Since 2021, an interdisciplinary team of faculty and professional staff has been working on the Research Culture Initiative at UCD. What do they mean by Research Culture? Research Culture is about the research environment. It is not just what we deliver in terms of research excellence but how we deliver it. The culture of research encompasses our behaviours and attitudes to each other in our work, valuing the contributions of others involved in our research, and how we communicate that research.
Project Chair and UCD Research Integrity Officer, Professor Grace Mulcahy views the connection between a healthy working environment and innovative research as critically important for the research community. She says: "A good research culture is the foundation on which both research excellence and integrity is built. It means that we consider the viewpoints of our mentees and colleagues and realise the power of collective effort. Working in a supportive environment enables researchers to excel, whereas a culture where research is accompanied by a disregard for the capabilities of others engenders the opposite."
A positive research culture has been prioritized by the University in its Strategy for Research Innovation and Impact, Shaping the Future. Incoming University President, Professor Orla Feely, has given her full support to this work which began while she was Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Impact. When the project was launched, Professor Feely said of its aims: “We want everyone who interacts with our research and innovation system and also those who work within it to encounter a positive culture characterised by integrity, dignity, respect and inclusion.”
The work of the project team aims to learn what the research community values. The project began with a Research Culture Survey of the UCD research community to establish a baseline of sentiment about the culture across the institution. Everyone involved in research was invited to participate including graduate students, postdoctoral research associates, research fellows, faculty, technical officers and research managers. More than 1000 survey responses were received. In these, there was an indication of a developing awareness of the importance of the culture of research. The core value of collegiality was recognised as characteristic of UCD’s research culture, although this can be tempered by the realities of a competitive research funding environment.
Following up on points raised by the survey, the Research Culture team conducted a series of 13 focus groups. In these World Café events (pictured) dozens of participants joined the conversations to give their perspectives on working in research at UCD.
The focus of these discussions was collegiality and collaboration in the research community. The team heard from across the University how the absence of informal meetings during the pandemic diminished a sense of community.
Meeting people and hearing about the work happening in the university is the “social glue” that forms community among colleagues. It enables positive practices like mentoring which is so valuable for careers in research. An important output from the project has been the series of videos with UCD staff who have been recognised for their roles as mentors.
Work on the culture of research at UCD continues to develop. Team member Associate Professor Ivar McGrath sees it as an invitation for members of the community to shape the culture in which they work: “The Research Culture initiative at UCD offers the opportunity to make the University an even better place for all to work in – one that is more collegial, more collaborative, more respectful, and more inclusive; one that offers recognition for the whole spectrum of diverse contributions everyone makes towards the university’s research outputs; and one that really values and rewards the quality of research in all its varieties. But in order to do all that, the whole UCD research community needs to be actively involved – from the grass roots up. Making that happen is what inspires me to be part of the team”.
The activities of the Research Culture initiative, including reports from the 2021 Survey, videos and resources are available on the website: https://www.ucd.ie/researchculture/