Our Research Culture | Research at Warwick

Research Culture at Warwick

From undergraduate and postgraduate researchers to postdocs, technicians, research managers, professional services colleagues, and mid- and senior-career researchers, we believe that a culture that supports all talent and celebrates success can positively benefit research career paths and improve the quality of our research.

Our Approach

Making Warwick the Best Place to Do Research

Our research culture work aims to cultivate a vibrant environment where researchers and research-enablers can thrive.

To establish a shared vision, we have devised a 5-adjective summary of what good research culture looks like:

Our research community can be happy, creative, and productive.
Our research can be open and sound.

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Meet the Team Get in Touch Staff and Student Research Culture Hub

100+ Ideas to Improve Research Culture

At Warwick, our research community is full of innovative solutions, driving our collective efforts to enhance research culture. Through our Enhancing Research Culture funding from Research England, we posed a simple but important question to the community:

"What are the key research culture priorities of the groups your represent, and how would you use up to £10K or £50K to address them?"

Our projects are led by diverse teams of postgraduate researchers (PGRs), technicians, research enablers, and researchers at all career stages.

Research Culture Catalogue

Nurturing the Research Talent of Tomorrow

We are dedicated to supporting the development of everyone who contributes to research. From our research technical professionals to researchers and research-enabling teams, we recognise the vital role each individual plays within our vibrant research community.

Support for All Stages

Warwick undergraduate students are enabled to carry out research projects through the Undergraduate Research Support Scheme Link opens in a new windowand Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning (IATL). Our Researcher Development programmeLink opens in a new window, co-designed with Warwick’s PGRs, focuses on enhancing key areas such as research methodologies, writing, career progression, productivity, and well-being. The Institute of Advanced Study Link opens in a new windowoffers a wide-reaching programme of events and training, designed to help postdoctoral researchers and early-career professionals build successful careers, foster valuable networks, and develop innovative ideas. Through our Early-Stage Researcher Development FrameworkLink opens in a new window, we empower individuals to make informed, strategic decisions about their careers. In addition, we offer tailored initiatives, such as a comprehensive researcher induction Link opens in a new windowand a Research Leadership programmeLink opens in a new window, which equip individuals at all career stages with the skills to lead and drive innovation.

Researcher Training

Our Research Culture work has led to the creation of the Researcher Training Working Group, a community of practice bringing together colleagues across the university with responsibility for researcher development at departmental or institutional levels. This group plays a key role in advancing our initiatives, including the creation of the Researcher Training and Development DirectoryLink opens in a new window, a centralised resource that highlights development opportunities for every career stage.

Research Technical Professionals Interdisciplinary Research

Our research aims to tackle society’s most complex challenges and to deliver meaningful impact through collaboration with non-academic partners. To support this ambition, we have established programmes such as the Interdisciplinary Research SpotlightsLink opens in a new window, which build capacity in interdisciplinary research, and the Impact AcademyLink opens in a new window, which strengthens our ability to deliver transformative research outcomes.

Research Enablers

We strongly value and recognise all contributions to research teams, including from our research enabling colleagues who are often instrumental in driving excellence in practice.

The research culture team is actively collaborating with partners in the sector, including the Association of Research Managers (ARMALink opens in a new window) and the Professional Research Investment and Strategy Managers (PRISM NetworkLink opens in a new window) to improve parity of esteem for research managers & administrators, project managers, and all those who identify themselves as 'third spaceLink opens in a new window' research professionals.

Training and Development Directory Researcher Development Concordat Guidance HR Excellence in Research Award Technician Commitment Interdisciplinary Research Spotlights Interdisciplinary Research Directory Warwick Impact Academy

Warwick Research Celebration

The return of the Warwick Research Celebration on 7 April 2025 will bring together our research community and celebrate our world-leading research excellence and impact. Once again this year the Celebration event will host an award ceremony to recognise contributions of individuals and teams to research successes. Nominations are open in the categories of Research Culture, Research Impact, Collaboration & Partnership, Research Communications, Storytelling & Publicity, Research Enabler and Excellent Supervision.

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National Centre for Research Culture

The National Centre for Research Culture (NCRC) aims to improve research culture across UK higher education. Working closely with key partners and HEIs nationwide, it serves as a central hub for knowledge curation, training and innovative research into research culture.

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Research Culture Research Culture