Research Culture Sandpit

Could your idea improve
Research Culture at Warwick?

The Research Culture Sandpit is a an interactive in-person workshop open to PhD students, new and established researchers, technicians and professional services colleagues.

Meet collaborators, build teams and apply for internal grants up to £10K.

Tuesday 27 February 2024
12:00-13:30
Oculus 0.04

Agenda

12:00-12:20
Arrival and lunch (Oculus foyer)
12:20-12:30
‘Research Culture at Warwick and Beyond – Opportunities to Make a Change’, Dr Rika Nair, Research Culture Manager, R&IS
12:30-12:40
Showcase of current Enhancing Research Culture project - Dr Sarah Bennett, Research Technology Facility Manager, School of Life Sciences

12:40-13:00
Research Culture Icebreaker (working in pairs or threes around a research culture challenge of your choice)

13:00-13:20
Showcase of current Enhancing Research Culture projects, Dr Craig Carnegie, Research Fellow, WMG; Adele Kenny, Research Culture Officer, WMS.
13:20-13:30
Informal networking, drop-in for feedback on proposal ideas

Participant profiles Funding application form

What will happen on the day?

At the event, there will be an opportunity to learn more about research culture developments at Warwick and beyond.
There will also be updates from some of the project teams who have previously received Enhancing Research Culture Funding.
Through guided networking and a mini roadmapping activity, participants will meet potential internal collaborators and have time to develop project proposals together.
A simple proposal template will be provided and can be submitted by 1 March.
This template will include the project title, team composition and outline of the proposed research culture activity.
Following an initial assessment, teams will be encouraged to discuss more detailed budgets and project plans via a Teams meeting within two weeks.
Projects will run from April-June. All funding must be spent by July 2024.

Do I have to attend to apply for the funding?

Do I have to attend to apply?

We encourage prospective applicants to take part in the in-person sandpit activity, as there will be opportunities to meet collaborators and enrich ideas.

However, if you are unable to attend and would still like to submit an idea to improve research culture at Warwick, we would still like to hear from you.

Please use the following outline submission form:
https://warwick.ac.uk/research/research-culture-at-warwick/sandpit/submit (deadline Friday 1st March 5 pm)

All outlines will be checked for fit with eligible areas. Following this initial feedback, applicants will be invited to further discuss the breakdown of their plans and budget via a Teams meeting.

What is Research Culture? Research Culture Strategy

At Warwick, we are working to create an inclusive environment for our researchers and research-enablers, where everyone is able to be themselves and carry out excellent research.

Our research culture approach encompasses 5 values:
We want members of our research community to be Happy, Creative and Productive; and for our research practice to be Open and Sound.

Through the Enhancing Research Culture Fund, we empower our research teams to effect change in areas that are most important to them.

But, if we were to focus only on the culture here at our university, we’d be missing the point. There are certain issues that we need to look to tackle across the whole of the UK’s higher education sector.

That’s why we are excited to have set up the National Centre for Research Culture.

Eligible topics

Warwick has been fortunate to receive a third year of Enhancing Research Culture funding from Research England. Sandpit participants can apply for up to £10K and project topics can include, but are not limited to:

Improving access to and participation in research, including postgraduate research study, for people from currently underrepresented groups
Furthering open research practices
Improving research conduct and reproducibility
Tackling bullying and harassment
Improving research leadership skills across all career stages
Creating routes for collaboration and exchange with businesses, third sector organisations and government
Securing and supporting the careers of researchers and associated professions
Diversifying recruitment, reward and recognition approaches at all career stages
Delivering new approaches to public dialogue and community-led research.

For more ideas, take a look at the Research Culture Enablers Network Priority AreasLink opens in a new window.

Research culture impacts everybody involved in research.

Together, we support an inclusive culture for our research project teams.

We are committed to encouraging inclusion from diverse groups, and for this activity, we welcome attendance from people at all career stages and from under-represented groups.

Could your idea improve Research Culture at Warwick?

Research culture impacts everybody involved in research.

Could your idea improve
Research Culture at Warwick?