Research culture: let's reimagine how we work together
We want to hear your solutions to improve research culture. As a funder we need to play our part, and your role is essential. Achieving a successful research culture needs collective responsibility and change at all levels. Your ideas will help us to craft a set of ambitious goals for creating a better culture.
-
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linkedin Email this link
Thousands of researchers have taken part in the largest ever survey into experiences of research culture. Now we want to hear your solutions to some of the concerns that have been raised. Your ideas will help us craft a set of ambitious goals for creating a better culture.
Check out the ideas that have already been suggested below, comment and vote for the ones you think could make a difference. Or you can add your own idea following this format (you'll need to create an account to vote and add responses).
Add your idea:
Title of your idea/solution
Enter a short description (optional):
1) A brief description - who can make the change and how?
2) Examples of what you could do to support this change.
3) Stick to under 250 words.
4) If you want, you can tag your institution!
Help us make sure everyone feels safe and free to engage in discussions. Don't be rude, hateful or insulting--we will not tolerate this. You can respectfully challenge ideas but never attack the person. Check out our forum etiquette and moderation rules.
Find out more about Wellcome's campaign to reimagine research.
View All Ideasover 2 years ago
Stop contributing to casualisation
Greatly increase the amount of funding that works like the University Award in that it researchers to gain permanent positions at academic organisations.
over 2 years ago
Create new approaches to authorship on papers
Having single first and last authors on papers prevents supportive and authentic teamwork, and creates unnecessary competition within research groups. The current model of authorship (and the related metrics) needs to be shaken up to allow horizontal authorship and contributions, and not just by adding asterixes to names.
over 2 years ago
Decolonise
Review and reconsider how your original endowment, investment portfolio, funding awards, and relationships with Africa and Asia are inseparable from and reproduce colonial logics and please set out to do more about this. I know this is difficult, particularly in science but there is sufficient scholarship to support such reflection and scholars who could help you think about it.
over 2 years ago
Ghostbust
Query (and declare that you will do so) reported outputs which do not include junior members of research teams (since these are more likely to be ghost authors since junior people often do the heavy lifting of projects for which others get the credit).
over 2 years ago
Turn Universities into evolutionary organisations, building healthy research cultures from the bottom up
Create spaces through training courses for academic impact champions, directors and deans with responsibility for impact and impact officers from professional services to empower colleagues to identify barriers preventing them from doing their best work. Give them permission to experiment, starting with easy, low-risk solutions they don't have to fund or ask permission for, building on what works and adapting what doesn't, to create their own research culture between them and their closest colleagues. At worst, it is possible to create a protective bubble in a toxic culture, but at best, when people are given permission and encouraged to experiment, unexpected new ways of working emerge and spread from person to person and group to group, with multiple cultures aligned with people's different values all emerging in parallel, to create a diverse and motivated body of researchers
