Supporting our research culture: Cardiff University Research Culture Fund 2024

Cardiff University launches a research culture fund to support events that enhance our research community

At Cardiff University, we are working to foster a supportive, collaborative, creative, open, inclusive, transparent and honest research culture for all. Research culture refers to the behaviours, values, and attitudes we value and expect across our research community and environment.

We have recently launched the Cardiff University Research Culture Fund for 2024, and it is now open for applications. This rapid response fund aims to create positive research cultures across the institution. It is supported by the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales’ (HEFCW) Wales fund for Research Environment and Culture. The fund launched this year and provides support for activities designed to enhance research culture.

Our Research Culture Survey, carried out in 2022, gave us a strong sense of the priorities of the researcher community at Cardiff. The results showed that colleagues have very positive views around the levels of collaboration and collegiality at the local level. However, respondents also suggested that more institutional support is needed to build community, especially outside schools and centres.

 This funding is therefore being made available to enable events that support the creation of community and collaboration, within and across schools, colleges, and other research centres.

The fund is intended to be flexible to enable colleagues to respond to what they need in a short timescale. All colleagues involved in research from any career pathway and at any career stage are eligible to both lead a bid and participate in funded events, where appropriate. This includes full time and part time research staff, postgraduate research students, academic, technical and Professional Services staff who are involved in supporting and delivering research and research-led education. We particularly welcome applications from teams that include under-represented groups as well as a range of career levels and roles.

We invite proposals that demonstrate an enhancement of the research culture and environment by increasing collaboration and community within a team, division, department, school, or college; across teams, divisions, departments, schools, or colleges; or more widely across the institution.

We will fund a wide range of activities, ranging from events that develop local practices that impact positively on research culture, including wellbeing, research ethics, equality, diversity, inclusion and anti-racism; to those that promote engagement with external academics and other stakeholders; to building relationships between researchers and those who enable research such as professional services, technicians and specialists. Activities may include but are not limited to workshops, roundtables, showcase events, invited speakers, and the establishment of networks.

Key dates

Research Culture Fund call opens: Wednesday 20 March 2024 all applications to be submitted through this short online form.

Applications close: Friday 19 April 2024

Funding: applications of up to £3,000 are invited and funds must be spent by 31 July 2024.