As part of our Research Culture Action Plan, four teams of colleagues are reimagining a space on campus and developing proposals to improve it for a better research culture.

The funding call, open to all colleagues who do or support research and PGR students, invited applicants to nominate a campus space which does not foster the collegiality and research culture they want to see and apply to develop a proposal for funding to reimagine it.

Each team was awarded £1,500 to support this scoping phase of the project and benefitted from expert guidance from colleagues in Campus Infrastructure, DDaT, and Procurement.

For some, it is about rethinking the use of a rarely occupied shared office. For others, it is about creating a place for teams to come together and connect whether socially or to collaborate on projects.   

The four successful teams were selected based on the following criteria:

  • having clear potential to improve collegiality
  • including a well-considered approach to developing the proposal
  • planning for consultation with colleagues and users of the space
  • being realistic, with achievable aims

The successful teams are:

-Department of Chemistry team: Claire McMullin, Senior Lecturer, Edyta Pope, Department Operations Manager, Sofia Pascu, Professor, Kyle Pearce, Research Fellow, Louis Morrill, Reader.
Space to be reimagined: 1 South 0.01

-Department of Chemical Engineering team: Sanjay Nagarajan, Lecturer, Rebecca Sie, Technical Manager, Creina O'Shea, Operations and Projects Manager, Kyriacos Rouvas, PhD student in Chemical Engineering.
Space to be reimagined: 9W level 2 foyer

-Department of Life Sciences team: Catherine Tooke, Prize Fellow, Simon Tang, BBSRC Research Fellow & Proleptic Lecturer, Corey Holt, Lecturer, Bethan Littleford-Colquhoun, Prize Fellow, Iris Da Luz Batalha, Senior Lecturer, and Alicia Sanz-Maestro, PhD student in Biochemistry.
Space to be reimagined: 0.79 4 South (pavilion) and adjoining kitchen

-Department of Mechanical Engineering team: Gary Barter, Rapid Prototyping Senior Technician, Francesco De Batté, PhD student in Biology, Ian Lim, 4th Year IMEE (hons) Student, Horatio Hamkins, 4th Year MEng (hons) Student.
Space to be reimagined: “Makerspace” (on the mezzanine above 4E 1.27)

The four successful teams now have until the end of August to develop a proposal to receive up to £10,000 additional funds to make their ideas a reality. Their proposals will outline:

  • work undertaken in the scoping phase to understand what users of the space need and want
  • their proposed changes
  • estimated costs for delivering these changes.

Thank you to everyone who applied for this funding call. We received twenty applications in total and both the number and quality exceeded our expectations. We are heartened by the creative ideas and enthusiasm of our research community to furthering positive research culture.