Geraldine Fitzpatrick, Prof.i.R. Dr

Presentation Abstract

Measuring research culture – getting to the heart of the people matters

How we define culture shapes how we measure culture and how we even conceive the term ‘measure’. While there seems to be agreement about culture encompassingbehaviours, values, attitudes and norms, the specific culture change priority areas differ across institutions.In general though, measurement approaches focus on various aspects of collegiality, inclusion, recognition, career development, research integrity, open research practices, among others. However, the measures that are used can tend to focus on the ‘what’ outputs and risk becoming yet another tick box exercise. What can remain invisible is the everyday lived experiences of people experiencing and enacting these cultures, and who do the research. In this short provocation, I will complement current ‘cognitive culture’ approaches with notions of ‘emotional’ and ‘relational’ culture, and draw on research and exemplar workplace initiatives to offer different ‘measures’ thinking.This is about recognising people matters are critical for research matters and that people are at the heart of culture.