Research Culture – my research and recommendations

Dr Sanja Djerasimovic

Research Culture Theme(s): Inclusively working together; Career development and Wellbeing

1) Please can you explain how your research relates to research culture?

My research spans areas of early career researchers’ (ECRs’) professional identities, options, and choices, PhD students’ social identities and wellbeing, and the effects of some research policies, such as the evaluation and incentivisation of socio-economic impact , on academic work and careers. All this closely relates to research culture, as I explore the conditions that transform the nature of academic work, and support and restrict career choices and success, and the (early career) academics’ responses to, and agency in, negotiating often challenging aspects of today’s higher education, in the UK and Europe.

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

Some key insights from my research that relate to research culture concern the increasing difficulty – or even attractiveness – of securing an academic career, as the higher education and research funding models, married to traditionally exclusionary academic cultures, produce an environment of extreme competitiveness, individualism, short-termism, and precarity, that particularly impacts under-represented groups in higher education who usually do not have the financial, social, or cultural resources to navigate the progressively harder-to-access academic career. Important for this is also the persisting ‘ideal’ of an academic, usually thought of as White, financially secure, able, mobile, and without caring responsibilities and other restrictions to pursuing a mandate of research productivity that is extremely challenging to the notion of work-life balance. Finally, my research on PhD candidates’ experiences (in some humanities and social science disciplines) highlights the fact that the doctoral training, not least in its overreliance on the highly contingent supervisory relationships, is increasingly non-reflective and unsupportive of the contemporary realities of post-graduation (academic and non-academic) research.

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

The selection of some of my research insights as presented above highlights the importance of creating organisational policies that: 1) promote equality, inclusivity, representation, and diversity of university research and researchers, and work with other stakeholders (funders, learned societies, non-academic actors) to remove financial and cultural barriers to what still remains a largely inaccessible, and even elitist, career; 2) create conditions at the PhD level that support the wide range of research skill training and networking, together with informed and consistent conversations about, and career-boosting opportunities (‘secondments’, academic and non-academic collaboration, publication and public engagement) for different possible career paths following doctoral graduation – not only academic and non-academic but also those in ‘third space’ and research- enhancing roles (technicians, library staff, and research support, development, and management roles), ensuring that the latter are in the university research environment and culture appropriately recognised and rewarded, not least through the creation of meaningful career progression paths; 3) for all us researchers but especially those in position of leadership, to work continually and with commitment on fostering a culture of collegiality, collaboration, mentoring, and workplace wellbeing by being supportive, inclusive, reflective, and modelling ethical professional behaviours and research practices.

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

While the results of my work are yet to feed directly to an institutional or sectoral policy, the need for a concerted effort on these issues was recognised almost unanimously by research participants and research event organisers, who appreciated being given a voice, as well as by funders who recognised the need for further research and research culture interventions on the topic of PhD candidates’ belonging, wellbeing, and academic career attainability for those belonging to under-represented groups. Together with colleagues from researcher development and research culture team at the UoE, and other regional universities, I am also collaborating with the British Academy, to inform their efforts on supporting the upskilling, networking, and career opportunities of social sciences and humanities ECRs.

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

Although a lot of what is outlined above probably does not come as much of a surprise to some colleagues, it would be great if as many people as possible familiarised themselves with institutional (EDI and research) and sectoral (BACRN, The Hidden REF) initiatives aimed towards fostering a research culture that would be supportive, inclusive, and recognise and reward diverse contributions made to the research ecosystem. Keeping awareness of these issues and where appropriate and possible, acting on them, is paramount.