The changing research environment
In order to realise our goals, we need to understand, adapt to, and where possible lead, broader trends in our research and knowledge exchange environment. We will focus on four primary areas: research careers; research funding; equality, diversity and inclusion and Covid challenges.
Research funding
Securing external grant funding for our research remains a vital goal of the College and the University. It provides the resources to underpin excellent research and impact, achieve career goals and recognition for staff, and create a flourishing and internationally leading research environment.
We have seen how success in external funding has launched individual staff and groups to international renown and impact, and how a culture of external grants in particular Schools and subject areas has underpinned expansion and driven up research quality and reputation.
However, major changes to both UK and EU funding have required us to adapt the way we support research groups and staff to win funding for their research.
These changes can be summarised as:
- Prioritising funding for larger, interdisciplinary and challenge-led research, as evidenced in GCRF, ISCF and EU Horizon funding, and underpinned by institutional changes to UKRI.
- Increased emphasis on engagement and impact beyond the academy, including with industry partners. This applies to both UK and EU funders, and the increasing value of impact case studies with the Research Excellence Framework.
- Changes in access to funding. The UK’s departure from the EU may limit access to funding, including European Research Council and Marie Slodowska-Curie schemes; and we also anticipate changes in UK Government Overseas Development Assistance-related funding.
Research careers
Over the past two decades, academic roles have expanded to include not just teaching and research, but increasingly complex and diverse administrative and leadership roles within and beyond the university, as well as activities to generate impact from research.
Many of our colleagues find that time pressures and concerns about work/life balance are impeding them from fulfilling their research potential.
These challenges were exposed and exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The expansion in academic roles implies the need to rethink how we nurture and support diverse RKE careers across career stages, supporting staff to navigate the various demands of academic roles, and to prioritise and plan in a way that furthers their longer-term goals.
It also implies the need to encourage and support the creative design and delivery of research-led teaching as a symbiosis for enriching student learning and developing research excellence.
Equality, diversity and inclusion
The higher education sector is increasingly acknowledging the range of structural barriers faced by researchers and professional staff from different social and economic groups, and particularly those with protected characteristics.
The higher education sector is increasingly acknowledging the range of structural barriers faced by researchers and professional staff from different social and economic groups, and particularly those with protected characteristics.
There are now well-established processes for promoting women in research (although still much work to be done); but universities have been slower at identifying and fully responding to the range of barriers faced by those from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds, the LGBTQ+ community, those with disabilities, as well as researchers from less advantaged socio-economic backgrounds.
We are committed to addressing structural barriers to research and research support careers, and integrating these considerations into all aspects of research support and recognition.
Covid-19 challenges
The 2021-2026 strategy was developed (and continues to be shaped) in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has placed our researchers and research support infrastructures under particular strain.
These pressures are being felt especially acutely by those with health issues and caring responsibilities, and clearly have important implications for equality, diversity and inclusion in research.
The need for physical distancing and remote working is also prompting us to rethink how we conduct research and knowledge exchange, with a re-orientation towards remote and digital approaches. And we anticipate that the new financial context and the constraints on recruitment may limit resources available to support research.
While these conditions may not be in place for the full life of this strategy, we nonetheless need to adapt RKE activities to the new context.
These adjustments also offer an opportunity to rethink some of our ways of working, promoting more sustainable research practices, catalysing new digital and internet-based methodologies and approaches, and requiring us to be smarter in how we deliver research support.
We are committed to providing inclusive structures and processes that can help us navigate this challenging environment, to continue to improve the quality, reputation and impact of our research.