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)

Summary: The project was a collaboration with the Participatory Research Network (PRN) and the Centre for Equity & Inclusion and builds on the findings of the 2022/23 Research Culture funded project ‘Assessing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion as principles of ethical research’ conducted by members of the University Research Ethics Committee. Our key aims in the project were to locate different projects and researchers across the university who engaged in approaches to research that are inclusive and ethical, showcase their work as examples of best practice and deliver a short online course. 

Our outcomes are four insightful and engaging short films that showcase the excellent inclusive, creative and dynamic research happening at Sheffield. Each film shows why a deep ethical commitment must sit at the heart of research and how collaborative, participatory and community-engaged approaches can contribute to a positive research culture.  

Outputs: The films are embedded in the TUoS research ethics web pages and available via PRN resources and its new PRN Hub. Each video demonstrates research in a different context and discusses the challenges and opportunities for ethical research in adopting a PPI approach.  The videos are appropriate for staff and students and at all levels with an interest in research. An introductory video can be found here. 

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)

Summary: The Centre for Equity & Inclusion recruited a part-time Communications & Partnerships Officer and received a small amount of seed funding for the CPO to lead on enhancing the CEI’s communications to ensure all PGRs of colour are able to benefit from tailored support, and forging new external connections to create career-enhancing opportunities for PGRs.

The CPO took over comms strategy and delivery for the Centre, liaising with PGRs and Centre partners, disseminating a monthly newsletter and running all Centre socials. They used the seed funding to capture testimonials from PGRs who had been using the Centre services over the last 2 years, to further help with raising our profile. We launched an online seminar series on racial justice. Each event (4 total) brought together PhD students of colour, researchers and external partners to discuss significant issues relating to race and racial justice that were felt to be under examined in academia. This also addressed an issue identified by PGRs and partners about the lack of opportunities to learn about each other’s work.

The greater focus on communications also saw an increase in participation in core Centre activity. Centre Chats is a monthly activity that invites PGRs of colour to meet in a small group, over lunch, and discuss their university experience. The average attendance of these sessions doubled during the comms officer’s tenure. Similarly, our mentoring scheme also saw PGR participation figures double. Doubling figures in both these areas means the Centre’s crucial intervention around PGR of colour mental health and wellbeing has had a greater reach and impact.

Output: Testimonials from PGRs who had been using the Centre services over the last 2 years.

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)

Summary: The project aimed to build on the existing PGR Culture enhancement project but also to understand how inclusive PGR academic representation and engagement can improve the PGR experience across the University and Sheffield Students Union. As a joint project with the Students Union in November 2023 we launched the funded PGR Voice Researcher call for PGR project teams. The call focussed on exploring the PGR experience for certain student populations at Sheffield. We awarded funding to two project teams to look at:

• The Challenges of Part-Time PGRs: Exploring PGR Community Integration and Balancing Study, Work, and Other Commitments
• The ‘Forgotten’ Generation: Amplifying the voices of first-generation PGRs

Recommendations from the projects will be shared, the project teams will also deliver briefings for the SU elected officers on their findings, specifically the Post Graduate Officer. The project also repeated the success of last year's Cross-Faculty PGR poster event - providing the space and opportunity to bring together PGRs across the University to showcase research and network outside of their respective depts/Faculties. Now completing two years of this event we have a toolkit for future events.

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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)

Summary: This project sought to consolidate the shift in research culture across the Faculty of Arts and Humanities by enhancing support over the entire life cycle of research grants. This life cycle encompasses: idea development, writing, and outcome. Specifically, we provided increased person-centred support (empowering academics to make the most of existing opportunities provided by professional services, e.g. pitch-to-peer sessions, events organised by research centres and clusters, peer review of funding applications), financial resource (to facilitate research project development and networking) and increased mentoring and coaching opportunities. At the Idea stage, we facilitated monthly peer support groups for 64 colleagues. We also supported a networking funding stream to allow academics to obtain support from disciplinary peers and workshop ideas in the development stages. Colleagues were able to undertake practical skills training; collaboration meetings; and roundtable events. These activities have supported/are supporting applications to a range of funders, including the AHRC, the British Academy, the Leverhulme Trust; the ESRC; the ERC, NERC and the Wellcome Trust.

To support grant application writing, colleagues were able to access disciplinary mentoring from colleagues within and outside Sheffield who have already been successful with the colleague’s selected funder. They could also access professional mentoring and training on grant writing practices.

We developed a range of videos which detail the role that many teams across the University play in the Lifecycle of a Grant. This has created a resource to share across the Faculty, which will aim to demystify the funding and outline the support available at different stages. We also provided bespoke support for colleagues to help repurpose unsuccessful grant applications. An infographic with links to the videos created will be available on the Arts Research Portal. 

Our aim was not to increase applications per se, but to increase our success rate by supporting colleagues in the production of high quality applications likely to win or score highly in external competitions, avoid burnout or fatigue in repurposing unsuccessful applications, and increase confidence and independence around grant applications. In so doing, this project supported our long term aim of empowering colleagues at all career stages, and continuing to nurture a more inclusive and accessible research environment in the faculty.   

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)

Summary: Achieving net-zero will require significant changes to working practices amongst the University research community. This project aimed to enhance the environmental sustainability of research activities through three case studies that explored specific areas of energy consumption. Each focused on the cultural and behavioural aspects of research practices, including identifying necessary cultural changes, evidencing and articulating the need for change, and facilitating and enabling change through leadership and professional service teams.

The case study outcomes identified best practices in the use of specialist equipment and promoted improved working practices among targeted lab user groups. The outcomes will serve as a university-wide resource for laboratories seeking LEAF accreditation. Additionally, the project emphasised the critical role of open-access data in prioritisation, enhancing efficiency, and enabling change through Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). To further ensure the prioritisation of sustainable practices, it is also essential to highlight external drivers, such as funder requirements and the LEAF scheme.

Future efforts should prioritise the availability of energy consumption data and explore approaches to intrinsically incentivize leadership without adding burdens or complexities.

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)

Summary: Researchers face significant challenges when transitioning to independence, requiring them to rapidly learn a diverse set of new skills to achieve their research ambitions. Rather than flourishing, many struggle to navigate the combined challenges of funding acquisition, staff and student recruitment, group management, teaching and administrative duties.

Our goal was to form a new Fellows’ College in the Faculty of Health (FoH), to successfully support our existing and aspiring fellows through this transition and beyond. A fellow was defined as an independent researcher with their own funding and research vision. Currently the Faculty of Health host over 100 Independent Research Fellows and our live fellowship income is in excess of £25M, highlighting our impact.

Outputs: We organised a 2 day event, which sold out (total 67 attendees). We identified
problems and proposed solutions, which were presented to relevant executive leaders and
leadership members regarding. 

We delivered a final report to the Faculty executive proposing future support structure changes. Fellows College Report (PDF, 168KB)

We created a FoH Fellows College, recruited a diverse committee and Ensured the Research Fellows Committee now has a regular representative at Faculty Research & Innovation Committee meetings.

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)

Summary: There are widespread concerns that University research cultures do not sufficiently support PhD students to explore the range of career opportunities available to them. This project explored barriers to sufficient careers support for PhD students to inform improved provision where needed.

A survey with supervisors from the University of Sheffield (UoS) explored supervisors’ practice and barriers/enablers to providing careers support to PhD students. Six focus groups with UoS PhD students also explored students’ experiences and barriers/enablers to sufficient University career development. Preliminary results found supervisors reported enthusiasm to discuss careers with students. However, most had not received any training, did not think there were sufficient reminders to discuss careers and only 25% felt confident to discuss careers outside of academia. Students reported awareness about the University’s available career’s, however, some suggested the support was not tailored to their discipline or postgraduate level. More career discussions with supervisors, greater visibility of available careers resources and having other-sector partners or industries embedded throughout the PhD were some suggestions to improve the careers support for PhD students. 

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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)