Working Together on Research Culture

Research Culture Roadmap 2021

We launched our ‘Research Culture at Newcastle University: The Road Ahead’ in October 2021. We invited people from across our community to tell us what they thought.

We heard from more than 400 colleagues and students and as a result we promised to:

take an action-oriented approach with clear, specific actions that lead to concrete changes
build an approach that's inclusive, hears from different voices from our community and ensures what we do matters to people
better communicate with the community about what we’ve done and what our plans are in response to what we hear
engage the community in further consultation activities as workstreams develop, including around key issues identified

Research Culture Survey 2022

It's the first time we've asked our research community to share their thoughts about Newcastle’s existing research culture.

The participants shared ideas for improvements, which have fed into our Research Culture Action Plan.

To tailor our future actions, we analysed our survey data by ‘role’. For simplicity here, we present the overall findings from across the institution, organised by three emerging themes.

Collaboration

54% agree the university promotes a collaborative research culture.
76% find that members of the research community share their expertise when asked.
73% feel confident they know how people with different roles/expertise contribute to research.
36% do not feel that their contributions to research are valued by the University.

Realising our potential

66% agreed that creativity is welcomed in their research environment.
51% do not feel they have quality time to think creatively and develop their ideas.
58% agree they are encouraged to develop their skills and expertise.
38% agree the development opportunities offered by the university enhance their career progression.
88% understand the benefits of open research.
50% believe that the university values open research practices.

An inclusive culture

94% think diversity is important in research and innovation.
33% do not feel safe to challenge the way things are done to help improve research.
32% do not feel that discriminatory or inappropriate behaviour would be dealt with effectively.

Committed to being open and transparent

We are committed to being open and transparent about what we've heard and our plans for action. We see our work as an ongoing dialogue with our research community.

We have developed a University Our Research Culture Index to monitor research culture change across a basket of values-led measures.

We seek to collaborate, share good practice and work with others across the sector to achieve meaningful and lasting improvement.