[Rdf-internal] FW: ADC Process and Research Group Line Management – Proposal for School-Level Change

[Bernd Stahl (staff)]

Hi all,
Following today’s RKE meeting where we discussed the ADC, I have just sent the following to Tony, Andy, and Mat. I thought you should be aware that this has happened.

Kind regards,
Bernd

From: Bernd Stahl (staff) <Bernd.Stahl at nottingham.ac.uk>
Sent: 03 June 2026 15:53
To: Tony Pridmore (staff) <tony.pridmore at nottingham.ac.uk>; Andy Crabtree (staff) <andy.crabtree at nottingham.ac.uk>; Mathew Crosier (staff) <M.Crosier at nottingham.ac.uk>
Subject: ADC Process and Research Group Line Management – Proposal for School-Level Change


Dear colleagues,

I hope you are all well. I am writing to raise an issue regarding the Appraisal and Development Conversations (ADC) process in the School, which I believe warrants attention ahead of the coming academic year. This topic came up at today’s RKE Committee meeting, and Andy asked me to write this up so that it can be fed into school discussions.

As Heads of Research Groups, we carry formal line management responsibility for members of our groups. However, ADCs are currently conducted by colleagues allocated on a 'best fit' basis, sitting outside the line management relationship. I understand this reflects the university-wide ADC guidelines for the R&T job family, which acknowledge that direct line management structures 'may not be in place' in all cases. In our School, however, clear research group structures and line management responsibilities are in place — and the current arrangement, in which the line manager is excluded from the ADC, creates a significant disconnect.

In practice, this means that as a Head of Research Group I do not know what my group members agree in their ADC meetings, cannot contribute to the objectives they set, and cannot align those objectives with the strategic direction of the group. This matters not only for coherence but for accountability: research group leaders are expected to report on and answer for the performance of their group. That accountability is hollow if we have no meaningful way to shape how group members contribute, develop, and align their work with the group's direction. The ADC is precisely the mechanism through which those conversations should happen — and at present we are excluded from it.

This is a structural problem that is difficult to justify under any circumstances, but it is particularly difficult to reconcile with the University's and the School's current increased focus on performance and the alignment of individual contributions with institutional priorities — values that the ADC process itself is explicitly designed to serve.

My proposal is straightforward: research group leaders, as line managers, should be the default appraiser for members of their group. This is already the norm for other job families at the University. Exceptions to this rule should of course be possible — there will be circumstances, such as where a staff member and their group leader have a significant personal conflict, where a different arrangement is appropriate and should be accommodated. But these should be exceptions to a clear default, not the current situation in which the line manager has no formal role in the process at all.

Given that the FN2 consultation is ongoing and new structures will not be in place before the start of the next academic year, I would ask that the School takes this forward as a local arrangement with immediate effect, so that it can be operational for the 2025–26 ADC cycle. This does not require any change to university-level policy — the ADC guidelines already provide for local flexibility in appraiser allocation — and it would bring the School into closer alignment with the spirit of the ADC framework.

I would welcome the opportunity to discuss this further, and I am happy to work with colleagues to develop a simple set of principles for implementation, including how exceptions would be managed.

Many thanks for considering this.

Best wishes,
Bernd



Bernd Carsten STAHL
Professor of Critical Research in Technology
Responsible Digital Futures Group<https://www.responsible-digital-futures.org/>
School of Computer Science<https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/computerscience/>
UNIVERSITY of NOTTINGHAM<https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/>

T: +44 7952 875 862
E: bernd.stahl at nottingham.ac.uk <mailto:Bernd.stahl at nottingham.ac.uk>
W: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/computerscience/people/bernd.stahl

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