Our Research and Innovation Culture
We seek to nurture a culture characterised by the University values – adventurous, creative, responsible, collaborative and authentic.
Our Research and Innovation Culture (R&I Culture) is defined as:
The behaviours, values, attitudes, and norms that are made manifest throughout our Research and Innovation communities and influence our priorities, policies and processes.
Why is R&I Culture important?
We recognise that across the sector, research culture has come under scrutiny for enabling and embedding unhelpful – sometimes even toxic practices – job precarity, narrowly defined success measures, uneven opportunities to participate, bullying and harassment.
At Loughborough, we seek to live our values in everything we do to ensure that our R&I Culture is positive and inclusive – allowing everyone to thrive, innovate and produce their best work.
How does R&I Culture relate to academic culture?
Our R&I Culture sits within our broader academic and institutional cultures. So, it can be artificial and counterproductive to focus only on the cultures found in one element of our activity to the exclusion of others.
Our ambitions to create capacity; prize equity, diversity and inclusion; foster collegiality and community; and support career development apply to all our activities. However, there are particular research and innovation dimensions to some of these – such as creating research capacity, and the precarity of short-term research posts.
In addition, some of our ambitions particularly relate to research and innovation, including open research practices, research integrity and research assessment.
Thus, while our work to improve our R&I Culture will focus on these important concerns, it will draw on University-wide work to improve the broader academic and institutional culture – mindful not to create any artificial boundaries or inequities between different parts of the University's important work.
What is the R&I Culture Working Group - and who is in it?
The Working Group reports to the Research and Innovation Committee and to the Human Resources Committee. It advises on issues relating to R&I Culture as agreed by group members in response to institution-level feedback. The group meets every two months and seeks to represent all facets of our R&I community.
Membership of the R&I Culture Working Group
- Pro Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation (Chair) - Professor Dan Parsons
- Pro Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (Deputy Chair) - Professor Charlotte Croffie
- Associate Pro Vice Chancellor for the Doctoral College - Professor Steve Christie
- Associate Dean for R&I - Professor Karen Coopman
- Members of Contract Research Staff - Dr James Sanders and Rachel Talbot
- Early Career Academic - Dr Tim Marjoribanks
- Doctoral Researcher - Ashley van Bruygom
- School-based Research Project Manager - Dr Kathryn North
- Member of UCU - Dr Mary Brewer
- Organisational Development Senior Change Manager - Dr Steve Harris
- R&I Lead - Research and Innovation Office (Secretary) - Dr Elizabeth Gadd
- Director of Research and Innovation Office - Jennifer Johnson
- Director of Human Resources - Anne Lamb
- Technician - Dr Stuart Archer
- Researcher Development Professional - Dr Katryna Kalawsky and Dr Tina Byrom
How can I get involved?
The R&I Culture Working Group consists of representatives from a wide range of R&I Communities (see full list above).
We are planning School and University-Wide consultations and events for you to participate in. They will be advertised here – check back soon to view our busy schedule.
If you'd like to find out more, have any ideas or questions - please get in touch.