Top takeaways from the University of Bristol Festival of Research Culture

Mair Rigby, Cynnau | Ignite Engagement Officer, blogs about attending a research culture event in Bristol

The Cynnau | Ignite team were delighted to be invited to the recent Festival of Research Culture event hosted by the University of Bristol. I attended, along with my colleagues, Maleeha Rizwan, Cynnau | Ignite’s Organisational and Staff Development Officer, and Dr Karen Desborough, Cardiff University’s Research Culture Officer.

There are a lot of exciting things happening in the research culture space at Cardiff University this year.  Our new Research Culture Action Plan has just been launched; a series of events took place for Cardiff’s Research Culture Week in June, and the HEFCW Research Culture fund has enabled schools to host their own events.

Meanwhile, our team is busy preparing for the launch of the Cynnau | Ignite research culture leadership programme in September. So, it was great to have the opportunity to visit another university and learn from their experience in promoting positive research culture.

Getting to the event was slightly more arduous than anticipated, due to problems with the trains. One very delayed and hot bus ride later, we made it to Mshed just in time for the opening session!

It was a well-organised event, with talks and workshops on a range of topical issues. These included sessions on leadership ethos, the role of creativity and imagination, participatory research, inclusion, teamwork, open research, supporting postgraduate research students, and ethics and integrity. We also heard from the National Centre for Research Culture based at the University of Warwick about the Research Culture Enablers Network they are developing across the UK.

Here are my top takeaways from the event:

• There are challenges, but also huge opportunities. It feels like there is so much energy and motivation in the research culture space right now, with insightful conversations taking place within the sector
• Institutions across the UK are trying to address many similar issues in developing positive research culture, but there are important differences based on the specific institutional and local contexts
• Everyone working in research, whether as an academic, or as a professional, technician, or specialist, has a role to play and can have an impact. Perhaps we could say that positive research culture is everyone’s business!
• Breaking down barriers by bringing people together in non-hierarchical spaces, across academic schools and professional departments can be incredibly productive and energising
• Toolkits, frameworks and guidance can help us to be reflective and improve practice, while having the right policies and procedures is also important
• However, we do need to get more people in the room, not just the ‘converted’, to talk about these issues and understand why research culture is important
• We all need to think about the future and the kind of research culture we want to create in our institutions.

What was my personal favourite session? It had to be the workshop from the ‘Department of the Imagination’. This delightful session reminded me that everyone is creative and expressing creativity is an essential part of being human. Why not think about how you can work some creativity into your day, or with your team?

We are looking forward to discussing all these issues, and more, as part of our Cynnau | Ignite leadership programme. We still have a few places available for Teaching and Research colleagues, so get in touch with the team asap if you are interested in joining.  The Research-only cohort is fully subscribed, but you can apply to join the reserve list.

Recruitment for Professional Services, Technical and Specialist colleagues will open in September.

Get in touch: Ignite@cardiff.ac.uk