Applicant Support Mentor (ASM): Science Council, IST, NTDC & RSB 

Technician Commitment roles

I was an Applicant support mentor for the Science Council, starting in 2019, having stepped down in January 2026. Formerly, I held similar positions with the IST and NTDC as well, running workshops in person, lecturing at conferences and producing webinars and on line learning tools.

A national Service

I have mentored more than 3000 STEM technicians in about 100 on line workshops and in person events and mentored collectively and as individuals, perhaps another 1000 STEM scientists in HE, FE, industry and the civil service. These workshops I have been provided at annual technical conferences, in person and on line, as well as at Scientific trade shows and partner specific forums for the NTDC, Science Council and IST. 

 

  • NTDC: Birmingham, Glasgow, NewCastle, Durham, Demontfort Leicester, Oxford, Bradford.
  • IST: NewCastle, Cambridge, York, QUB, University of Leicester. 
  • Science Council: Leeds, Queen Mary, University of London, Harper Adams, LMB Cambridge, Sanger Centre Cambridge, Francis Crick, London, SLS trade show, Nottingham, University of Nottingham, Lab Innovations trade show, NEC Birmingham, Midlands Innovation Festival of Talent.  

On line Learning Materials for Professional Registration

In addition to in person workshops and webinars, I have also produced a plethora of learning materials and resources; sometimes as stand alone resources, other times linked to presentaions, e.g., 

On line Articles describing different aspects of Professional Registration

I have published seminal articles about Professional Registration, including expedited registration for qualified STEM apprentices in the IST Technical Magazine and conventional registration via the Science Council on line portal (CAP) in a prior edition of the IST Technical Magazine.

Blogs describing the Significance of Professional Registration

In addition to Journal articles I have written similar opinion pieces as on line blogs, e.g., "The landscape of Professional Registration and its impact within the wider Technician Commitment".

Assessment of Competency applications for Science Council Professional Registration

Since 2018, I have assessed perhaps 300 professional registration scripts for the IST, RSB & Science Council.

A back ground to Science Council Professional Registration

Reflections on the Technician Commitment & my involvement with Professional  Registration

Who can apply for Professional Registration

 

  • Any body as the process is inclusive.
  • Furthermore as explained below, there are different levels or registers depending on grade and job responsibilities.
  • The absence of a formal qualification does not preclude applying for senior registers like RSci (Level #6) and CSci (Level #7), providing you can demonstrate commensurate working practice through evidential competencies.

Why Apply?

 

The benefits of professional registration are numerous and well documented, including:

  • Validation of technical skills.
  • Validation of commitment to CPD, EDI and ethical practice.
  • enhanced opportunities inside and outside the STEM work place.

What do registers mean?

There are three registers pertaining to Professional registration: 

  • The first, RSciTech, is for persons practicing as a graduate with 1 to 2 post graduate professional experience
  • The Second is RSci and typically these are STEM graduates, including degree level apprentices, with 2-5 years of post graduate professional experience and value added conduct compared to RSciTechs, like training, troubleshooting and method development.
  • The 3rd register CSci is for persons in more senior roles who supervise and/or manage teams. Moreover, they might not have active bench careers say in a laboratory setting but could manage Lab infrastructure.

How do I apply?

 

 

Watch my Videos

Reflections on the Technician Commitment & my involvement with Professional  Registration

Explanation of Professional Registration

A video about my mentoring duties at the University of Leicester & the meaning of Science Council Professional Registration.

Science Council Interviews me

An on line interview with the Science Council about my own motivations for becoming Professionally registered and subsequent involvement in wider Technician Commitment objectives, including my ASM role with the Science Council.

Science Council Professional Registration Videos

The following are videos produced by the Science Council & on their you tube sight which provide background to Professional Registration

Science Council Professional Registration Videos

The following are videos produced by me in association with the Science Council. They clarify different aspects of Professional Registration and are designed as learning aides.

My Science Council You Tube videos

On line instructional webinars on different aspects of applying for Professional Registration, linked to the Science Council You Tube Channel.

Science Council Professional Registration publications

The following are articles written by me 

An advert by Laboratory news making reference to my two publications on Professional Registration: One about the conventional graduate routae, the other an abbreviared toute (R2R) for  STEM Apprentices

Standard Science Council workshops

Below I have provided examples of on line and in person workshops on Professional Registration I have provided for the Science Council @Durham, Harper Adams, John Innes, Leicester and Midlands Innovation  

During the first hour,  the workshop introduces the benefits of registration, delineates the three registers, based on seniority, outlines the on line application process, CAP, with concomitant explanations about joining a licenced body & outlines the principal competency categories. 

In the second half of the work shop, competencies are reflected upon in the context of the three registers and participants are also asked to consider examples of their own practice and how these map to both respective registers and competency descriptors. This is achieved by in person discussion or in on line delivery via mentimeter exercises. 

John Innes Workshop 2023

I provided an on line work shop to Technicians at the John Innes Research institute and associated facilities.

This workshop focussed on introducing Professional Regsitration, including:

  • Why do it.
  • How to apply. 
  • Licenced bodies and CAP.
  • The three professional registers, viz. RSciTech, RSci and CSci.

Apprentice Mentoring

For about 1 year, (circa 2024-25), I mentored Science Council apprentices, pertaining to their own personal particulars, regarding Professional Registration and, indeed, other STEM related matters, like hacks for effective presenting.

Lab Innovations workshops

These workshops were provided as "Lab on Demand" webinars, exploring the Technician commitment and recapitulating a live talk show from Lab innovations 2019, "Lab on Demand 3" and a second, exploring the impact of Professional registration and handy hints for completion of competencies ("Lab on Demand 7").

Midlands Innovation Workshops.

Between 2020 and 2024, I provided at respective "Festivals of Talent" back-to-back interactive workshops on all aspects Professional Registration. In particular:

  • The Initial introductory workshop introduced Professional Registration: How to do it and why do it; The three principal registers commensurate with level of experience, grade and job responsibilities, viz. RSciTech; RSci & CSci; & joining a licenced body as an integral part of CAP.
  • The subsequent workshop took a deep dive into examples of competency practice(s) in the context of these three registers:
  • Competencies are the main evidence to demonstrate work place proficiency in your on-line application via the Common Application Portal or CAP. 

Introduction to Professional Registration.

A deep dive into Competency completion.

Harper Adams Technical Conference 2025

I provided an interactive work shop on Professional Registration for Agro Bio Technicians at Harper Adams University.

The work shop was divided into two sections:  

Durham University Technical Conference 2025

This in person trip to Durham, in order to provide a work shop consisted of the usual introduction, cf. what is it? how to apply? Licenced bodies. The benefits of applying & the 3 principal registers, cf. RSciTech, RSci & CSci.  

Introduction to Professional Registration.

A deep dive into Competency completion.

Fast Track Registration (R2R) for Qualified Apprentices

In 2024, I helped pioneer the shortened route to registration (R2R) for the Science Council in association with the EPAO, Marshall Assessment and ultimately this led to the current iteration of the "Short R2R", which I  helped promote for the Science Council. My position at Marshall assessment, linked to this work, was based on a direct invite.

In 2025, I was invited to participate on the judging panel for the 2025 "Lab Innovation awards" and, in addition, was an invited speaker at this years conference, where I will be speaking about the aforementioned Fast route to Professional Registration (R2R) for qualified STEM apprentices.

MMU Degree Apprentice Workshop

As depicted, in 2024, I also attended a training event for qualified STEM apprentices who were part of a Level #6 degree level apprenticeship which as a "fully mapped" apprentice standard for Biology & Chemistry was eligible for an automatic award of RSci when the Apprentice standard had been obtained.

In essence, Work place materials, evidenced during end point assessment to gain the apprentice qualification are taken in lieu of competency statements.

A pdf archive of my Professional Registration talk for MMU 2025.

2025 Lab Innovations show.

At this show, in my capacity as an ASM, I spoke about the fast track route to professional registration for Qualified STEM apprenticeships.

This talk about Fast track registration has been re iterated at the MMU Apprentice training Forum 2024, the NTDC partners forum, and NTDC tech meet #1 as depicted on this page. 

Details of eligible standards can be found on the Science Council website.

Registration workshops at the University of Leicester

Apart from my outside Science Council duties, I provided in house mentoring for Professional Registration at the University of Leicester.

This is summarised in diagrams and text opposite and in the You tube video, made for the first reformatted Technician Commitment conference at the University of Leicester.

Promotion of in house Professional Registration Mentoring at Leicester

Workshops were provided to Technicians at the University of Leicester. 

These were provided in two sessions, affording an introduction and then a deeper dive into competency completion.

Following these generic sessions, a more personalised provision was offered to individual registrants in order for them to feel confident that they could competently complete their answers and subsequent on line CAP submission.

In addition to the above one-on-one mentoring I also conducted open house talks on Professional Registration as part of Technician Commitment launch and publicity events at the University of Leicester.   

Lab Innovations: Advisory Board duties

In my capacity as a former recipient of a Lab Innovations award (circa 2024), I was asked to present one of the awards to a subsequent winner in 2025.  

Based on my reputation and winning the "Outstanding achievement" award, circa 2024, I was invited to join the advisory board of Lab Innovations.