Funded by Research England’s Enhancing Research Culture Fund, this is the third round of investments in initiatives with the potential to make a substantive impact to the research culture at Bath. Each is focussed on supporting change across one or more of our six research culture pillars: collegiality, career development, recognition, research design, open research, and research ethics and integrity.

Julie Barnett, Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor (PVC) Research, commented:

We are delighted with the level of engagement in the fund from across every faculty and several professional services departments. The projects respond to a mix of critical needs in the Institution, in addition to experimental new research or approaches with the potential to make a real difference to research culture at Bath. We are already seeing significant benefits from previous year’s funding, and we are excited by the improvements and knowledge these projects may bring.

Hayley Shaw, Research Culture Manager in Research and Innovation Services (RIS), added:

The Enhancing Research Culture projects enable us to respond directly to specific needs and aspirations of colleagues from across the Institution. This year, we are complementing this activity with whole-institution initiatives that respond to the evidence we’ve gathered to date – to include a project to ‘reimagine the postdoctoral experience’ at Bath, and the establishment of new Research Culture Awards.

If you would like to know more about the projects or collaborate, we invite you to contact the project teams. Each will produce a short report at the end, which will either be shared publicly or on a new SharePoint site (coming soon!)

See also our webpage for further information on these projects.

Funded projects

Recognition

  • WomenCAN: Building Success by Recognizing and Valuing Women’s Contributions: Carol A. Taylor, Sally Hewlitt (Education)

Career Development

  • Increasing engagement in KE and Impact activities to enhance Career Development Opportunities: Andy Watts and Tim Rogers (Faculty of Science)
  • Changing Expectations: Transforming Careers for Research Staff: Annali Bamber-Jones (RIS), Mike Rose (RIS)
  • Including research-active staff on teaching-only contracts in the research culture at Bath: Aline Courtois (Education), Ludovic Highman (Management), Janina Iwaniec (Education)
  • Science Communication Ambassadors: Anna Powell and Sarah Baker-Gaunt (Faculty of Science)
  • Specialist news and social media training: Chris Melvin, Tom Mason (Department of Communications)
  • Building ECR’s Career and Network capabilities: Michael Stimmelmayr, Ara Jo (Economics)
  • Bespoke Career Development for ECRs in Physics: Simon Bending, Carolin Villforth, Kristina Rusimova (Physics)
  • Research Roadshow: Oli Schofield (Doctoral College), Emily Richards (HSS)

Collegiality

  • Enhancing Doctoral Supervision: Rachel Arnold (Academic Director, Doctoral, Health) and Professor Joe Devine (Associate Pro VC Doctoral, SPS), Shyeni Paul and Oli Schofield (Doctoral College) and Annali Bamber-Jones (RIS)
  • Doctoral Festival of Ideas: Alice Forty, Oli Schofield (Doctoral College)
  • Towards a positive research environment after a change in doctoral supervision: Janet Bultitude, Leda Blackwood (Psychology)
  • Expansion of the Doctoral Coaching Network: Oli Schofield (Doctoral College), Kate Elliott (HR)
  • Enhancing the research culture and sharing best practice in the research centres of the Faculty of Engineering & Design: Chris Bowen, Alison Ryan (Engineering and Design)

Research Design

  • Building a sustainable labs culture, network and support: Alice Lowe, Climate Action Team
  • Building capacity and capability for RRI at Bath: Helen Featherstone (Public Engagement Unit), Jenny Reynolds (RIS)
  • Unlocking the Potential for Qualitative Data to guide our work: Sarah Jones, Laura Wisby (RIS)
  • Developing a Cohesive and Collegiate Qualitative Research Culture: Ioannis Costas Batlle (Education), Bonnie Pang (Department for Health), Hiu Yi Lin (Department of Education), Vibhor Mathur (Social and Policy Sciences), Bryan C. Clift (Health), Annayah Prosser (Management) – All colleagues of the Centre for Qualitative Research

Research Ethics and Integrity

  • The Researcher Wellbeing Project (RWP): Addressing Researcher Distress, Trauma and Secondary Trauma: Tina Skinner (SPS), Sarah Halligan (Psychology), Heather Girling (HR), Kristine Brance (SPS)
  • Beyond Ethics Committees: A Cross-Disciplinary PGR Event: Maria Jose Ventura Alfaro (SPS)

Next steps for research culture
In addition to these projects, we will also be developing a renewed research culture strategy in consultation across the institution. The strategy will set out clear aims and objectives in each of our research culture pillars, and identify measures of success.

The first round of consultation is expected in February 2024. If you would like to remain informed please express interest with Hayley Shaw, Research Culture Manager: hs2371@bath.ac.uk.