About the Collaborative Research and Innovation Cultures Project

The University has been awarded funding of almost £1M by the Wellcome Trust to enhance collaborative research culture.  

The project focuses on two key challenges:

1. How can we work with partners in industry and the public and third sector to co-produce inclusive research and innovation cultures?  
2. How do we value and recognise the breadth and depth of everyday contributions which sustain thriving collaborative research and innovation cultures? 

By recognising that research cultures are not the sole domain of universities, our approach will provide a distinct and innovative background for investigating pathways to more collaborative, connected, and sustainable research communities.

Our key goals include:

• Delivering interventions to test levers that enable inclusive cultures of collaboration in crosssector research environments.
• Developing sector data and guidance related to benchmarking positive cultures of collaboration.
• Producing sector-facing resources that address how we can reward and recognise the ‘invisible’ labour required to produce highly innovative and collaborative research cultures. This project will be based at the University of Strathclyde, a leading socially-progressive technological university. We will draw on our extensive network of Strategic Partners (covering industry, the public and third sector, and a global network of universities) to create new knowledge, resources, and opportunities for the research community at Strathclyde, as well as the broader HE sector.
  

Working across the University of Strathclyde

We are keen to bring together Communities of Practice - groups of people with common interests and concerns and different kinds of expertise who come together to share knowledge, experiences and best practice. We want to involve people across the breadth of the research community: from academic and research staff (all career stages, all disciplines) to administrative and professional services staff; from doctoral students to knowledge exchange and practice-based staff; and from teaching to technical staff. 

If you are a member of staff or a doctoral student at the University of Strathclyde, find out more about how to get involved. 

Meet the Team 

For the duration of the project (May 2024-May 2026), there will be a dedicated project team to support this work at Strathclyde.  

The Project Delivery Team members include a Project Manager (Dr Maria Weikum), Research Associate (Dr I Lin Sin), Knowledge Exchange Associate (Dr Chris Wells-Holland) and two Project Administrators in a job-share (Angela Graham and Katrina Salamon). 

The project is led by Professor Churnjeet Mahn (Deputy Associate Principal, Research and Knowledge Exchange) and Dr Emma Compton-Daw (Researcher Development Manager, Organisational and Staff Development Unit).

The project is supported by Professor Tim Bedford (Associate Principal, Research and Innovation), Professor Patricia Connolly (Deputy Associate Principal, Biomedical Engineering), Professor Madeleine Grealy (Deputy Associate Principal, Psychology), Professor Roma Maguire (Deputy Associate Principal, Computer & Information Sciences) and Professor Paul McKenna (Deputy Associate Principal, Physics), as well as colleagues in Research & Knowledge Exchange Services - in particular Dr Antony Weir and Grace Murkett.

Research Culture 

We draw on the Royal Society’s definition of research culture as encompassing the behaviours, values, expectations, attitudes and norms of research communities. Research culture shapes how we conduct, communicate, use and participate in research, and the extent and ways in which the work is recognised and rewarded.  

As a socially progressive university, we seek to recognise and value everyone in our research communities involved in delivering, leading and enabling innovative, impactful and rigorous research. This includes our partners in industry and the public and third sector; our academic staff; our staff working in research, teaching, technical expertise, knowledge exchange, administrative and professional services; and our doctoral students.