Research Culture – How the Researcher Concordat directly supports it

Dr Chris Wood, Head of Researcher Development and Research Culture

Research culture theme: Career development and wellbeing 

1) Please can you explain what the Concordat is and how it relates to research culture?  

The Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers is an agreement that we, as a university signed up to 12 years ago. How we ensure we are meeting our obligations under this commitment is through our HR Excellence in Research plan, which has led to our HR Excellence in Research award that we have held now for 12 years.

The Concordat has three defining principles, the first being very clearly all about research culture (Environment and Culture), however the additional principles of Employment and Professional and Career Development also very clearly relate.

For each of these Principles, the Concordat outlines the key responsibilities of the four main stakeholder groups; researchers, managers of researchers, institutions and funders. The agreement, therefore, isn’t solely about how we institutionally support our researchers’ careers, but also the commitment individual researchers and their managers need to play in this agreement.

2) Which elements of the Concordat most relate to research culture and how? 

The Environment and Culture Principle acknowledges that ‘Excellent research requires a supportive and inclusive research culture’. Amongst other areas, this requires us to ensure that relevant staff are aware of the Concordat; institutional policies and practices relevant to researchers are inclusive, equitable and transparent; and to promote good mental health and wellbeing. These principles then translate into actions on our HR excellence plan, such as the creation of a new SharePoint site to help raise awareness of the Concordat; reviewing policies and practices and measuring their awareness through CEDARs; and monitoring the outputs of the Workload Allocation Review.   

3) What benefits does the Concordat bring to creating a more positive research culture?

The primary beneficiaries of the Concordat are anyone employed to conduct research at the University, but it does have a focus on supporting Early Career Researchers (ECRs). Of course, by improving our research environment, the employment conditions of our researchers and the overall culture of how we conduct and support our researchers at the University, there are tangible benefits for the whole research community. The outline of our plans to support the Concordat are contained within our associated HR Excellence Action Plan. 

4) Can you provide any examples, evidence or feedback from those who have positively benefitted from the Concordat?

Since our implementation of the Concordat principles, we have seen increases in terms of recruitment and employment. We have increased the number of researchers employed at the University who feel that their recruitment was inclusive (79%) and transparent (79%). Moreover, 87% of recruited research staff felt that the selection and recruitment process was fair. 

79% of researchers at the University believe that working conditions are flexible and 73% feel valued for their work on peer reviewing, grant application and management. In addition, 93% of research managers feel confident providing effective feedback to their team members. 

Around 75% of staff have a good level of job satisfaction, with a similar level feeling included in their immediate research environment. 

5) How can colleagues play their part / where can people find out more? 

If you are an academic researcher, we encourage you to visit our Microsoft Sway presentation to familiarise yourself with your responsibilities under the Concordat and also those of your manager.  

6) What should people do if they don’t feel their manager is upholding the Concordat? 

There are various avenues you can pursue, dependent on which you feel most appropriate. You can get in touch with HR or your Faculty Director of Research and Impact in the first instance, or reach out to the Researcher Development and Research Culture team or the DVC for Research and Impact. Alternatively, Early Career Researchers can reach out directly to one of the four ECR Representatives to the Research and Impact Executive Committee. These representatives voice the concerns of the ECR community and they interact directly with senior management of the University, including the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research and Impact. 

ECRs also have the opportunity to attend meetings and share their experiences through the structure of representation that is designed to support ECRs. We run Town Halls and Representative Committee meetings on a termly basis, providing multiple opportunities for ECRs to get themselves heard and to raise issues, as well as to hear about the university’s actions and responsibilities. You can find out more on our ECR Hub. 

For more information please contact: