Creating a research culture in which our research and research community can thrive

Improving our research culture involves tackling obvious as well as more subtle and intangible aspects of the research environment. For example, we need the right infrastructure and systems in place for people to do their best work – which is something that the UCL Strategic Plan 2022-27 prioritises – but we also need to consider how we conduct and share our research and the experience and careers of the individuals within our research community.

Research culture is a broad and contested term and will mean different things to different people. This is evidenced by the plans set out by peer institutions which all have a slightly different flavour, dependent on local priorities. But where there is agreement is on the importance of research culture to the academic and societal mission of universities. If we are to continue to deliver world-leading research, we need to continue to attract and retain the most talented people; and we need to ensure the conditions are in place for those people to do their best work.

There are also some very real financial reasons why we need to take this seriously; principally that research funders are increasingly including an assessment of research culture in funding decisions. If you’ve applied for a Wellcome or UKRI research grant in the past few years, or supported someone through the process, you’ve probably had to evidence how both UCL and you as an individual are actively supporting a positive research culture.

Similarly, REF2029 will also require us to provide not just a snapshot of our research culture through data, but evidence of how we’ve proactively improved elements of it. A chunk of our QR funding – around £40m p.a. based on current income – will depend on how well we can evidence that account.

A collaborative approach to enhancing our research culture

We started in 2021 by asking members of our research community what their vision of a positive research culture was, where we’re doing well and where there is room for improvement. And we’ve articulated this as a shared roadmap for change. We’re now working with colleagues across UCL – in faculties and functions – to actively progress against the goals in the roadmap.

Whilst we consistently perform well in national exercises such as REF and KEF – which suggests we’ve got many of the fundamentals right – you told us that research excellence can come at the expense of workplace experience and wellbeing. Some of the other things we heard are that research career progression is not as clear, equitable and merit-based as it should be; that research management and leadership is undervalued and not incentivised; and that research workloads are at times unmanageable.

We’re committed to making improvements in these areas, and more. And we’re committed to doing it in partnership with our research community. We have created a Community Steering Group, chaired by Dr Natalie Marchant, Associate Professor in Brain Sciences, and made up of a cross-section of the research community – who will act as the voice of the research community and champions for change.

Concrete steps we are taking to deliver change

While ‘research culture’ is a relatively new term, activity to support a fair, collaborative and inclusive research environment that underpins excellent research has been happening at UCL for many years, at all levels of the institution. Here are a few illustrative examples:

• The BEAMS Research Coordination Office launched the Women and Large Grant Leadership training programme – now being extended to Life and Medical Sciences – which equips female academics with the skills, knowledge, support, and networks to successfully apply for large, complex and collaborative grants.
• The Collaborative Social Science Domain Early Career Network – one of 18 grassroots ECNs at UCL – has developed a Collaborative Research Manifesto which includes 18 statements they hope will help researchers navigate a way forward together.
• Professor Jo Van Herwegen in the IOE Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities has developed an Individual Development Plan (IDP) process that was first created to meet her own academic career needs and goals – but has grown to be used by over 70% of her departmental colleagues.  

You can read more case studies on the Research Culture website.

In addition to ensuring all this activity continues, we’re delivering a range of targeted initiatives. Here are just a few ways we’re responding to the issues you raised with us. We’re working on our web pages where we’ll endeavour to share progress updates on these initiatives and more.

On clear, equitable and merit-based career progression within research

We heard in our survey work that researcher promotion pathways are not as clear, equitable and merit-based as they should be. 17% fewer women agreed that they had equitable opportunities for career progression. 38% of ECRs versus 80% of established academics agreed that pathways were clear.

To address this, we are working with colleagues to review researcher promotions processes and practices, starting with grades 6-8, and will be developing guidance and making recommendations on good practice as a first step.

On effective people management within research

People management – which is critical to running research groups and setting local culture – is undervalued and not incentivised as it should be. Participants in focus groups and interviews referenced the large number of staff in leadership roles who have had no management training, and staff managing researchers expressed low confidence dealing with issues such as underperformance, with only 54% agreeing they felt confident with this aspect of management.

To respond to this, colleagues in Organisational Development set up the Experienced Principal Investigators programme, using research culture funding, and the Advancing Principal Investigators programmes to cater for the different leadership needs of both senior and emerging Principal Investigators. The team has also developed the People Management Essentials programme, which is open to all UCL colleagues with line-management responsibilities. We want to continue to discuss with colleagues across the institution how we can jointly incentivise and enable the prioritisation of people management in research groups and teams.

On mental health and wellbeing within research

UCL is innovative, excellent and ambitious, but this excellence sometimes comes at the expense of individuals’ workplace experience and wellbeing. Only 59% of respondents in our institutional survey agreed that their working environment supports their mental health and wellbeing, which is lower than we would like, even though it is 12% higher than the sector average.

In December 2022 UCL was one of the first five institutions to be appointed the University Mental Health Charter. The recommendations from Student Minds highlighted the need for university-wide models of support for researchers to be developed. To respond to this, the Wellbeing team will be using research culture funding to pilot 90-minute training webinars for supervisors of PhD students. They’ll also be deepening their understanding of the wellbeing needs of UCL’s researcher community, which will enable them to design a tailored programme covering mental health, wellbeing and psychological safety in research contexts. The recently appointed Pro-Vice-Provosts for the Grand Challenge of Mental Health and Wellbeing will also be working to harness UCL’s rich collective expertise in this area for the benefit of our own university community, as well as society more broadly. 

On workloads within research

Many of you are experiencing role expansion and a multitude of pressures that make it difficult to protect time for research and innovation and that have an impact on your work-life balance and wellbeing. Benchmarking data shows that UCL staff are 8% less likely than colleagues from peer institutions to agree that they have time to develop their research identity. 

To address this, a working group bringing together academic Heads of Department and colleagues from VP and Provost’s Offices – chaired by Professor Eloise Scotford, Dean of Laws – is working to better understand the 'excessive workload' phenomena. A survey of all Heads of Department in summer 2023 has provided a huge amount of useful data which will be used to understand academic workload causes at UCL. The working group has developed draft principles for academic workload and is developing recommendations to align UCL policies and tools to help empower departments to address excessive academic workload more effectively. The group will use this and other data to inform a set of recommendations for both short- and long-term action to address workload. These recommendations will be presented to the Academic Leadership Group for informal initial discussion and input in spring. Wider consultation on priorities and implications will be planned as appropriate and a final report will be presented to UMC in the summer.

A shared endeavour

Improving our research culture will require continued efforts from across UCL’s faculties and functions. It will require people with formal and informal authority to think about what they might do differently and how they can contribute to local research culture.

Some of the changes we can make as an institution – with your engagement and support of course – others are beyond the direct control of any single institution and will require joined-up work across the sector, with funders, publishers and other research bodies. We are committed to enhancing our research culture and we hope you’ll join us in this shared endeavour.

Find out more on the Research Culture website or get in touch with the Research Culture team.

More information

• Research culture at UCL
• Research Culture Roadmap
• Professor Geraint Rees
• Emma Todd