to champion our skills, values and expertise.
An example of that is the opportunity I had in April to share our Research Catalyst Cohort programme at the UK Technology Specialists Network Conference in Stratford-upon-Avon. I shared the background to the programme, the research challenges faced by librarians and reflected on how portable the programme would be for Technicians. I invited colleagues in the audience to consider what a Cohort programme would look like for them. I was also struck by the comments which an earlier speaker had made about their challenges as a technician in applying for research funding as a co-investigator. The structural barriers and challenges they experienced resonated with some of the same experiences felt by a number of our AHRC-RLUK Fellows. This underscores the importance of working together, across communities and continuing to collaborate to shift the dial around research. As my closing slide asserted, ‘If we invest in librarians and technicians as researchers, we don’t just strengthen careers, we strengthen the research system itself.’
Impact Award
RLUK was delighted to receive an Impact Award as a Supporter of the Technician Commitment. We were one of four supporters to receive an Impact award. The award recognised our commitment to ensuring visibility, recognition, career development and sustainability of technical skills and roles. This includes our ongoing support of our own specialist technical expertise and skills as librarians. In particular our work with AHRC on the Professional Practice Fellowships and Research Catalyst Cohort Programme have been a key transformational activity since we became supporters.
Read the RLUK Action Plan 2026-2028
RLUK’s William Nixon and Kelly Vere, UK ITSS Director and Founder of the Technician Commitment. Photo credit: Christine Barrass Photography
The Technical Skills and Landscape in the Digital and Technologies
The event was an opportunity for an update on the ITSS commissioned report on The Technical Skills Landscape in the Digital and Technologies Sector. Its headline finding is that the UK needs up to 120,000 extra technicians in the Digital & Technologies sector by 2035. ITSS are taking work forward in this area and RLUK has indicated interest in being involved in this work.
Launch of the Three Year Impact report from ITSS
The day also included the launch of the ITSS Three Year Impact report led by Dr Kelly Vere, UK ITSS Director, at a reception in the House of Lords. This was an opportunity to celebrate the work and impact of ITSS since its launch in 2023. We were joined by Dame Chi Onwurah, MP for Newcastle Central and West, and Chair of the Scientific Science Innovation and Technology Select Committee. Dame Onwurah underscored the importance of the findings of the technical Skills report and the work which the government is delivering with the Industrial Strategy to close that gap and to give opportunities not only to her constituents but across the country. It was an inspiring closing talk and an excellent opportunity to talk both with other supporters and signatories.
Read the ITSS Three-Year Impact Report
Journeying together
Our strategy asserts that ‘research is impossible without libraries’ and our ongoing work is to strengthen our community, support knowledge stewardship and enable excellence but we can best do this in partnership with likeminded stakeholders, organisations and through our support of initiatives like the Technician Commitment and that we are not travelling alone on our research journey.
While we were delighted to receive this Impact award we know that there is more that we can do. The Research Visibility Shift is an ongoing one and changing culture takes time but our support of the Technician’s Commitment, our work with AHRC and other key stakeholders means that we continue to actively connect with colleagues, collaborate with like minded communities and collectively work together to be seen and to deliver excellence in research.
I will leave the closing words to our 2026-28 Action Plan and its clarion call:
‘RLUK will continue to encourage its member libraries to continue to engage with the Technician Commitment and to apply its contents to their own institution. RLUK will continue to convene its members around the key issues raised within the commitment and will advocate for the development, recognition, and elevation of those colleagues who make an essential contribution to the production of scholarly knowledge, innovation, and learning as Research Technical Professionals.’
Author spotlight: William Nixon, Deputy Executive Director, RLUK
William is interested in the impact of the Digital Shift (and skills) and the role which research libraries can play supporting Open Research, in particular through repositories and open access. He is also interested in leadership and the evolving role of the research library for staff and researchers.
