Research Cultures Action Plan

We are committed to fostering an environment in which research, researchers, and those that enable research, can thrive.

Research sits at the core of the University’s mission. It forms one of the four pillars in our Strategy 2030 and we use research to advance knowledge and change the world for the better. Our ability to deliver excellent research depends on our research cultures. Our research cultures are built and maintained through the values, expectations and behaviours that shape how we support, deliver and communicate our research. It’s our responsibility as an institution, and as individuals, to foster cultures where we are all encouraged, supported and recognised appropriately.  

We undertook our first Research Cultures Action Plan between 2023-25 and we have recently published our progress report on that plan.  Our second Action Plan will be undertaken from January 2026 until the end of 2028. Our second plan builds on our activity over the last three years and priority areas identified and refined by our research community.

As a University community we are immensely proud of what we have collectively achieved over the last three years and are committed to this work being continued and strengthened through the next action plan period. 

Crucially, our research cultures activity is strongly connected to and supported by other strategic work at the University, such as our Technician Commitment activity, Researcher Development Concordat commitments, ED&I commitments, Research Integrity commitments and Community plan among many others. Communication, responsibility, professional development and recognition are at the heart of this work.

Professor Liz Baggs | Vice-Principal Research & Innovation

Research Cultures Action Plan 2026-28

Our Research Cultures Action Plan 2026-28 was approved by Research Strategy Group in November 2025 and restates our commitment to foster an environment where research, researchers, and those who support them, can thrive.

ValuesPriority Areas

The Action Plan is underpinned by a set of core values that guide all our research activities:  

  • Citizenship
  • Wellbeing
  • Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (ED&I)
  • Ethics & integrity
  • Learning & Reflecting

The Action Plan aims to realise these values through practical measures across these areas:

  • Recognition & Career Development
  • Engagement & Good Practice
  • Open & Responsible Research
  • Data & Evaluation

The research community addressed in our Action Plans encompasses all those involved in research, from undergraduates gaining their first experience of research to established academics leading in their field and those providing the services and support that enable a flourishing research environment.

A selection of the actions we will undertake during 2026-28 are listed below

Ongoing: We will develop a Narrative CV support framework, materials and training to support the development of Narrative CVs locally in Schools and Colleges.To start: We will add responsible research assessment and use of metrics into recruitment training and processes.To start: We will pilot the pooling of research staff in two research areas.

Ongoing: We will disseminate and embed the learning from InFrame and its Culture Catalyst Projects.Ongoing: We will develop a training and support package to embed positive research cultures in research bids and projects.To start: We will consolidate the learning and development offer to deliver a clear package of support for those holding organisational management positions.

Ongoing: We will embed Responsible Research & Innovation in our Engage innovation and commercialisation training.Ongoing: We will implement a university wide ethics workflow and record management system.To start: We will analyse the data from our Report+Support platform to identify areas that may require additional support or intervention

 


Ongoing: We will evaluate our Principal Investigator training offer.To start: We will integrate HR data with our research proposal data to identify actionable insights to direct support to staff groups with lower submission or success rates.To start: We will run focus groups to evaluate our communication and implementation of responsible research assessment.

A detailed progress update is available on our SharePoint site linked below or on our Research Cultures Delivery Group committee site www.committees.ed.ac.uk/research-cultures-delivery-group.  

 

Research Cultures Action Plan 2023-25

Our first Research Cultures Action Plan was approved in spring 2023.  At the end of 2025 80% of these actions are complete with activities embedded in our business as usual, and another 15% are actively ongoing and will continue to report into the next action plan period.

Postgraduate Research Cultures Plan

Our Doctoral College developed a Postgraduate Research (PGR) Cultures Plan building on the PGR actions outlined in the Action and Delivery Plans above.

Progress on our Action Plan

Work to improve our research cultures is happening in every School, Institute, College and Department.  Below is a progress report on our first research cultures action plan.

 

Research Cultures Delivery Group

Our Research Cultures Delivery Group (RCDG) is chaired by Alex Peden, as the Head of Research Cultures, and is tasked with monitoring the delivery of the Research Cultures Action Plan and CoARA Action Plan.  

Research Cultures Survey

In 2020, 2022 and 2024 we ran a Research Cultures Survey based on the 2019 Wellcome Survey of Institutional Research Culture.  The survey was deployed via a web form to University of Edinburgh research professional staff, academic staff, research staff, technicians and doctoral research students  The survey results inform our research cultures approach and also provide information which will allow refinement of the questions needed in future surveys.  We plan to continue to refine the survey questions set so they are increasingly relevant to the UoE context and issue a research cultures survey every 2 years.

The results of all three surveys are available to University staff and students on our dashboard on the Research Cultures SharePoint site.

 

Staff Engagement Survey

We undertook our first all staff survey in 2018, which was followed up in 2023 and 2025.  The results of the surveys are linked below and fed into the development of our Research Cultures plans.

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