Enhancing Research Culture: 2023-24 projects

We’ve funded a number of exciting projects that explore innovative approaches to making our research culture more open, inclusive and supportive.

On

About the research culture funding

In 2023-24 we received £850,000 from Research England's Enhancing Research Culture funding to invest in developing our research culture.

We are delighted to fund 17 projects from across all five faculties, professional services and cross-faculty teams.

Below you can find an overview of all projects.


Across faculties

BOSS: Bank of Sustainable Software (Engineering, Health, Science)

Lead applicant: Dr Daniele Tartarini (Department of Computer Science)

Co-applicants: Dr Paul Watton, Dr Yasmeen Rafiq, Research Software Engineering team (Department of Computer Science), Dr Pablo Rodolfo Baldivieso Monasterios and Dr Rob Worley (Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering), Dr Paul Hughes and Dr Enrico Dall’Ara (School of Medicine and Population Health), Dr Alexander Fletcher (School of Mathematics and Statistics), Dr Giacomo Torelli (Department of Civil and Structural Engineering), Dr Pinaki Bhattacharya and Dr Xinshan Li (Department of Mechanical Engineering)

Developing and promoting inclusive research culture in research ethics policy and practice (Health, Social Sciences, Professional Services)

Lead applicant: Dr Jennifer Burr (School of Medicine and Population Health)

Co-applicants: Dr Kirsty Liddiard (School of Education and iHuman), Dr Nicola Hemmings (School of Biosciences), Sophie Phillips (School of Education and iHuman), Dave Holloway (Academic Programmes and Student Engagement)

Developing Communication Strategies and Partnerships to Enhance Support for TUoS PGRs of Colour (Science, Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences)

Lead applicant: Dr Alex Mason (Centre for Equity and Inclusion)

Co-applicants: Dr Nicola Hemmings (School of Biosciences), Dr Seth Mehl (Digital Humanities Institute), Dr Meesha Warmington (School of Education), Dr Bobby Nisha (Department of Urban Studies and Planning), Dr Antony Williams (School of Education), Annalisa Toccara-Jones (School of Journalism, Media and Communications)

Developing inclusive PGR academic representation and enhancing a PGR community through wellbeing and social initiatives (Science, Health, Engineering, Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities, Professional Services)

Lead applicant: Rea Smith (Science Graduate School)

Co-applicants: Prof. Andrew Furley (School of Biosciences), Prof. Alison Gartland (School of Medicine and Population Health), Prof. Nicola Morley (Department of Materials Science and Engineering), Dr Stefanie Pukallus (Institute for Global Sustainable Development), Prof. Jonathan Rayner (School of English), Sarah Bell (Research, Partnerships and Innovation)

Many of the other projects also span multiple departments and purposes, and include activities that cross faculties and services.


Professional Services

The ABC of grant management (Social Sciences, Professional Services)

Lead applicant: Joanna Jenner (Faculty of Social Sciences Research Support)

Co-applicants: Peter Greenacre (HR, Faculty of Social Sciences), Bethan Thomas (Finance, Faculty of Social Sciences) Simon Beecroft (Faculty of Social Sciences Research Support), Dr Maria Tomlinson (School of Journalism, Media and Communication), Prof. Ruth Blakeley (Department of Politics and International Relations)

Supporting Postgraduate Researchers to shape the PGR Wellbeing Strategy (Professional Services, Health)

Lead applicant: Sarah Bell (Research, Partnerships and Innovation)

Co-applicants: Dr Chris Blackmore (School of Medicine and Population Health), Dr Emma Suret (Research, Partnerships and Innovation)

Essential Skills for Open Research (Engineering, Professional Services)

Lead applicant: Dr David Wilby (RSE, Department of Computer Science)

Co-applicants: Norbert Gyenge and Saul Cozens (IT Services)


Arts and Humanities

The Life Cycle of a Research Grant (Cross-departmental)

Lead applicant: Prof. Emma Moore (School of English)

Co-applicants: Prof. Nicola Dibben (Department of Music), Dr Madeleine Callaghan (School of English), Alex Goode (Faculty of Arts and Humanities Research Hub)

The Impacts of Motherhood on Research (Cross-departmental)

Lead applicant: Dr Erin Maglaque (Department of History)

Co-applicants: Dr Emily Baughan (Department of History)


Engineering

Sustainable research practice: demonstrating changes in laboratory research practices that enable reduced environmental impact (Cross-departmental)

Lead applicant: Prof. Neil Sims (Department of Mechanical Engineering)

Co-applicants: Dr Ruoyang Yuan, Gareth Barker (Department of Mechanical Engineering), Andrew Massey (Estates and Facilities Management), Prof. Rachael Rothman (Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering), Tracy Wray (Corporate Communications)

Getting researchers into workshops: bridging the culture gap (Cross-departmental)

Lead applicant: Dr Richard Hodgkinson (Department of Materials Science and Engineering)

Co-applicants: Andrew Patrick (Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering), Stephen Mason (Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering) 


Health

Establishing a Research Fellows College for the Faculty of Health: Identifying support needs and an action plan for implementation (Cross-departmental)

Lead applicant: Dr Catarina Henriques and Dr Ruth Thompson (School of Medicine and Population Health)

Co-applicants: Dr Luke Green, Alanna Green, Becky Pennington and Ola Rominyi (School of Medicine and Population Health)

Building a community to support our clinical PGR cohort (Cross-departmental)

Lead applicant: Dr Iwan Evans, Dr Ruth Payne (School of Medicine and Population Health)

Co-applicants: Dr Michelle Lawson (School of Medicine and Population Health)


Science

Improving research cultures around career development for Postgraduate Researchers (Science, Professional Services)

Lead applicant: Dr Nicola Buckland (Department of Psychology)

Co-applicants: Dr Rebecca Ehata (Research, Partnerships and Innovation)


Social Sciences

Data Transparency in Qualitative Research (Cross-departmental)

Lead applicant: Dr Joanna Tidy (Department of Politics and International Relations)

Actioning The Accessibility Guide (School of Education)

Lead applicant: Dr Antonios Ktenidis (School of Education)

Co-applicants: Dr Alex Mason (Centre for Equity and Inclusion), Prof. Dan Goodley (School of Education and iHuman), Jane-May Martin (School of Education), Nigel Barker (City, Culture and Public Engagement)

Enabling the voices of the forgotten: Part-time doctoral students’ experience of research culture (Information School)

Lead applicant: Sheila Webber (Information School)

Co-applicants: Laura Barber, Dr Pam McKinney, James Toner, Laura Williams (Information School)