How The LifeTrain Principles Have Helped Me Develop Myself Mark Calmiano LifeTrain Workshop Brussels 02.MAR.2015
Outline 2 Background To myself and to UCB Continuing Professional Development (CPD) At UCB Royal Society Of Chemistry (RSC) Chartered Chemist (CChem) Scheme CPD scheme backed by a professional body How CChem is implemented at UCB My path to achieving CChem status Lessons Learnt Summary
UCB UCB is global biopharmaceutical company Focused on discovery and development of innovative medicines to transform the lives of people living with severe diseases of the immune system or the central nervous system 3 UCB Centre: Corporate HQ, Brussels, Belgium Discovery Research Slough, UK Discovery Research Braine, Belgium
My Background 4 Senior Scientist CADD (Computer Assisted Drug Design) 2001 To Present Applying computational chemistry to model and design drugs for the treatment of patients with severe diseases PhD Computational Chemistry 1997-2001 Computer Simulations Of Zeolites BSc (Hons), Chemistry 1994 1997 Final Year Project In Computational Chemistry
Continued Professional Development At UCB 5 Personal/Professional Development is part of our annual objectives Appraised on how we have performed and how we have developed Every employee is required to have a personal development plan Numerous Soft Skill training courses available E.g. Communicating with impact, influencing skills, time management UCB Learning Online Training Plan comprised of compulsory courses required to be an employee at UCB e.g. Code of conduct, Lab Notebook procedures, Workplace safety Attendance at conferences and workshops specifically related to our roles Encouraged to present our work Learn about new methods and techniques which we can apply at UCB Encouraged to publish papers and patents
Royal Society Of Chemistry (RSC) CChem Scheme 6 The RSC is the UK s professional body for chemical scientists The CChem scheme rewards and recognises continued professional development in the field of chemical sciences The award of CChem is achieved either by completing a 2 year personal development plan (PDP) or directly awarded to chemical scientists with over 6 years of experience Must be a Member or Fellow of the RSC Hold an RSC accredited degree Demonstrate that the chemical knowledge and skills derived from education and training are critical to fulfilling job requirements Demonstrate development of 12 CChem Professional Attributes 2 Year PDP Route Collect examples over a 2 year period (from the date of enrolment on the scheme) which demonstrate development against the 12 CChem professional attributes Compile evidence in a portfolio which is submitted for assessment by the RSC at the end of 2 years
My Path To CChem 7 Member of the RSC since my undergraduate degree I knew about the Chartered Chemist scheme but had no real idea of whether it was relevant to me UCB accredited CChem scheme created an environment for me to work towards CChem at UCB RSC have been satisfied that the 12 CChem Professional Attributes can be exemplified by the job requirements for working as a chemist at UCB As a result we can demonstrate development in the CChem attributes using examples from our daily working lives at UCB Started on the 2 year PDP route to CChem in 2012 Opted for the PDP rather than direct award as it offered me a more structured path to CChem Identify examples where I was already demonstrating the required attributes Identify areas where I wasn t demonstrating the required attributes and decide how I was going to address and develop in these areas Successfully achieved CChem award in 2014
Examples From My CChem Portfolio 8 Example from day to day work Example from outside day to day work
CChem Lessons Learnt: What Worked Well 9 Accredited Scheme lowered the barrier to starting on the CChem scheme A group of 4 of us at UCB started on the scheme at around the same time, this helped enormously We had regular informal meetings to check how everyone was progressing, share ideas for how to address attributes we were struggling with and generally support each other to complete the scheme Being able to use examples from our daily working lives to illustrate the 12 professional attributes was helpful Personal development came from the attributes I was not currently demonstrating in my day to day work
CChem Lessons Learnt: Areas To Review 10 CChem can be seen as just another qualification to put on your CV rather than a continued personal and professional development experience The direct award scheme feels less like a development scheme What happens after the award of CChem? Reaffirm annually that I am continuing to demonstrate the CChem attributes Can continue to add to our PDP portfolio but this is not a requirement for retaining CChem status
Summary 11 CPD is self motivated the drive to develop must come from within Structure and support networks are important to help us achieve our development goals Encourage people to look for development schemes supported by a relevant professional body
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