Performance Review 1
Sheffield Hallam University:
Performance Review
Student: Megan Dutton
Supervisor: Jody Smith
First: 13/12/21
SKILL AREA Student Examples / Comments Supervisor Examples / Comments

A. Professional &
Organisational Awareness
1. General presentation
2. Equality & diversity
3. Professional ethics
4. Confidentiality
5. Company structure &
function
6. Departmental structure &
function
7. Commercial awareness
First:
 Follow casual work wear policy.
 Participated in equality and diversity HR training.
 Follow university policies, complete all work tasks to
the best of my ability, understand professional
responsibilities, ask for help when needed.
 Completed cyber awareness/information security and
GDPR training, completed mental health training
which addressed the limitations of confidentiality.
 The university is split into three colleges, the College
of Business, Technology and Engineering, the
College of Social Sciences and Arts and the College
of Health, Wellbeing and Life Sciences. Its function is
to provide further education and facilitate research,
with its three core activities being research and
innovation, teaching and learning, and commitment to
place. Attended ‘Transforming Lives & Introduction to
the Higher Education Sector’ induction session which
covered the universities mission and vision.
 Laboratory and Analytical Operations sits within
Technical Operations Resources and Services within
Student and Academic services. It is split into
research and analytical operations, life sciences and
science projects. The department supports
Biosciences and Chemistry, Chemical engineering,
MERI, BMRC, Food Sciences and Teacher Education
Science.
 Customers of LAO include students and academics
carrying out research in the BMRC. Attended the
‘Measuring Success and Impact’ induction session
which covered how the university's performance is
measured internally by KPIs and externally by league
First:
Megan has been part of the technical
team for the past 3 months and in this
time she has conducted herself in a
professional manner. She has
demonstrated that she has a sound
knowledge of what SHU's structure and
function is. She has an understanding of
how LAO operates within TORS. As
Megan progresses through her
placement her professional and
organisational awareness will increase.
Score
6/10

tables and teaching/research excellence framework
etc.
Score
7/10

B. Communication
1. Clear verbal
communication & active
listening
2. Presentations
3. Explanatory ability
4. Writing skills
5. Communicating with
people at different levels /
from different backgrounds
First:
 Verbal communication could be improved through
gaining confidence. More effective at active listening,
such as communicating back what is needed and
asking questions etc. Completed ‘Communicating with
Confidence’ and ‘Communication Skills’ staff
development e-learning to help improve.
 Haven’t yet given any presentations whilst on
placement, potentially will practice delivering oral
placement presentation. Will complete ‘Presentation
Fundamentals’ staff development e-learning in
preparation for this.
 Explanatory skills need improvement, for example
when helping students, possibly due to lack of
confidence. Will work on these in my role as a STEM
ambassador once training has been completed.
 Haven’t yet had to produce written documents whilst
on placement.
 Can communicate effectively with lead technicians
and with students whilst assisting in practicals e.g.
nutrition practical. Will potentially get more experience
with students when helping in training for projects and
as a STEM ambassador. Less confident in
communicating with academics but will get more
experience as a lead in practicals in semester 2.
Score
5/10
First:
Megan has expressed she’s needs to
gain confidence in terms of her
communication skill. As she progresses
in her placement her confidence will grow
and her communication skills will
improve. In semester 2 she will be lead
on her own practical’s and so will need to
communicate clearly with members of
the team when it come to asking for help
with preparations of these classes. She
will also need to communicate clearly
with people at different levels for example
academics when she briefs them at the
beginning of practical classes and
students when they ask for project
support.
Score
5/10

C. Working with Others
1. Cooperating
2. Contributing to teamwork
3. Working under supervision
4. Supervising / showing
leadership
5. Working with different
people
6. Interdisciplinary working
7. Emotional intelligence
First:
 Good at cooperating/ contributing to teamwork/
working under supervision through assisting on
practicals and helping during changeovers.
 Work with different people within the technical team
 Have worked on practicals covering multiple
disciplines such as biology, chemistry and food
science.
Score
6/10
First:
Megan has integrated well into the
technical team, and it is clear she can
work well in a team. She has been
assisting on practical classes in both
Biosciences and Chemistry and Food
and nutrition where she has worked well
with other members of the team.
Her leadership skills will be worked on in
semester 2 when she has practicals to
lead and her team working skills will
further improved as it is essential to
work as a team during the project
sessions.
Score
6/10

D. Self-Improvement
1. Enthusiasm, commitment
2. Willingness to learn
3. Initiative, resourcefulness,
autonomy
4. Taking responsibility
5. Maturity
6. Effective time management
7. Personal organisation / work
planning
First:
 Attended training and e-learning videos, read
standards operating procedures, learnt new
techniques such as making gels and splitting cells.
 Have been responsible for practicals while staff
are on leave - could’ve been more proactive with
academics, responsible for testing and cleaning
allocated equipment, prep room stock checks and
tap flushing in allocated labs.
 Use diary and outlook calendar to plan work tasks
and training, refer to google sheets for timetable,
notebook for notes, planning and to do lists,
completed time ‘Time Management
Fundamentals’ staff development e-learning.
Score
7/10
First:
Megan has shown that she is
enthusiastic and is willing to learn new
skills. She has successfully learnt to
prepare SDS-page gels and has
started to learn cell culture skills. This
will enable her to provide support in
these areas to the project’s students
in semester 2.
In semester 2 it will be crucial that
Megan can manage her time
effectively and be well organised as
she will have teaching, projects and
her weekly duties to support on a
weekly basis.
Score
6/10

E. Problem Solving & Resilience
1. Prioritising tasks
2. Defining problems
3. Taking action
4. Locating information
5. Taking a range of
approaches
6. Persevering
First:
 Refer to QMS or confers with the lead technician
to see what needs doing.
 Knowledge of N drive and staff intranet sites e.g.
blackboard and core, QMS’s, risk assessments
and standard operating procedures.
 Completed ‘What is Resilience’ staff development
e-learning.
Score
5/10
First:
Megan has started to plan her
workload and prioritise tasks
accordingly, her ability to do this well
will become critical in semester 2
when she has her own practical’s to
lead, along with projects to support
and her weekly tasks.
Megan has demonstrated she can
locate the require information she
needs to do different tasks. Her ability
to do this will be important during
project support in semester 2 as she
maybe asked questions by students,
she may not know but she will need to
direct them to the appropriate place to
gain this information they require.
Score
5/10

F. Information technology
1. Using Word/Excel/PP etc.
2. Using specialist software
3. Using databases
4. Literature searching
5. Open to developing and
utilising new technology
skills
First:
 Confident in using Word/PP. Haven’t yet had to
produce any documents on placement but have
started to produce a PowerPoint presentation on
my placement experience for PSP3.
 Maintain faulty equipment log and equipment
maintenance excel databases to ensure records
are up to date
 Identified literature for literature review using
library resources and pubmed for PSP3 portfolio
but not during placement.
 Use stores database to complete stock ordering
and developed knowledge of E5 portal ordering
system for external ordering
Score
7/10
First:
Megan has got to grips with some of
the databases that she needs to use
on daily basis as part of his role for
example the chemical inventory,
stores data base, equipment
inventories and the equipment repair
log.
She is competent at using the E5
portal for externally ordering.
During the projects sessions in
semester 2 there are number of
databases that are used to support
the students, Megan will need to get
to grips with these to be able to the
support the students.
Score
5/10

G. Numeracy
1. Calculating / evaluating
2. Checking results
3. Applying appropriate
statistics
4. Recording / presenting data
First:
 Adjust QMS instructions for different quantities.
 Need more experience on applying statistics
Score
5/10
First:
Megan has used her mathematical skills
to prepare reagents for practical classes.
She has been able to estimate the
amount of reagents/ consumables
needed for a practical class from the
given student numbers.
She will further develop her numeracy
skills in semester 2 when she is lead on
her own practical's of which she will have
to generate and interpret standard results.
Score
5/10

H. Working Practice
(i) Knowledge
1. Experimental/project design
2. Function / principles of
equipment
3. Health & safety procedures
4. Knowing reasons for
particular working practices
5. Background / theoretical
knowledge
First:
 Understand function and principles of equipment
used, e.g. SDS electrophoresis, western blotting,
spectrophotometry.
 Knowledge of health and safety procedures through
risk assessments and training which supports
standard operating procedures.
 Knowledge of background theory of practicals through
university course.
Score
6/10
First:
Megan has got to grips with numerous
different techniques and pieces of
equipment. She can work safely within
the laboratories as she has completed
all the necessary health and safety
training and has awareness of the risk
assessment and SOPS we have in
place.
Megan experimental/ project design
skills will be used in semester 2 when
she is assigned practical development
to complete.
Score
6/10

(ii) Work Skills
1. Careful & safe working
practice
2. Manual dexterity
3. Correct use of
equipment/methodology
4. Follows methods / protocols
5. Competent in a range of
activities
First:
 Knowledge of SOPs and risk assessments, received
chemical safety training.
 Work in a standardised manner/to a specific QMS
under tight time deadlines i.e. before lab classes, can
pipette accurately and load gels, carried out
dissections.
 Follows methods and uses equipment e.g. native and
SDS gels, pH meters, centrifuges correctly when
producing reagents for practicals I am assisting on
and when assisting the lead with run throughs
 Competent in activities from existing practical
experience and from practical run throughs e.g.
column chromatography, SDS electrophoresis,
western blotting. Competent in activities through
assisting on practicals such as producing columns and
gels and learnt cell culture techniques such as splitting
cells.
Score
7/10
First:
Megan’s ability to follow methods and
protocols will be further tested in
semester 2 when he has his own
practical's to lead and run through and
also when she has practical
development to complete.
Score
6/10

(iii) Quality of Work
1. Accuracy
2. Reliability of service
3. Attention to details
4. Efficiency
5. Meets deadlines
6. Resilience under pressure
First:
 Follow best practice and QMS’s
 Asks questions if unsure.
 Will plan tasks to make best use of time e.g. gel
setting over breaks.
 Completed ‘What is resilience?’ staff development e-
learning.
 Efficiency will increase with confidence for some taks
e.g. slower when working in cell culture as less
confident
Score
6/10
First:
Megan's ability to work under pressure
will become apparent in semester 2 as
there will be projects and teaching
happening at the same time. Megan
will be involved in both so will need to
be able to cope with pressure of this.
She will also still need to complete her
weekly tasks.
Score
5/10
TO BE COMPLETED BY THE SUPERVISOR

Comments / Proposals
Potential action to assist with
training, extend experience or
address problems as follow-up to
Performance Review
First:
Megan has integrated well into the technical team and has built a good relationship with her colleagues. Megan
has adapted well to the busy working environment and coped well with the pressures of semester 1. It is
essential that Megan can do this in semester 2 also, as it is a busier and more pressured working environment
than semester 1. As Megan progresses through semester 2 her confidence will grow as she work more
independently on the practical’s she will be leading.
Megan has used her own initiative and identified areas she needs to work on and has completed or is looking to
complete e-learning training courses to help her with these areas.
Date discussed:
First: 13/12/21
Supervisor: Jody Smith Student: Megan Dutton