The Vitae Researcher Development Framework (RDF) is ‘a tool for planning, promoting and supporting the personal, professional and career development of researchers’ in higher education.  It was designed by and for researchers to help them plan their careers (no matter how long) in research, and the fundamental core of the framework was based on what the profession, mostly senior researchers, identified as important in terms of knowledge, intellectual abilities, skills, techniques, standards and personal qualities.   The RDF has been available to researchers and their institutions since April 2011 and in celebration of its forthcoming first anniversary we are holding a seminar to explore the different ways in which the framework is being used by and introduced to doctoral researchers in UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). 
As institutions move beyond the initial stage of making the RDF available to researchers, it is timely to review any emerging trends and identify any operational issues. This seminar will explore what works well in terms of promoting the RDF among researchers and what challenges have emerged since 2011. Participants will have the opportunity to share their experiences, including the joys and concerns of using the RDF with doctoral researchers, and to explore alternative ways of dealing with the RDF.  Three different perspectives on using the RDF will be presented to facilitate discussion: a researcher developer’s view, an institutional view, and a national overview of activity.