B1: Work autonomously and take responsibility for the work of self and others.

It is important for this competence to ensure you describe your contribution, responsibility and impact on a certain task or project and make it clear what you personally have achieved i.e. “I” not “we”. In formulating your answers and giving relevant examples, you should consider the following:

• You will be expected to undertake your work without day-to-day supervision and so you should demonstrate that you are able to achieve this

• You should demonstrate your understanding of when you may need to seek guidance from others and how you would obtain this guidance

• If you are responsible for managing the work of others, you should clearly describe how you discharge those responsibilities

B1: Work autonomously while knowing when to escalate appropriately and recognising limits of scope of practice.

We are looking for an example of how you work with no supervision for certain key tasks, experiments or procedures associated with your role within required time frames.  You will also be able to demonstrate your understanding of when you need to seek input from either your supervisor or others  and when to escalate.

B1: Work consistently and effectively with minimal supervision to appropriate standards and protocols and know when to escalate appropriately.

We are looking for an example of how you carry out work with minimal input from your supervisor for certain key tasks, experiments or procedures associated with your role and completing them to the appropriate standards and time frame.  We are also looking for evidence that you know when to escalate appropriately and that you are able to make a judgement on when to escalate.

B2: Promote implement and take responsibility for robust policies and protocols relating to to health, safety and sustainability.

You should demonstrate that you understand the policies and protocols related to health, safety and sustainability that apply to the work you are undertaking, giving examples where you have implemented and promoted them and describe any responsibilities that you have related to this. In formulating your answers, you should consider the following:

• Demonstrate that you know where these policies and protocols are documented, and you are able to apply them in your practice

• How your work contributes to the update and development of your department/organisations policies and procedures

• How you 'promote' the awareness and application of these policies and protocols with others, especially peers and more junior colleagues

B2: Take responsibility for safe and sustainable working practices and contribute to their evaluation and improvement.

We are looking for an example of how you have taken responsibility for working safely and sustainably.

B2: Demonstrate how you apply safe working practices.

This means that you can explain the safe working practices applicable to your area of work and describe how you follow them.

B3: Promote and ensure compliance with all relevant regulatory requirements and quality standards.

You should demonstrate that you understand which regulatory requirements and quality standards apply to your area of work including data integrity and privacy. In formulating your answers and giving examples, you should consider the following:
• Describe what you do to ensure that these requirements and standards are being followed for those activities for which you are responsible • Describe how you promote the awareness of regulatory requirements and quality standards among peers and more junior colleagues • Describe how you safely store and handle data in line with national and international data protection and cyber security regulations

Remember to include outputs, as well as inputs.

Find more in-depth guidance in the useful information section of our website.

B3: Take responsibility for the quality of your work and also enable others to work to high standards.

This means that you can show how you are aware of the quality standards necessary for the work being carried out by you and others. You should be able to describe an example of how you enable  these standards and ensure that they are applied.

B3: Take responsibility for the quality of your work and the impact on others.

This means that you can describe how you take responsibility for the quality of the work that you

undertake and it’s impact on others within defined parameters and timelines– including if an activity does not work in the way that you expect.

C1: Demonstrate the ability to communicate effectively with specialist and non-specialist audiences.

A non-specialist audience is anyone working outside of your particular area of expertise, so it would not necessarily be a non-scientist. Your example(s) should indicate how you have communicated in a way that is effective to each type of audience. In formulating your answers, you should consider the following:

• Not just the content of the message but also the mode or style of delivery that is adapted according to the audience

• The feedback loop to gauge the understanding and improve future communications

C1: Demonstrate effective and appropriate communication skills

What we are looking for here is an example that you are an effective communicator.  The example can be through appropriate oral, written or electronic means.

C1: Demonstrate effective and appropriate communication skills

What we are looking for here is an example that you are an effective communicator.  The example can be through appropriate oral, written or electronic means.

C2: Demonstrate effective leadership through the ability to guide, influence, inspire and empathise with others.

This competence is about understanding your leadership skills and is not reserved for those in management roles, it is applicable to all. Examples could include but are not limited to:

• Experiences of mentoring or coaching you have had; you should consider how effective this was and the overall impact

• Considering when you have managed change within your organisation or overseen the implementation of any new processes; you should consider how effective this was and the overall impact

C2: Demonstrate effective interpersonal and behavioural skills.

This means that you can give an example that demonstrates the skills that you use to interact with colleagues in a constructive way within the work setting. In these situations it may be appropriate to discuss these with your supervisor, as an external perspective is often very useful in this regard.

C2: Demonstrate effective interpersonal and behavioural skills.

This means that you can demonstrate skills that you use to interact with colleagues in a constructive way within the work setting. In these situations it may be appropriate to discuss these with your supervisor, as an external perspective is often very useful in this regard.

C3: Demonstrate the ability to mediate, develop and maintain positive working relationships.

You should describe or define the “working relationship” and provide at least one example which focuses on your handling of a challenging interpersonal situation and demonstrates your ability to mediate and achieve a positive outcome. You should consider how through your approach you have changed or modified the behaviour or attitudes of others to positive effect. Examples could include but are not limited to:

• How you have managed the merger or integration of different teams

• Managing working relationships across different departments or organisations

• Interactions with committees, working groups or other professional body activities

• How you have managed and resolved a difficult relationship situation between members of a team for which you are responsible

C3: Demonstrate productive working relationships and an ability to resolve problems

This means that you should be able to describe how, when working with others, you are able to demonstrate that you developed positive working relationships and resolved the problem. Your example should demonstrate how those working relationships were effective in resolving problems.

C3: Demonstrate an ability to work effectively with others

This means ‘team work’, which can be in a large team or on a 1:1 basis. Your example should illustrate how you worked collectively with others, what your specific role was within the team, and what the outcome was.

D1: Demonstrate how you scope and plan and manage projects.

Describe an example where you have developed a project scope with clearly defined boundaries and project plans. Any problem solving techniques used should be highlighted along with potential benefits of the project to the business. You should make it clear the level of autonomy you had while working on the project, especially when the project is large covering multiple areas and a significant time span. You should show how you contributed to determining the resulting courses of action. Examples could include but are not limited to:

• Lead an operational project utilising resources across several disciplines

• A change management project aligning processes across sites

• An industry-wide project establishing guidance on technical standards and requirements

D1: Identify, review and select scientific techniques, procedures and methods to undertake tasks

This means you can give an example of work that you have undertaken showing where and why the method/procedure used was chosen as the best (or most relevant) to use.

D1: Recognise problems and apply appropriate scientific methods to identify causes and achieve solutions

What we are looking for here is an example of where you have problem solved or attempted to problem solve.

D2: Demonstrate the achievement of desired outcomes with the effective management of resources and risks.

Using projects with which you have been involved as examples you should describe your roles and responsibilities in managing the activities to achieve the desired outcomes. Examples could include but are not limited to:

• Identifying the resources (people and/or money) needed to undertake the activities

• Monitoring and surveillance of the progress of the activities

• Identification, evaluation and implementation of changes that may be needed to ensure the activities are successfully completed

• Identification and management of risks that could impact on the successful completion of the activities

D2: Contribute to the organisation of tasks and resources

This means that you can give examples of how you have contributed to the running of the laboratory/workshop/section or other types of working environment.

D2: Demonstrate how you use resources effectively.

This means that you can give examples of work that you have undertaken where the method, procedure, programme, equipment, or materials used was chosen as the best (or most relevant) to use. Your example should describe how you planned and organised these to complete the task and also how you reviewed choices – why the one you selected was the best compared to others that are available.

D3: Take responsibility for continuous improvement within a scientific or technical environment.

Your examples should indicate what actions you take to make improvements to your organisation as a whole. This could be through encouraging the continuous development of junior staff or through improvements to processes within the organisation. Examples could include but are not limited to:

• Evaluation of the performance of specialists methods and tools used

• Development of recommendations for future enhancements or modifications to procedures or working practices in order to achieve performance improvements

• Description of examples where your actions have led to performance improvement by yourself or others.

• Identification of lessons learned from activities undertaken by yourself or by others for whom you are responsible, such as what went well, went badly or was lacking

D3: Participate in the design, development and implementation of solutions

This means that you can give an example of ‘problem solving’ that describes your specific role in helping to overcome a specific problem. For instance it might mean that a process, programme, design, assay, or method suddenly stops working and you are involved in finding out the reason why. Your example should show what your role was in understanding the problem and what your contribution achieved.

D3: Participate in continuous process improvement.

What we are looking for is an example of how you have improved the efficiency of a way of working, for example this could include maintenance of stock levels, improved methods, new ways to increase throughput, health and safety or ways to increase cost-effectiveness.

D4: Contribute to continuous process improvement

This means that you can give an example which shows how you are aware of progress in your area and seek ways of improving the efficiency of your work. It should describe how you seek to discuss with your supervisor the strategy for achieving this. For instance this could include new and improved methods, new ways to increase throughput, or ways to increase cost-effectiveness.

E1: Comply with and promote relevant codes of conduct and practice.

You should provide comprehensive examples of how you have applied and promoted the codes of conduct under which you practice and the outcome.

Examples you may wish to include but are not limited to equality, diversity and inclusion, reliability and integrity and ethical practices.

E1: Comply with and promote relevant codes of conduct and practice.

This means that you can give an example of how you comply with a code of conduct (e.g. of your professional Body) or how you work within and promote all relevant legislative, regulatory and local requirements.

E1: Comply with relevant codes of conduct and practice

This means that you can give examples of how you, for instance comply with your professional body’s code of conduct or how you manage your work within all relevant legislative, regulatory and local requirements, frameworks such as Health and Safety Legislation, Home Office Regulations, Good Laboratory Practice (GLP), local Codes of Practice, etc.

E2: Demonstrate a commitment to professional development through continuing advancement of your own knowledge, understanding and competence.

Your answer should provide specific examples of what you have already done in terms of continuing professional development (CPD) and your plans for the coming year. In your examples you must describe how your engagement in CPD has benefited your practice and the users of your work and reflect on its impact.

Examples can be taken from any of the five categories of activity (work based learning, professional activity, formal/educational, self-directed learning and other).

e.g.

• Application of knowledge acquired on an external course that has benefited the business – how you acquired the knowledge of a new technology and how you planned, implemented and reviewed its success in your organisation

• Your work to promote careers in the STEM area including the design of materials and reflection on success

We are not looking for a list of courses here but evidence of how your CPD benefits your practice and benefits others.  

(Note registrants will need to comply with the Science Council CPD Standards)

E2: Maintain and enhance competence in own area of practice through professional development activity

This means that you undertake activities to enhance your competence in your own area of practice i.e. Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and reflect on its impact on you and others. We are not looking for a list of courses here but evidence of how your CPD benefits your practice and benefits others.  Your CPD may include work-based learning, professional activity, formal/educational, self-directed learning.

(Note registrants will need to comply with the Science Council CPD Standards)

E2: Maintain and enhance competence in own area of practice through professional development activity

This means that you can give an example of an activity you have undertaken to enhance your competence in your own area of practice i.e. Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and reflect on its impact on you and others. We are not looking for a list of courses here but evidence of how your CPD benefits your practice and benefits others.  Your CPD may include work-based learning, professional activity, formal/educational, self-directed learning.