Embedding Wellbeing into Research Culture

Project Team

Professor Elena Riva

Elena is Head of Department at the Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning (IATL), a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and a National Teaching Fellow.

She has been the Principal Investigator for a number of Enhancing Research Culture projects at the University of Warwick, including Building Wellbeing Literacy and Embedding Wellbeing into Research Culture.

Dr Amber Tout

Amber is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at IATL. She is currently working with Professor Elena Riva on an Enhancing Research Culture-funded project to map existing wellbeing initiatives for researchers and research professionals.

Before joining IATL, Amber was based in Warwick Medical School, where she contributed to multiple research culture and wellbeing projects. These included a project examining the challenges faced by women in academia (WinA project) and the co-development of a preventative sleep management programme for shift workers.

Co-PIs:

Professor Carla Toro, Deputy Pro-Dean (Research) / Associate Professor Warwick Medical School

Professor Nicole Tang, Department of Psychology

Professor Jagjeet Jutley-Neilson, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology

PhD Candidates

Katie Cuneen

Titouan Cloarec

Contact

For further information and/or queries about this project, please contact Amber.Tout@warwick.ac.uk

Project Summary

Researchers and Research Professionals face significant challenges, including high workload pressures, limited wellbeing support, and a sense that their contributions are undervalued.

A participatory desk reviewLink opens in a new window – conducted by PhD students Katie Cunneen and Titouan Cloarec – further reinforced these concerns, identifying structural barriers such as workload, time constraints, fragmented initiatives, limited inclusion of professional services and fixed-term staff, leadership, and organisational culture as key determinants of wellbeing.

By engaging key sector stakeholders (funders, professional bodies, higher education institutions), the overarching goal of this project is to consolidate the currently fragmented data on wellbeing interventions for researchers and research professionals using the Health & Safety Executive's Management Standards Framework.

The HSE framework recognises six aspects of the work environment that influence the mental health and wellbeing of staff:

1. Demands – workload, work patterns and work environment
2. Control – how much autonomy people have in the way that they work
3. Support – encouragement, resources, and support provided by the organisation and colleagues
4. Relationships – promoting positive working relationships and addressing conflict
5. Role – clarity about job responsibilities and alignment of expectations

6. Change – how organisational change is managed and communicated.

Applying the HSE model to researcher and research support staff wellbeing offers a structured way to identify which aspects of the research environment are well-supported and where gaps remain, thus helping to develop a coherent, evidence-based foundation for further targeted interventions.

The project can be divided into 4 distinct phases:

• Phase 1: Literature Review and Refinement – completion of a participatory desk review to explore problems experienced by researchers and research professionals, available support mechanisms, and organisational factors related to staff wellbeing.
• Phase 2: Stakeholder Engagement and Co-design – formation of an Advisory Group (Re-Well HE), comprised of funders, professional associations, and higher education institutions, who will work together to identify existing wellbeing initiatives and frameworks.
• Phase 3: Sector Mapping and Analysis – systematic categorisation of current interventions using the Health and Safety Executive Management Standards Framework to identify strengths and gaps across the sector.
• Phase 4: Survey and Synthesis – design and implementation of a national researcher & research support staff wellbeing longitudinal survey informed by the evidence base, to validate and expand understanding of key wellbeing factors and effective interventions.

Re-Well HE Advisory Group

Our project Advisory Group includes representation from a number of professional organisations, funding bodies, and higher education institutions who will work together to guide our efforts to embed researcher and research professional wellbeing into Higher Education (Re-Well HE).

Funding Bodies

• Wellcome Trust
• UKRI

Professional Organisations, Networks, and Charities

• Health & Safety Executive (HSE)
• University Mental Health Advisors Network (UMHAN)
• Mind
• Vitae/Careers Research & Advisory Centre (CRAC)
• Professional Research Investment & Strategy Managers Network (PRISM)
• Research Enablers Network

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)

• Russell Group Representation (Kings College, University of Nottingham)
• Post-92 Representation (Birmingham City University)
• Online/Open University Representation (Arden University)
• Project leads and researchers working on wellbeing and research culture related projects in Higher Education (University College Dublin x Wellcome Trust-funded research culture and wellbeing project; University of Nottingham x Wellcome Trust-funded National Precarity Working Group)

Warwick Advisory Sub-group

• National Centre for Research Culture (NCRC)
• Doctoral College
• Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS, postdoctoral)
• Wellbeing Services
• Ambassadors for Better Research Culture
• Project Team