(S7E7) The Research Culture Enablers Network: Building a Better Culture Together

Intro:

Welcome to the Research Culture Uncovered podcast, where in every episode we explore what is research culture and what should it be? You'll hear thoughts and opinions from a range of contributors to help you change research culture into what you want it to be.

Emma Spary:

Hi, it's Emma, and for those of you who haven't listened to my episodes yet, I lead the researcher development and culture team at the University of Leeds. My episodes focus on research culture and research leadership. Today I'm really pleased to be joined by members of the Research Culture Enablers Network to tell us more about the aims of the group and importantly, why people should get involved. I'm joined by three guests today, so I'm going to start with a very quick round of introductions. So Rika, I'm going to come to you first and then maybe you can hand over to Elisa and Cathal.

Rika Nair:

Great. I'm Rika Nair and my current role is research culture manager at the University of Warwick. I'm also the lead of the Research Culture Enablers Network.

Elisa Clemente:

On to Elisa hi, I'm Elisa Clemente, I'm a research environment and culture officer at Imperial College London and I'm part of the Research Culture Enablers Network and on the committee as well. Cathal.

Cathal Rogers:

Hi, I'm Cathal Rogers, I'm research culture and assessment manager at the University of Manchester and I'm also on the committee of the Research Culture Enablers Network.

Emma Spary:

Thank you all for joining us today. So we're here to talk about the Research Culture Enablers Network. So I think probably a good place to start is by telling our listeners why the network was formed, how it came about and what you hope it's going to contribute to the research culture, landscape and community.

Rika Nair:

we look back to the summer of: 2023

Rika Nair:

But it felt sometimes like we were all working individually on the same issues, when actually synergy would be far more likely to achieve meaningful results. So we held an international research culture conference last September at Warwick, which was hosted by our National Center for Research Culture. We were delighted by the level of engagement we had, and we planned to hold it every year, actually. But it became clear that we needed more channels for strategic discussion and collaboration between conferences. So that's why we decided to create the network as a way to connect all those who are passionate and knowledgeable about research culture to the point of wanting to discuss these challenges strategically, to identify knowledge gaps and hopefully eventually lead on research on research culture.

Emma Spary:

Brilliant. Thank you. And as you've already mentioned there, research culture is such a wide reaching topic, and to anyone who's listened to our previous episodes, you'll know that we talk about research culture being something that everybody needs to be involved in. But who is this network for and who are you trying to get involved?

Elisa Clemente:

Yeah, so we've started with people mainly in roles like us, so research culture managers, officers and so on. People with research culture officially as part of their job title, but as a network, we're looking to be inclusive. And we recognize that, firstly, not all institutions necessarily have the capacity to have one or more dedicated roles for research culture. And in the ones that don't, colleagues might work on research culture as part of many of the roles, or as one of the sort of many hats that they wear, if you wish. And also, as you just said, and as Rika mentioned as well, research culture is quite wide reaching. It covers many areas, even if you just take the definition of research culture from the Royal Society, which many people in the field refer quite often. It's really quite broad. You know, it covers areas like open research, research integrity, research development and so on.

Elisa Clemente:

And so many of the roles that drive research culture change are underappreciated or can go unrecognized, and we would want to include them as well. So at the moment, we'd say that as a network. We want to include everyone who's passionate about research culture and interested in implementing change.

Emma Spary:

If you're listening and you're now wondering how you can get involved, we will make sure that there is a link to the network in the show notes that accompany this episode. So I'm going to move on to more personal insight into why you've got involved in the network. So we're always interested in understanding what drives people to get involved in research culture work. So perhaps you could tell us what you think the main priorities are for research culture.

Cathal Rogers:

Yeah, thanks, Emma. So for me, I think it would be around the job security and precarity for research staff. I think this underpins and exacerbates a lot of the issues in research culture that we see. So, for example, barriers and unequal access to fair reward and recognition, and obviously career progression and opportunities. Retaining talent, as Rika mentioned at the start, potentially research integrity through creating unhealthy, unsupportive culture of competition. And really it undermines the sustainability of research ecosystem itself in kind of previous research and development roles I've done, I've. I've kind of seen the sort of impact on individuals that this can have, kind of on their well being and almost their sense of self, their sense of kind of purpose as well. And I think it's an uncomfortable truth that a lot of the excellent world leading research that UK universities do, they kind of build and trade their reputation on that research, but it's undertaken by staff on precarious fixed term contracts without the job security, relative job security, that a lot of others take for granted.

Cathal Rogers:

It's a very complex issue. There's no simple fix. Funders and universities have their own pressures, budget constraints and their own uncertainties. But I personally feel quite strongly that as the focus on research culture rightly increases and we shouldn't leave job security in the too hard box. We know from a recent UCU report that there is actually some good practice out there and some universities, including Manchester, are taking steps to try and mitigate some of the impact of this in different ways. But I think as a sector, we shouldn't just accept the current unsustainable situation is the only way and can't be improved. So pass to Elisa next.

Elisa Clemente:

Yeah, I mean, in a sense, I'm very happy that everyone is working on, you know, different aspects of research culture. I do think, you know, it's such a complex topic and everything is connected to each other. But if I had to mention one priority for personally, I'd probably still go with widening participation and initiatives that promote equality, diversity and inclusion. I know it's not necessarily new and most people in the sector are very much aware of the importance of this type of work, but there is still a lack of representation in academia of various demographics, particularly at the more senior levels. So there's still a lot to be done in that regard. I mean, I personally care about it because, you know, I think it's the fair thing to do, but even if you just want to be a little pragmatic, talent of course, can be found anywhere. So as an institution you do need to take EDI and widening participation seriously, as that will make you more likely to attract and importantly retain a broader base of talent of students and staff. I mean, at Imperial we do a lot of work on it.

Elisa Clemente:

We have an EDI center which leads on a lot of it centrally, as well as committees, reps and so on that work within departments and faculties. And some of our research England funding has been channeled towards these type of initiatives as well. So we have an award winning program of activities led by Professor Sara Rankin that's looking at ways to encourage more black students into postgraduate research in STEM. The graduate school is also currently developing EDI training for doctoral supervisors, amongst many other initiatives. So I think it's a really exciting time and it's so great to see all the work that's been being done across the sector. Rika onto you?

Rika Nair:

Sure. I think just like Elisa said, it's quite hard to pick one challenge because it is such a complex issue. But if I had to choose one that was close to my heart, I would say a top priority for me is championing parity of esteem for research enablers and really promoting a vision that many different roles not only contribute to, but actually drive research excellence. In a way, my passion for this area is a project of my own lived experience as a researcher and now a research enabler. So doing my PhD, it became clear to me that I was more interested in the nature of research and improving research excellence generally, rather than the project itself. The BBSRC who was sponsoring my project at the time, were offering a policy internship scheme and I was really lucky to have the chance to join the Royal Society Science Policy center. This brought me face to face with data on what was already being called at the time the leaky pipeline, where essentially in the UK we were training up many researchers to PhD level, but then progressively losing them as you moved up the academic research career pathway with increasingly fewer making it to permanent positions and professorships, the leaking effect was especially marked for women and ethnic minorities. So going back to what ELISA was saying, still a key issue at the minute, that we have underrepresentation of these groups, and there are initiatives out there, for example, to increase the number of female black professors, and that's great to see.

Rika Nair:

So I actually consider myself to have voluntarily leaked, and I think it would be helpful to reframe the discussion around there only being one successful journey to academic research. In a way, I feel like I never left research, and even though I'm more of a research enabler than a researcher, I still feel like I contribute to excellent research. The roles I went for after my PhD started out as research project management. But as I took on more complex interdisciplinary projects, eventually across multiple institutions and involving multiple stakeholders beyond academia, these roles became better defined by an acronym which is called PRISM. And PRISM is a term that is hopefully gaining some momentum with support from funders like the EPSRC. It stands for professional research investment and strategy manager. Essentially the most complex research challenges, if you think about climate change, if you think about pandemics and other health issues, require coordination and input from increasingly diverse teams. And in order to ensure research excellence, you need experienced research enablers who can straddle the technical and operational challenges of convening research teams and their work.

Rika Nair:

That's where prisms come in, and actually 93% of prisms are female and 50% have PhDs. So you can see prisms might actually account for some elements of the leaky pipeline that never really left research. And if we can do more to bolster the professionalization of these roles, then actually the pipeline might look less leaky and the narrow path to academic research success might look less exclusive. The PRISM network is doing a great job of bringing together colleagues in these roles, and it's hoped that in a similar fashion to the journey we've seen for technicians with the technician commitment, we might see research culture change for prisms as well. I mentioned the EPSRC, and they've actively adopted the acronym PRISM and included it in the guidance for the most recent funding call for centers for doctoral training prisms. So specifically, those who had previously had held positions as doctoral training center managers could for the first time apply as co leads. And from talking to Prism colleagues, I know this little piece of wording has already had a great positive impact for research culture. So, for example, prism colleagues being regraded favorably in order to become eligible to be listed as co leads.

Rika Nair:

I'm hoping this is just a start, and that there are similar pathways for all the other research enabling, research support, research adjacent, whichever term you'd like to use, functions that safeguard research excellence.

Emma Spary:

Well, that's really interesting, and I suppose I should put my hand up and say, I have voluntarily leaked as well, having had a previous research background. So we've just heard a lot of priorities, and we know that this is such a complex and varied landscape, new challenges that we're identifying all the time that we know exist in research culture. So how do you see this network facilitating that really important knowledge exchange?

Cathal Rogers:

Yeah. So for me, the networking aspect and the knowledge sharing is one of the main attractions for being more involved in this network. We know that many of the issues in research culture, particularly those we've just discussed, are cross sector, and they cannot and will not be solved by any one institution acting in isolation. We also know in he and those of us who've worked here a little while, there's an awful lot of reinventing the wheel. We love to all create our own policies, our own way of tackling the same problem, our own way of spending our own little pots of money on kind of essentially the same issues and trying to achieve the same goal. So I think the idea around this network is to try and kind of move beyond that. It's quite inefficient, you know, so the idea is to bring together people who are working on trying to address the same challenges. So they're already doing that work in their own institution, but to bring those people together to share our expertise, share what we've learned, what worked, particularly what didn't work, you know, how we overcame some particular challenges so that collectively we can improve things for researchers at whatever institution they find themselves in.

Cathal Rogers:

So, for example, someone might have set up an open call for research, culture initiatives, or even a positive action funding scheme. So it's really useful to learn from people who've done that. What challenges did that bring up? You know, I know, you know, you might bring up with challenges with legal that actually you can't go and do that. And, you know, so, learning well, okay, well, how did you get around that? It was really valuable to kind of learn from. It'll ultimately help our fellow professionals as well as the researchers in other institutions. I previously worked at a much smaller institution, which didn't have this infrastructure, didn't have anyone with this kind of specific job kind of role. And so having learned, you know, having the opportunity to learn from people who've been there and. And kind of overcome some of the challenges would have been really valuable.

Cathal Rogers:

I feel quite optimistic that the nature of research culture discourse at the moment is very much around working in collaboration across the sector, and that sharing comes through really clearly through committee meetings. You know, we're not in competition with each other in terms of how the network facilitates this. So our meetings are driven by the ethos of sharing what we're working on and where we feel we can help others and also where we need help. So new members are invited to record those things, and that facilitates offline networking and contact building. And as well as having invited speakers on different topics, the meetings also have a very practical element. So for example, our road mapping activities encourage breakout groups to identify issues and blockers on particular kind of topics, but also enable us and next steps so they have kind of practical outcomes rather than just talking about the issues. And we're also trying to cultivate shared resources and access to information. So members areas, for example, has recording of presentations, slides, contact lists, calendars of upcoming events and webinars, as well as kind of monthly updates on funding calls and key announcements.

Cathal Rogers:

Really it's all about collecting existing resources to save members time, trying to find out the same information. And I think really it's about creating that critical mass of people working on priority areas to share best practice and ideally quick wins and things that can be implemented, perhaps with limited resources.

Emma Spary:

Fantastic loads of reasons for our listeners to be thinking about how they can get involved. So we've heard a lot about the aims of the network, and now we know how people can get involved and importantly, why they should get involved. Where do you see your network going and what are you focusing on next?

Rika Nair:

Sure. So I think next steps for the network have been co created with the members of the network. So we put to them the question of how they would like us to approach the next steps. And essentially one of the key things that came up is we should try and find out who is missing from current conversations. So it's been mentioned some institutions don't have the capacity to have dedicated research culture roles, and actually those individuals would actually benefit from having a resource where every two months they could attend the meeting and do some of that networking and knowledge exchange. So some of our next steps is doing just that, some horizon scanning to see who we should get involved in the conversation. So that includes other colleagues and institutions. But like we've mentioned, these issues are impossible to solve.

Rika Nair:

Just looking at individual universities or even the university sector as a whole, we need to be considering that research happens in other places. So we'd like to eventually involve colleagues from industry, from the NHS, make sure we've got funders involved and policymakers involved in the conversation. When it comes to, hopefully, the stage where we're trying to enact that change, other things that we'd be looking to do is priorities obviously coming closer to ref. A lot of our colleagues are going to be involved in preparations and there's also the risk that things become more competitive as we get closer to that deadline. So one of our priorities will be to make sure we keep that equitable and collaborative ethos and just being mindful that things will be changing for our members as well. So through the poll that we put out, they highlighted that they would like opportunities to improve their professional development in research cultures. So one of the aims of the network going forward will be to ensure that we've got opportunities for our members to improve their thought leadership. So either through opportunities to talk to the network and present on the work they're doing through the roadmapping, just get used to talking about different areas of research culture, but possibly also looking at specific training, possibly shadowing and mentoring later down the line.

Emma Spary:

Well, as someone who champions professional development, I love some of those ideas. I'm really, really excited to see what's happening or what's coming next. You mentioned you were going to be doing the conference again. Is there anything you could tell us about when that might be launched or when you might be holding that just so that it gets onto people's radars?

Rika Nair:

Sure. So we're really excited to be hosting the International Research Culture conference once again at Warwick and it will be taking place on the 16 September and it'll be a day conference, but we are also planning to have a satellite event the next day for our research culture enablers network. Because through the roadmapping activities we've been doing online, we've been advancing the conversation very slowly. But actually, if we were to meet in person and do a half a day roadmapping session, I think we will be able to those challenges forward more rapidly.

Emma Spary:

So today we've been learning all about the network, but in addition to this episode, there is going to be a second episode with different members of the Research Culture Enablers Networkwhere they're going to be talking about the roles that research enablers have and sharing their personal journeys to research culture. And I will put a link into the show notes so that you'll be able to find that upcoming episode. We are just about up to time. I told you 20 minutes goes very, very quickly. So I would like to thank you for joining us on this episode. You can find links to the network in the show notes, and with that, I will give Rika, Alisa, and Cathal the last word and an opportunity to say goodbye.

Rika Nair:

So thank you so much for having us on the podcast today, and we look forward to inviting and welcoming more members to the network.

Elisa Clemente:

Yeah, it was really great. Thank you so much.

Cathal Rogers:

Thank you very much.

Intro:

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