The Professional Development Scheme is a comprehensive, high quality on-line system for maintaining an audited profile, and for tracking and guiding training and professional development in the field of clinical research. It allows individuals to record the course of their professional development and is beneficial to employers as it offers a professional ready-made package to help them support, guide and develop all of their clinical research staff. The scheme provides information, e-courses and guidance, and is a free, secure, validated and recognised system.
This programme is tightly governed by an oversight committee made up of highly experienced experts from representative countries. The point accrual system is continually reviewed to provide confidence and to ensure programme integrity.
Our aim is to make the Professional Development Scheme an internationally recognised and respected professional body. Therefore the programme is subject to an on-going audit process which will validate up to 15% of the scheme’s members. The purpose of the programme’s auditing process is to validate and confirm the qualifications and skills which have been reported in a member’s profile.
Within this validation mechanism we will ask members for one or more of the following (where applicable and if not already supplied):
- Employers/supervisor’s contact details
- Academic and training certificates
- Other evidence of professional development such as proof of professional registrations and attendance to conferences, training courses, etc.
The member’s employer/supervisor will be contacted and asked to verify that the information provided in the member’s profile is true and correct.
This auditing process will help to ensure that the Professional Development Scheme is trustworthy and can be relied on as a robust and credible professional development programme.