Academic Career Pathways (ACP) - Overview

Employees on this pathway are employed on academic (T&S) contracts and are engaged in teaching and scholarship. Titles for T&S staff are set out below: 

*Fixed-term academic offices and comparable unestablished posts will be retitled on successful completion of probation, but after the minimum period of service in each case. This means that in cases where the probationary period is less than the minimum period, role holders will retain the existing title and adopt the new title only once they have served that minimum period in that role (which might be following an extension to the period of the original appointment).

The Report on the introduction of the ACP (Teaching and Scholarship) can be found in Reporter.

Relief from teaching for research/scholarship purposes

T&S staff are not granted an automatic right to sabbatical leave to conduct research and scholarship, but they may be eligible – in exceptional circumstances and for very specific purposes – to apply for relief from teaching to undertake a significant body of work, in line with principles agreed at School level.

School Councils will agree principles across their institutions and cognate disciplines for the granting of teaching relief, expectations of the use of time available outside of teaching commitments for scholarship, and teaching load and stint models.

Scholarship

Scholarship involves the synthesis and presentation of knowledge, as opposed to research which is the discovery of new knowledge. A particular strand of scholarship involves a systematic practice which enhances and improves the student experience, as well as outcomes. All scholarship should, in as far as is possible, be subject to critical review and any materials developed should be made available for others to use.

T&S staff are expected to deliver research-informed teaching and thus to engage in scholarship which may include research within the discipline and/or applied research, which may be pedagogic in nature or related to relevant professional practice.

T&S staff are not automatically research-returnable for Research Excellence Framework (REF) purposes, unless their role has significant responsibility for independent research. However, if any are producing scholarly outputs under the definition of the REF, they may be considered on a case-by-case basis by the Unit of Assessment Committees as to their eligibility to be returned. If you have any queries about the REF, please contact REF2029@admin.cam.ac.uk.
 

Generic role profiles are available for academic roles under the Grading section of the HR webpages.

As part of the implementation of the new Academic Career Pathway for Research staff, changes are being made to the University’s academic promotion schemes to incorporate research staff and ensure greater alignment across the three pathways (R&T, T&S and R). 

From the 2026-27 academic year, rather than having three schemes based on pathway, there will be two grade-based schemes:

• ACP for Promotion to Grades 10-12 (ACP 10-12): this scheme will be available to employees on the Research and Teaching, Teaching and Scholarship and Research pathways. You can view the scheme guidance here: Academic Career Pathways (Promotion to Grades 10 to 12) | Academic Career Pathways
• ACP for Promotion to Grades 6-9 (ACP 6-9): this scheme will be available to employees on the Teaching and Scholarship and Research pathways. You can view the scheme guidance here: Academic Career Pathways (Promotion to Grades 6-9) | Academic Career Pathways

ACP briefings and workshops
Briefings are held annually to provide prospective applicants, Heads of Institution and committee/panel members with an overview of the schemes, and highlight any changes to previous exercises.

In addition, workshops are run for staff considering applying for promotion via ACP 6-9, to provide advice on how to prepare a promotion application.  The Cambridge Centre for Teaching and Learning (CCTL) run workshops for T&S staff, and the Postdoc Academy runs workshops for R staff.

Academic Career Pathways Application Support Scheme
The ACP Application Support Scheme is open to academics and researchers in all subjects and seeks to encourage and support applicants to apply for promotion via the ACP schemes. More information on the scheme can be found here. You can sign up for the scheme here.

A summary of changes to promotion processes
The table below provides a summary of the University’s previous promotion processes (until academic year 2025-26), and the relevant replacement scheme with effect from the 2026-27 academic year.
 

Details of the ACP transfer process are set out below.  The transfer applies to the R&T and T&S pathways only.  It is not possible to transfer from the R pathway to the R&T or T&S pathways, nor vice versa. 

• ACP Transfer Process
• ACP T&S Additional Eligibility Criteria
• ACP Transfer Forms