Professional Registration

As part of our commitment to our staff at the Sanger Institute, we support our our Computational staff, Research Assistants, Staff Scientists, Scientific Managers and Technicians to gain Professional Registration.

Professional registration is a status awarded to qualifying individuals based on an independent review of knowledge, competence and commitment to professionalism and ethical standards. In contrast to an academic qualification, professional registration is a personal accreditation which is experience-based.

Below are first-hand experiences of our Sanger Institute colleagues of pursuing and gaining Professional Registration, along with their thoughts on how it has benefitted their careers.

Gary Thorpe

I have experienced more confidence and enhanced career progression

I am a Registered Science Technician (RSciTech) with the Royal Society of Chemistry. I have found the professional registration journey to be a highly rewarding experience. It makes you pause and think about the work that you have completed over the years, as well as list your achievements.

Reflection is an important part of the application process and once registered, is a skill that I have continued to use after completing CPD activities. The main benefits of registration that I have experienced are more confidence, increased feeling of pride in my achievements and enhanced career progression. I look forward to continuing my registration journey to RSci and CSci, as well as helping others who are already on their journeys.

Jade Williams-Gill

It can give you guidance and confidence to progress your career

I followed the path to becoming a Registered Scientist (RSci) over two years ago so that the work I do can be recognised on a broader spectrum within the scientific field. It showed past and current employers that I am a capable individual with transferable skills and demonstrated my commitment to the reflection of my roles through CPD.

Since becoming an RSci I joined the Royal Society of Biology – being a part of this society has provided me with opportunities to network, and access learning resources, lectures, and seminars.  Although professional registration is not globally recognised I hope that one day that will change. I urge other scientists considering this qualification, to do so, as it can give you the guidance and confidence you may need to progress in your career.

Laura Grout

I have made valuable connections, resulting in a great network

I am a Chartered Scientist and I maintain my professional registration status through the Institute of Science and Technology. I have worked my way up the registration levels of RSciTech (2015), RSci (2018) and CSci (2021) as I have gained further experience over the course of my career.

I am a Registrant Champion with the Science Council and enjoy providing registration support to my colleagues. Key benefits of registration for me have been increased confidence, career progression and networking. Completing the application required me to pause and reflect on my work achievements, which gave me a feeling of pride. I have used my registration status to promote myself when applying for new roles, as it demonstrates that I am a competent practitioner and that I take personal responsibility for my continued professional development. Throughout my professional registration journey I have made valuable connections with other registrants and volunteers, resulting in a great network.

Tristan Self

It helped me identify areas and skills I needed to develop

I found the professional registration process a fulfilling experience, both registering as IEng and more recently for CEng in 2019. Overall, the process was straightforward but did take some time. Taking each section (competence) in turn made this less daunting. I also discovered that you needn’t delay your application until you feel you have met the required competencies; the registration process itself helps identify things you may not have thought of and gives you direction of where you need to develop.

Registration has allowed me to demonstrate my professional development, engineering competence and ethics to fellow engineers and employers, giving me confidence in my skills, abilities and views to ensure that the right things get done. The registration process was also a driver for my own personal development. The Engineering Council’s UK-SPEC competence framework, which sets out the requirements for professional registration, helped me identify areas and skills I needed to develop and was a catalyst for me achieving an MSc in Computing for Commerce and Industry at the Open University.

Ian Whitmore

It was a nice chance to reflect on the work I have been doing

I am currently a Registered Scientist with the Royal Society of Biology (RSB). I found the process of completing my competency report as part of my application both challenging and rewarding. It was a nice chance to reflect on the work I have been doing, to think about my approach to work and to put together a good record of my achievements. I felt pride on completing the application, and I am enjoying continuing my professional development by helping other people who are looking to become professionally registered.