References

You are required to provide names, titles and contact details of nominated referees and must declare any conflicts of interest or areas of collaboration. You should not nominate close colleagues, collaborators, co-authors or former students as referees. In exceptional circumstances, for example if you work in a field in which there are few academics, you may nominate academics with whom you have collaborated, but they will be required to declare their interest as set out in the letter requesting the reference.  

A referee’s input is critical in enabling a full and objective assessment of an applicant’s contribution. Referees are therefore requested to comment across the entire range of your duties with explicit reference to the relevant Assessment Criteria and to provide a full and frank appraisal of your suitability for promotion/progression. 

Referees can provide useful insights into all aspects of your work but are especially important in assessing your contribution and standing in both teaching and scholarship.  

Referees’ reports are subject to the strictest confidentiality; however, referees will be made aware that in providing a reference, they give their explicit permission for the use of that reference for consideration under the ACP T&S scheme.  Confidential references normally are exempt from disclosure to the applicant under the terms of data protection legislation.  Despite this, we often receive requests from applicants for copies of their references.  By default, we will not disclose references without checking with the referee first.

For clinicians who hold an honorary clinical NHS consultant contract, an additional statement will be required from the relevant Clinical Director to confirm there are no issues with clinical practice.

Additional references might be sought in the case of a multidisciplinary application or internal nomination from cognate subject areas.

The Faculty Committee assessing your application will also nominate referees to comment on your application.  FCs are recommended to consult with the applicant’s Head of Institution for recommendations on appropriate referees to nominate. On request, the FC will inform you of the referees from whom they have sought references.

Prior to nominating referees, both applicants and Faculty Committees must confirm with the individuals they wish to nominate that they are willing and able to provide a reference, i.e. the applicant should be contact the individuals prior to providing their details on the application form, and the FC should contact the individuals prior to sending the formal reference request.

Table 3: Summary of first-time application referencing requirements

Re-applicants

An individual is considered a re-applicant if they unsuccessfully applied for the same office/post in the ACP T&S 2024 exercise. For re-applicants, the references from the previous exercise are carried forward and additional references are required, as set out in Table 4 below.

A referee cited in a previous application should only be requested to update the earlier reference if there have been significant changes in the applicant's publication record or other circumstances relating to the case for promotion since the referee was last approached. Updated references are counted as additional references. Reference relating to the previous application for the same office/post should be listed and carried forward.

Table 4: Summary of re-applicant referee requirements (additional to the references carried forward from the previous year)

Promotion to a (Teaching) Professorship (Grade 11 and 12) and Clinical (Teaching) Professorship (Scheme A)

Most referees for promotion to a (Teaching) Professorship (Grades 11 and 12) or a Clinical (Teaching) Professorship will be external to the University but there may be circumstances where it is appropriate to nominate referees from cognate subject areas in the University.  

In choosing your nominated referees, you should note that referees are expected to be international leaders in their field, and familiar with your field of expertise in teaching and scholarship. At least one of the referees should be able to comment on your service to the academic community externally.  You can choose to nominate a referee from the University of Cambridge, but they should be external to your own institution.

Promotion to Associate (Teaching) Professor Grade 10 (Scheme A)

For promotion to Associate (Teaching) Professor (Grade 10) two references are required, at least one of which should be internal and one of the referees should be able to comment authoritatively on the quantity of teaching and service to the University and academic community. 

In choosing your nominated referees, you should note that referees are expected to be leaders in their field and familiar with your field of teaching and scholarship. You must supply the details of one internal referee and one reserve (who could be internal or external), and the FC will provide the details of one referee and one reserve.  

Promotion to Associate (Teaching) Professor (Grade 9); to Senior Teaching Associate (Grade 8) and to Teaching Associate (Grade 7) (Scheme B)

For promotion to Associate (Teaching) Professor (Grade 9); to Senior Teaching Associate (Grade 8) and to Teaching Associate (Grade 7) two references are required, at least one of which should be internal and one of the referees should be able to comment authoritatively on the quantity of teaching and service to the University and academic community. 

In choosing your nominated referees, you should note that referees are expected to be leaders in their field and familiar with your field of teaching and scholarship. You must supply the details of one internal referee and one reserve (who could be internal or external) and the FC will provide the details of one referee and one reserve.
 

Statements

In certain circumstances, additional statements will be sought in support of an individual's application, as follows:

• If an applicant requests that their College teaching or work as a Director of Studies be taken into account, an additional statement will be required from the Senior Tutor of the College at which the applicant has regularly undertaken the greater part of their College teaching (the details of which the applicant should provide in their application). The statement should provide a factual description of the scope and amount of such teaching work, and comment on the effectiveness of the applicant's contribution.
• For clinicians who hold an honorary clinical NHS consultant contract, an additional statement will be requested from the appropriate NHS Trust to provide comment on the applicant's role and effectiveness of their contribution to clinical work and postgraduate medical teaching and training.
• For applicants engaged in clinical veterinary work and postgraduate veterinary teaching and training, an additional statement will be required from the relevant Clinical Manager to provide comment on the applicant's role and the effectiveness of their contribution to clinical work, including postgraduate veterinary teaching and training.  The information provided in relation to teaching will be considered in relation to the teaching criteria, and the information provided in relation to clinical duties will be considered in relation to the service criterion.