A partnership between three of Scotland’s leading universities has been awarded a £3 million grant from Wellcome. The grant will support the development and testing of a new model which enhances positive research cultures for people and projects.

The two year initiative, led by the Universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh and St Andrews, will gather best practice from across the three institutions, amplifying and learning from communities where positive research culture flourishes.

The project will develop a framework for collegial research leadership, funding new research leaders to accelerate change through an ambitious programme. Under the plan, funding opportunities will be specifically aimed at diversifying and supporting new research leaders who embrace collegiate approaches. A new Community Knowledge Hub will support and develop our new leaders and identify the coherence and common issues across their diverse projects through a common evaluation strategy.

The collaboration has been funded by Wellcome through its Institutional Funding for Research Culture programme and is the only multi-partner project to receive this backing.

Professor Chris Pearce, Vice-Principal for Research & Knowledge Exchange at The University of Glasgow, said “This project demonstrates our ongoing commitment to the development of an inclusive research culture at the University of Glasgow and across the sector. Working in collaboration with our project partners we look forward to creating a framework and training materials which we hope will help develop a fairer, more collegiate, and collaborative research environment in which talented researchers can flourish, creating further knowledge which will benefit society.”

Professor Christina Boswell, Vice-Principal for Research and Enterprise said “This exciting collaboration will enable us to nurture and support research leadership across the University of Edinburgh, creating clear pathways for all staff in our research environment to identify and overcome the barriers to a more equitable, inclusive and kinder research culture. The project will help drive forwards our newly adopted Research Culture Action Plan, offering a new and distinctive opportunity to all our researchers and research-supporting staff to develop their leadership.”

Professor Tom Brown, Vice Principal (Research, Collections and Innovation), commented: “We at St Andrews are very excited to be taking this forward, in collaboration with our partner universities, and we look forward to working with the whole research ecosystem across our Schools and Professional Services. This will complement and enhance all we do under the University Strategy, and support us in delivering our commitments to research, impact and innovation, and the positive cultures we need to underpin them.”

 

First published: 4 December 2023

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