In April 2023, the University’s HR Committee established a Researcher Reward and Progression Arrangements Review Working Group. The Group’s remit was to undertake a comprehensive assessment of the University’s existing approaches to rewarding Research staff for excellence and enabling them to achieve career progression.
The work undertaken by the Group included extensive consultation, involving a University-wide survey, presentations of the proposals at University committees, and a number of open meetings.
Significant shortcomings were identified in the University’s current arrangements for Researcher reward and progression, which are outlined in the Report of the proposals (Reports - Cambridge University Reporter 6761).
The final proposals have now been approved by Grace, for the introduction of an Academic Career Pathway (Research) scheme, which includes changes to the titles of existing researcher positions and the introduction of new researcher positions at certain grades, as well as new promotion and pay progression schemes. More details on each of these changes can be found below.
The changes being made to researcher titles and the introduction of new positions in Grades 6, 8 and 10 are explained in the table below.
Table 1:
| Grade | Current title | New title |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Research Assistant | Research Assistant (no change) |
| 6 | No role at this grade currently | Senior Research Assistant |
| 7 | Research Associate | Research Associate (no change) |
| 8 | No role at this grade currently | Senior Research Associate |
| 9 | Senior Research Associate | Assistant Research Professor |
| 10 | No role at this grade currently | Associate Research Professor |
| 11♦ | Principal Research Associate | Research Professor (Grade 11)* |
| 12♦ | Director of Research | Research Professor (Grade 12)**/*** |
All Research employees will be contacted in the coming weeks to explain how they will be affected by the changes outlined in Table 1. Those whose titles are due to change will be moved to their new title with effect from 1 October 2025. Please note that new roles at Grades 6,8, and 10 will not be introduced until 1 October 2026.
Employees will have the option to retain their existing title. This will be explained further in the communication sent to affected staff. However, those who choose to retain their existing title must note that should they successfully apply for promotion to a senior position in the future, their title on promotion would be the new title for the appropriate grade as noted in Table 1.
Please note, some Research employees will not be affected by the above title changes, including those who are Research Fellows, and others with specific circumstances. However, all Research employees will be contacted to confirm how they will be affected. Research staff currently on, or about to go on, a long-term period of absence should be contacted by their Departmental Administrators directly to ensure they are aware of the upcoming changes and understand how they may be impacted.
* This title will not apply to Clinical Researchers.
** In the case of Clinical Researchers, the title will be Clinical Research Professor
*** Grade 12 Research Professors will be assigned a specific band within Grade 12, as per the University's salary scales.
♦ Those who change titles to Research Professor at Grade 11 or Grade 12, or Clinical Research Professor, will be able to use the honorific 'Professor' in their name.
New promotion processes for Research staff are planned to be introduced in the academic year 2026-27. The existing promotion processes, including the Senior Researcher Promotions scheme, will therefore remain in place for the next academic year (2025-26) and will offer promotion to the new titles outlined in Table 1.
The promotion scheme for Research staff applying to Grades 10 to 12 will be incorporated into the existing process for Academic staff, which will now be named Academic Career Pathways for Promotion to Grades 10-12 (ACP 10-12). This will also be available for those on the Academic (Research and Teaching) and Academic (Teaching and Scholarship) pathways. Applications for promotion will be assessed by three levels of committees: Faculty Committee, School Committee and Vice-Chancellor’s Committee. From the academic year 2026-27, the ACP 10-12 scheme will replace the Senior Researcher Promotions (SRP) scheme.
The promotion scheme for those applying to Grades 6 to 9 will be a new process, named Academic Career Pathways for Promotion to Grades 6-9 (ACP 6-9), and will also include those on the Academic (Teaching and Scholarship) pathway. Applications for promotion will be assessed by promotion panels, which will be formed by the relevant Faculty Board. The recommendations from the promotions panels will be reported to the School Committees which assess applications under the ACP 10-12 scheme, for information. The current processes for promotion to Research Associate (Grade 7) and Senior Research Associate (Grade 9) will end from 1 October 2026.
Current employees who are not paid on the University’s pay scales (i.e. those on NHS pay scales, those who have TUPE transferred to the University and retained their legacy pay scales) will be mapped across the University’s grading structure to determine their eligibility for promotion purposes.
A new pay progression scheme for Academic and Research staff will be introduced in the academic year 2025-26, named the Contribution Reward Scheme (Academic and Research) (CRS (AR)). This scheme will be run annually, and will be for those in Grades 5 to 11 only. Academic and Research staff at Grade 12 will be eligible for the existing Academic Career Pathways (Grade 12) scheme. Current employees who are not paid on the University’s pay scales (i.e. those on NHS pay scales, those who have TUPE transferred to the University and retained their legacy pay scales) will not be eligible for the CRS (AR).
The new scheme will operate in the same way as the existing Contribution Reward Scheme for Academic-Related and Assistant Staff in Grades 1 to 11, which will be renamed the Contribution Reward Scheme (Professional Services) (CRS (PS)). Nominations for pay progression will be assessed at an institutional level, with approval given by Awarding Authorities, which will be set up for each School/Non-School Institution.
Please note, the last exercise of the existing Researcher Contribution Increment Scheme (RCIS) was launched in June for awards effective 1 October 2025. The RCIS will then stop and be replaced by the new CRS (AR).
This scheme also replaces the Contribution Reward Schemes for academic staff that have previously been incorporated into Academic Career Pathways schemes, namely:
- The Pay Progression Scheme B for Associate Professors at Grade 10, part of ACP R&T
- The Contribution Reward Scheme for Associate (Teaching) Professors at Grade 10, part of ACP T&S
- The Contribution Reward Scheme for Teaching Associates and Senior Teaching Associates in Grades 6-8, part of ACP T&S
The Recruitment Administration System (RAS) is being updated to incorporate the new researcher titles. Corresponding updates will be made to job descriptions in the Role Profile Template Library. A communication will be sent to all RAS users detailing the upcoming changes.
Departments/Faculties/Institutions will be provided with template wording to include in job adverts, explaining the forthcoming title changes effective 1 October 2025. Guidance will also be provided for managing recruitment that takes place throughout the crossover period.
Important notes:
For those recruiting researchers with start dates of 1 October 2025 or later, job adverts should use the new titles. Any newly recruited employees who start on 1 October 2025 or later will be recruited to the new titles.
For those recruiting researchers with start dates between July and 1 October 2025, they will be recruited to the current titles. They will be contacted to inform them of the changes, and they will have the option to retain their existing title, in the same way as all other Researchers employed prior to 1 October 2025.
The table below provides a summary of the expected timeframes for the stages of implementation of the Academic Career Pathway for Research staff:
Table 2:
| Element | Launch | Effective |
|---|---|---|
|
Title Changes |
July 2025 |
1 October 2025 |
|
Contribution Reward Scheme |
February 2026 |
1 August 2026 |
|
New Grades/Positions |
- |
1 October 2026 |
|
Academic Career Pathways (Grades 10-12) |
August 2026 |
1 October 2027 |
|
Academic Career Pathways (Grades 6-9) |
January 2027 |
1 October 2027 |
Table 3:
| Current scheme | End date (if applicable) | Replacement scheme | Effective date/launch |
| Researcher Contribution Increment Scheme (RCIS) | The last exercise is currently running. The deadline for applications is 22 August 2025. Awards made under this scheme will be effective 1 October 2025. | Contribution Reward Scheme (Academic and Research). | The new scheme will launch in February 2026. Awards made under this scheme will be effective 1 August 2026. |
| Contribution Reward Scheme for Associate Professors at Grade 10, previously part of the ACP R&T scheme | The last exercises of these schemes ran in the 2025 ACP R&T and ACP T&S exercises. Awards made under these schemes will be effective 1 October 2025. | ||
| Contribution Reward Scheme for Associate (Teaching) Professors at Grade 10, previously part of the ACP T&S scheme | |||
| Contribution Reward Scheme for Teaching Associates and Senior Teaching Associates in Grades 6-8, previously part of the ACP T&S scheme | |||
| Senior Researcher Promotions Scheme | The last exercise will launch in September 2025. Promotions made under this scheme will be effective 1 October 2026. | Academic Career Pathways for Promotion to Grades 10 to 12 | The new scheme will launch in August 2026. Promotions made under this scheme will be effective 1 October 2027. |
| Local institution/faculty led processes for Researcher promotions to Grades 7 and 9 | The local processes will continue to operate for the 2025-26 academic year. | Academic Career Pathways for Promotion to Grades 6 to 9 | The new scheme will launch in January 2027. Promotions made under this scheme will be effective 1 October 2027. |
| Academic Career Pathways (Research and Teaching) | The last exercise will launch in August 2025. Promotions made under this scheme will be effective 1 October 2026. | Academic Career Pathways for Promotion to Grades 10 to 12 | The new scheme will launch in August 2026. Promotions made under this scheme will be effective 1 October 2027. |
| Academic Career Pathways (Teaching and Scholarship) | The last exercise will launch in August 2025. Promotions made under this scheme will be effective 1 October 2026. |
For those applying for promotion to Grade 10 or higher: Academic Career Pathways for Promotion to Grades 10 to 12
For those applying for promotion to Grade 9 or lower: Academic Career Pathways for Promotion to Grades 6 to 9 |
The new scheme will launch in August 2026. Promotions made under this scheme will be effective 1 October 2027.
The new scheme will launch in January 2027. Promotions made under this scheme will be effective 1 October 2027. |
It is anticipated that affected staff will be contacted in July. If you have any questions in the meantime, please contact ACP@admin.cam.ac.uk.