The discursive and policy narrative around research culture, as it has developed in the UK since 2016, has been dominated by large research-intensive universities. Research England’s decision to nudge universities to enhance research culture through ring-fenced QR money has invited a wider range of institutions to evaluate and enhance their research cultures. The research culture challenges faced by many universities in the sector are qualitatively different from those faced by large research-intensive universities. Similarly, the pathways to mitigating research culture challenges in “less research-intensive universities”, in the context of restricted financial and human resources, also differ. This presentation offers a case-study in how an institution – the University of Hull – is assessing and improving its research culture. It indicates ways in which mechanisms to enhance research culture can go hand-in-hand with mechanisms to build research intensity, and highlights some of the dissonance between sector-level discourse on research culture and institutional experience of research culture. It also raises questions of funder approaches to enhancing research culture across a highly unequal sector, and the consequences of these approaches for the stability of the meaning of ‘research culture’ for UK higher education.

The Research Funders Policy Group was set up in 2018 as an informal gathering of representatives from several, predominantly medically oriented, UK-based funders to discuss current and upcoming topics in funding policy. The group has discussed a wide range of subjects, including inflation, bullying and harassment and conflicts of interest as well as producing its first joint statement, on artificial intelligence, in autumn 2023.

During the first half of 2024 the Group is running a pilot to test a co-ordinated approach to information requests related to funding policy, including those related to research culture. In this presentation, the Group will open with an overview of these policies, what we expect of HEIs and what our drivers are in knowing this information. This will be followed by an open discussion on i) what is on the horizon (or should be) with respect to policies to support progress in the area of research culture, ii) how we could evaluate their success, and iii) what opportunities other sector activities present to making progress, for example UKRI's report on ‘Research Culture Initiatives in the UK’, the REF culture metrics and the response to the Government’s Independent Review on Research Bureaucracy.

From career development plans, to approaches to support inclusivity, to narrative CVs, research culture is becoming an increasingly common feature of funding proposals. The introduction of such requirements could be seen either as ‘yet another box’ that is filled in with superficial consideration, or as a much-needed opportunity to encourage embedding of research culture as an essential facet of the planning and conduct of research. What can research enablers do to work with funding applicants to drive positive changes in research culture?
Drawing on varied experiences, including from research facilitators, administrators and managers, this talk will consider the research culture landscape through the lens of what is being asked of researchers in funding applications and provide practical suggestions for ARMA colleagues.
Topics will include: supporting principal investigators to consider research culture in synergy with a research challenge; navigating funder and sector expectations; the alignment and balance of specific local priorities and actions with institutional strategies and structures; and the essential considerations of resourcing, engagement, outcomes and evaluation.