Research Culture
Nominations are open for the Research Culture category of the Warwick Research Celebration Awards! Help us recognise the efforts of colleagues driving a more inclusive, vibrant research environment.
Research Culture at the University of Warwick
"We are committed to leading the way by providing a positive research culture that supports all members of the research community to thrive to deliver the best research. We have a programme of work to strengthen research culture at Warwick to benefit academics, partners and everyone who plays a crucial role in supporting research."
Professor Caroline Meyer, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research)
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.
We are exploring ways to foster creative research, thinking of how we can remove barriers and recognise different contributions to research. We are assessing how we support wellbeing and development, how to involve non-academic stakeholders in research, and how to maintain the highest levels of integrity in our research practice.
Five Adjectives to Convey What Good Research Culture Looks Like
Our research culture work at Warwick aims to cultivate a vibrant environment where:
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Our research community can be happy, creative, and productive.
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Our research can be open and sound.
Community-driven Approach
We are building inclusive research communities and establishing ways to ensure the voices and opinions of researchers and research enablers are heard and influence decision making.
At Warwick, our research community is full of innovative ideas, 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?"
Internal funding guidance was designed to be inclusive, actively encouraging leadership from underrepresented groups within research. Through this call, we also created a platform for dialogue, enabling the sharing and refinement of both our vision for research culture and that of the community. Comprehensive support was provided to refine initial proposals, fostering alignment with sector-wide priorities and enhancing their potential to deliver meaningful benefits and lasting impact.
To date, we have supported over 100 projectsLink opens in a new window, led by diverse teams that include PGRs, technicians, research enablers, and researchers across all career stages. These projects are helping to shape a research culture that reflects the values and needs of the whole community.
The teams involved are now key champions spearheading the ongoing development of research culture at Warwick, sharing their insights and experiences through our growing communities of practiceLink opens in a new window.
We are capturing the recommendations and outputs of these projects in our Research Culture Catalogue, providing a valuable resource for anyone looking to explore and implement best practices in research culture within their own institutional, disciplinary, or career-stage context.
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.
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 our Researcher Training and Development DirectoryLink opens in a new window, a centralised resource that highlights development opportunities for every career stage
Nurturing the Researchers of Tomorrow
Warwick undergraduate students are enabled to carry out research projects through the Undergraduate Research Support SchemeLink opens in a new window and 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 StudyLink opens in a new window offers 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 inductionLink opens in a new window and a Research Leadership programmeLink opens in a new window, which equip individuals at all career stages with the skills to lead and drive innovation.
Our Commitment to Developing Research Technical Professionals
Warwick has championed the Technician's CommitmentLink opens in a new window since its inception and a Warwick Team is currently leading the UK Technology Specialist Network Link opens in a new windowwhich provides training and development opportunities for research technical professional colleagues.
Building Our Capacity for Interdisciplinary and Impactful 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 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.
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.
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.
