The UK is committed to enhancing the higher-level capabilities of the UK workforce including the development of world-class researchers. The Researcher Development Framework sets out the knowledge, behaviours and attributes of effective and highly skilled researchers appropriate for a wide range of careers. The Researcher Development Framework is a major approach to researcher development, which aims to enhance our capacity to build the UK workforce, develop world-class researchers and build our research base. The framework is structured in four domains, which encompass what researchers need to know to do research, how to be effective in their approach to research, when working with others, and in contributing to the wider environment. Within each of the domains are three sub-domains and associated descriptors, which describe different aspects of being a researcher.