What is research culture and what are we doing about it

Key messages:  

• Excellence in research flows from excellence in research culture 
• Research culture is specific to the discipline; collective progress requires shared learning across the University 
• The new “Research Culture Toolkit” project will map research culture activities and support departments and faculties 

Why does research culture matter? 

The term ‘research culture’ describes how we do research, rather than what research we do. It refers to the process by which research is conducted (eg openness, integrity, collaboration) and how people experience the environment in which research happens (eg recognition for all contributions). The quality of our research and the culture in which it takes place should be coincident — after all, outstanding research can only emerge from a positive and supportive environment. Although an “excellent” research culture may be hard to define and evidence — itself an area for research — that should not stop us making improvements where we can. 

The bodies that fund our research — including government agencies and charities — are also expecting that both institutions and individual researchers prioritise culture, through both policies and financial support. For example, they have introduced the narrative CV for their grants that encourages applicants to describe a broad range of contributions. The next Research Excellence Framework (REF 2029) will increase the weighting of the People, Culture and Environment component from 15% in REF 2021 to 25%.  

How are we supporting improvements in research culture? 

Our approaches to improving research culture involve action at several levels: underpinning policies and structures, locally tailored activities in departments and faculties, and guiding researchers to support more junior colleagues.  

We have built teams to support our research culture ambition, including: Research Culture Facilitators in each of the four academic divisions; the Researcher Hub in People and Organisational Development; and a Research Practice team in Research Services.  

We have a growing portfolio of work encompassing the Charter and Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, Equity and Inclusivity in Research Funding, support for developing Narrative CVs, the Technician Commitment, new training modules for research practice, and more. In 2024, we also celebrated the first Vice-Chancellor’s Awards for research culture.  

Several University initiatives will contribute to changes in our research culture, including the Pay & Conditions review, the Academic Career and Reward Framework, the new Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan, and the up-coming People Strategy. 

Mapping and sharing research culture practices: the Research Culture Toolkit project  

In our large and varied university, we cannot expect to have a single research culture, and must recognise there are different research cultures.  

This realisation has been an important driver of a new project to map our research culture activities. The ‘Research Culture Toolkit’ will support departments and faculties in strengthening their research culture by clarifying what is in scope of research culture, sharing good practice and highlighting where more support is needed. The project operates through conversations with departments and faculties, and with a SharePoint resource that hosts internal information and offers opportunities to share ideas via the Inspiration Bank. We hope to work with colleges in a future phase. Crucially, the project team is a partnership between divisional and central teams: delivered by the divisional research culture teams, with input from Research Services, Researcher Hub and others. 

We have just completed a pilot phase where we worked with eight departments and faculties, gathering a ‘snapshot’ of their current research culture activities and encouraging reflection on approaches.  

So far, there have been exciting examples of dedicated teams and individuals making a difference in their research environments. Some of these examples include: supporting the progression of postdocs to independent fellowships and developing team-level documentation that sets expectations across all areas of culture. We have also noticed patchiness in planning and evaluation; evidence sometimes consisted of statements about structures or policies rather than providing a record of engagement or evaluating effectiveness. 

What’s next? 

Oxford is participating in the REF 2029 People, Culture and Environment national pilot exercise this winter, to help develop its scope and what constitutes evidence of excellence.  

The team will roll out further our internal Research Culture Toolkit through visits to departments and faculties from November 2024–March 2025. The information we gather and share will help departments and faculties take actions to improve research culture and simultaneously inform preparations for REF 2029. We will share examples of challenges and successes from departments and faculties in summer 2025. 

Please take a look at the Toolkit SharePoint pages and feel free to suggest examples for the Inspiration Bank. We invite engagement through research staff representatives and advocates, departmental events and networks and next year’s Staff Experience Survey. Professional services staff can join discussions via the Research and Innovation Support Network Community of Practice for Research Culture.