Enhancing Research Culture: 2023-24 projects

About the research culture funding

In 2023-24 we received £850,000 from Research England's Enhancing Research Culture funding to invest in developing our research culture.

We are delighted to fund 17 projects from across all five faculties, professional services and cross-faculty teams.

Below you can find an overview of all projects.

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Across faculties

BOSS: Bank of Sustainable Software (Engineering, Health, Science)

Lead applicant: Dr Daniele Tartarini (Department of Computer Science)

Co-applicants: Dr Paul Watton, Dr Yasmeen Rafiq, Research Software Engineering team (Department of Computer Science), Dr Pablo Rodolfo Baldivieso Monasterios and Dr Rob Worley (Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering), Dr Paul Hughes and Dr Enrico Dall’Ara (School of Medicine and Population Health), Dr Alexander Fletcher (School of Mathematics and Statistics), Dr Giacomo Torelli (Department of Civil and Structural Engineering), Dr Pinaki Bhattacharya and Dr Xinshan Li (Department of Mechanical Engineering)

Developing and promoting inclusive research culture in research ethics policy and practice (Health, Social Sciences, Professional Services)

Lead applicant: Dr Jennifer Burr (School of Medicine and Population Health)

Co-applicants: Dr Kirsty Liddiard (School of Education and iHuman), Dr Nicola Hemmings (School of Biosciences), Sophie Phillips (School of Education and iHuman), Dave Holloway (Academic Programmes and Student Engagement)

Developing Communication Strategies and Partnerships to Enhance Support for TUoS PGRs of Colour (Science, Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences)

Lead applicant: Dr Alex Mason (Centre for Equity and Inclusion)

Co-applicants: Dr Nicola Hemmings (School of Biosciences), Dr Seth Mehl (Digital Humanities Institute), Dr Meesha Warmington (School of Education), Dr Bobby Nisha (Department of Urban Studies and Planning), Dr Antony Williams (School of Education), Annalisa Toccara-Jones (School of Journalism, Media and Communications)

Developing inclusive PGR academic representation and enhancing a PGR community through wellbeing and social initiatives (Science, Health, Engineering, Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities, Professional Services)

Lead applicant: Rea Smith (Science Graduate School)

Co-applicants: Prof. Andrew Furley (School of Biosciences), Prof. Alison Gartland (School of Medicine and Population Health), Prof. Nicola Morley (Department of Materials Science and Engineering), Dr Stefanie Pukallus (Institute for Global Sustainable Development), Prof. Jonathan Rayner (School of English), Sarah Bell (Research, Partnerships and Innovation)

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Professional Services

Research Grant Management - Fostering an inclusive research culture

Lead applicant: Joanna Jenner (Faculty of Social Sciences Research Support)

Co-applicants: Peter Greenacre (HR, Faculty of Social Sciences), Bethan Thomas (Finance, Faculty of Social Sciences) Simon Beecroft (Faculty of Social Sciences Research Support), Dr Maria Tomlinson (School of Journalism, Media and Communication), Prof. Ruth Blakeley (Department of Politics and International Relations)

Summary: This project involved staff across all twelve departments in the Faculty of Social Sciences. They participated in one to one discussions, focus groups or videos, it also involved PS colleagues from HR, research support and finance.

The project team created a suite of 5 videos focusing on grant management for new PIs to support them with recruiting and managing staff and managing their grant. The videos include perspectives and advice from experienced academic staff, PS staff and early career researchers. Videos will be made available on MyDevelopment and all new award holders in the Faculty of Social Sciences will be sent links to the videos.

Outputs: The videos cover the following areas

• Top Tips for new PIs 
• Recruiting staff inclusively to your research grant. 
• Inducting and supporting your research staff 
• Managing and Developing your research staff
• Responsible financial management of your research grant

Supporting Postgraduate Researchers to shape the PGR Wellbeing Strategy (Professional Services, Health)

Lead applicant: Sarah Bell (Research, Partnerships and Innovation)

Co-applicants: Dr Chris Blackmore (School of Medicine and Population Health), Dr Emma Suret (Research, Partnerships and Innovation)

Summary: This project aimed to encourage and enable the equitable and meaningful involvement of postgraduate researchers in the university’s PGR Wellbeing Strategy Group (PGRWSG), and in the development and delivery of its work, by paying them for their time and expertise.

This project has benefited directly those PGRs who might otherwise be financially excluded from applying for such voluntary roles, and  has led to a greater diversity of voices being heard.

The project comprised two discrete but complementary strands, which have already begun to positively impact the university’s conversations and decision-making around PGR wellbeing. Strand one involved recruiting PGR representatives to be members of PGRWSG. This ensured that issues raised by PGRs in-faculty could inform the design of PGR wellbeing focus groups (strand two). 

Strand two  aimed  to understand the lived experience of PGRs at the university, through six 90-minute focus groups. These groups were led by three paid PGRs, recruited, trained and supported to act as facilitators of six focus groups.

Having transcribed and analysed the data in collaboration with project staff,  the PGR facilitators produced a report that was launched at the university’s Researcher Wellbeing conference, and contributes significantly to the developing PGR Wellbeing Strategy.

The final report is available to members of the PGR Wellbeing Strategy Group, and will be shared more widely in the future. An associated conference presentation has already been given by the PGR facilitators at a university-wide Researcher Wellbeing Conference.

Essential Skills for Open Research (Engineering, Professional Services)

Lead applicant: Dr David Wilby (RSE, Department of Computer Science)

Co-applicants: Norbert Gyenge and Saul Cozens (IT Services)

Summary: Open Research requires technical skills that not all researchers currently have which is a barrier to ensure transparency in research methods and implement FAIR principles. Through our Carpentries membership, we conducted 20 workshops delivering essential skills in programming, research reproducibility, and reporting.

We launched a new summer school focused on R programming language, equipping researchers with advanced skills, enabling them to communicate their findings effectively and build interactive tools, further promoting open and accessible research practices. Participants also received certifications, enhancing their CVs and recognising their commitment to professional development. The success of this inaugural summer school paves the way for its continuation in future years. 

We offered Carpentries instructor training to 12 colleagues, ensuring the long-term sustainability of high-quality research training at the University. This project directly supports our commitment to open research, fostering a culture where researchers have the skills and support to share their work openly and transparently.

The primary beneficiaries of our project were PhD researchers and early-career researchers across diverse disciplines, encompassing both academic and professional settings, who were motivated to learn new  skills. We also prioritised outreach to minority groups, such as Women in HPC, and to research groups traditionally underserved in IT support and tools, like those in the social sciences, ensuring inclusivity and accessibility across our programs.

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Arts and Humanities

The Life Cycle of a Research Grant (Cross-departmental)

Lead applicant: Prof. Emma Moore (School of English)

Co-applicants: Prof. Nicola Dibben (Department of Music), Dr Madeleine Callaghan (School of English), Alex Goode (Faculty of Arts and Humanities Research Hub)

The Impacts of Motherhood on Research (Cross-departmental)

Lead applicant: Dr Erin Maglaque (Department of History)

Co-applicants: Dr Emily Baughan (Department of History)

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Engineering

Sustainable research practice: demonstrating changes in laboratory research practices that enable reduced environmental impact (Cross-departmental)

Lead applicant: Prof. Neil Sims (Department of Mechanical Engineering)

Co-applicants: Dr Ruoyang Yuan, Gareth Barker (Department of Mechanical Engineering), Andrew Massey (Estates and Facilities Management), Prof. Rachael Rothman (Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering), Tracy Wray (Corporate Communications)

Getting researchers into workshops: bridging the culture gap (Cross-departmental)

Lead applicant: Dr Richard Hodgkinson (Department of Materials Science and Engineering)

Co-applicants: Andrew Patrick (Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering), Stephen Mason (Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering) 

Summary: The project funding enabled the creation of the “Open Access Mechanical Workshop” (OAMW). This new space for researchers, stocked with tools for researchers to use to facilitate their work and accompanied by training/access routes, challenges the current culture where technical staff are responsible for realising bespoke research equipment.

Substantial donations were made from other departments towards this initiative, and the awarded funding additionally supported training a cohort of researchers in manual milling and turning to permit safe use of the OAMW’s machine tools. Initially supporting a “General Engineering Education” (GEE) undergraduate project, the space is now being regularly used by the trainee cohort and others to further their work. Benefits range from research facilitation, improved technical communication, and bilateral skills transfer between researchers and technicians to improving the academic - technical staff relationship, embedding local knowledge in departments, and encouraging the use of a safe, overseen space for creation of research equipment.

A number of simple projects have already been completed by the current users and the OAMW has had several independent queries from additional users wishing to access the space. Routes to support the OAMW going forward through mutually beneficial arrangements/sponsorship routes are being explored.

Outputs: Open Access Mechanical Workshop and OAMW Internal website.

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Health

Establishing a Research Fellows College for the Faculty of Health: Identifying support needs and an action plan for implementation (Cross-departmental)

Lead applicant: Dr Catarina Henriques and Dr Ruth Thompson (School of Medicine and Population Health)

Co-applicants: Dr Luke Green, Alanna Green, Becky Pennington and Ola Rominyi (School of Medicine and Population Health)

Building a community to support our clinical PGR cohort (Cross-departmental)

Lead applicant: Dr Iwan Evans, Dr Ruth Payne (School of Medicine and Population Health)

Co-applicants: Dr Michelle Lawson (School of Medicine and Population Health)

Summary: The project aimed to bring together a community of clinical PGRs (medics/dentists/AHPs/nurses) from across the Faculty of Health and beyond. These PGRs face distinct challenges to non-clinicians and report feeling neglected/misunderstood as a cohort. Since Covid-19, which disproportionately impacted their studies (due to patient facing roles/projects), this demographic has felt increasingly isolated, not least as it is spread across diverse locations on/off campus.

We brought the cohort together via an initial away day, then ran monthly lunchtime meetings focused on issues highlighted at the away day (career overviews from established clinical academics/project management/research-life balance/writing/career pathways). Materials from these sessions were shared via Google Spaces and a website.

Outcomes: This project brought together clinical PGRs to share best practice across a range of topics including writing strategies, wellbeing and project management. This enabled clinical PGRs to broaden their networks, increasing levels of peer-to-peer support within the cohort.

Presentations from established clinical academics enabled advice to be passed on and for those established academics also to learn from current issues affecting the cohort.

These events helped clinical PGRs network and share advice/peer-to-peer support. They helped increase visibility of this cohort, highlighting the need for greater integration between University and NHS. E.g., it will now be recorded whether new PGRs are clinicians during induction, enabling more effective targeting of these PGRs.

The year ended with an away day focusing on career pathways. The aim is to hand over to a student committee to continue cohort activities.

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Science

Improving research cultures around career development for Postgraduate Researchers (Science, Professional Services)

Lead applicant: Dr Nicola Buckland (Department of Psychology)

Co-applicants: Dr Rebecca Ehata (Research, Partnerships and Innovation)

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Social Sciences

Data Transparency in Qualitative Research (Cross-departmental)

Lead applicant: Dr Joanna Tidy (Department of Politics and International Relations)

Summary: The project aimed to enhance data transparency in qualitative and mixed method research across two faculties: Social Sciences and Arts and Humanities. To do so it brought together researchers in these faculties, the Open and Data Publishing Department at Cambridge University Press (CUP), and Qualitative Data Repository (QDR) at Syracuse University to develop workflows and strategies for the use of Annotation for Transparent Inquiry (ATI) which is an open source, free and non-proprietary tool designed to facilitate transparency in qualitative and mixed-methods research developed by CUP and QDR.

During the project a cohort of 30 researchers from across the two faculties learned about ATI and how to use it during sessions with the project team, CUP, and QDR. A working group drawn from this cohort distilled learning into a practical 'how to' document setting out how to use ATI throughout the lifecycle of a piece of research. This resource will be made available to researchers throughout the university, and to the wider academic community via CUP/QDR.

Actioning The Accessibility Guide (School of Education)

Lead applicant: Dr Antonios Ktenidis (School of Education)

Co-applicants: Dr Alex Mason (Centre for Equity and Inclusion), Prof. Dan Goodley (School of Education and iHuman), Jane-May Martin (School of Education), Nigel Barker (City, Culture and Public Engagement)

Summary: This project followed on from the creation of the accessibility guide (AG) to actually test how well the guide works. The AG was used in the planning of two events, Love and Social Justice Event and Critical Exploration of Ethical Issues in Research with Vulnerable Population, and helped shape promotion, scheduling, staging, performances, refreshments etc.

The AG (both the original and the easyread form) has been shared with other centres e.g. Centre for Care/EDI Directors. Further training is planned with the Public Engagement team, and this work will feed into the Wellcome project on anti-ableist research cultures.

Enabling the voices of the forgotten: Part-time doctoral students’ experience of research culture (Information School)

Lead applicant: Sheila Webber (Information School)

Co-applicants: Laura Barber, Dr Pam McKinney, James Toner, Laura Williams (Information School)