How can we make a real change to research culture in the UK?

For the UK to become a research and science superpower, its researchers must feel empowered. As we begin to recover from Covid-19 and strive to strengthen our research base, we must develop a positive, inclusive, and respectful research culture that attracts diverse, talented people and helps them thrive.

This is a call for culture change. An essential tool to make this change a reality is the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers (otherwise known as the Researcher Development Concordat). A report looking at the impact of the concordat and the value it has to the sector and its researchers will be published in the coming months.

The concordat focuses on three key principles: environment and culture; employment; and professional and career development. Within each of these themes, there are obligations for institutions, funders, researchers and managers of researchers (ie principal investigators and heads of department) to meet. 

The concordat supports action. For the 108 institutions who’ve signed up to it so far, it creates real change. This includes, but isn’t limited to, targets on a broad range of policies, such as training in equality, diversity and inclusion, wellbeing and mental health provision, and effective policies to address harassment and bullying. It also covers recruitment and promotion practices, a proactive approach to career development and leadership training for both researchers and research managers. We know that continuing to improve what we do in these areas is crucial to the success and wellbeing of our research and innovation community.

The Researcher Development Concordat Strategy Group (RDCSG), which I chair, engages with the research community to promote and support how the principles of the concordat are put into place, and oversees the progress made. I will be chairing a session at our Research and innovation conference 2021 to talk about the concordat and its impact. To engage with the research community, we are also publishing a dedicated website to provide resources for signatories and to platform the voice of researchers in the new year.

The concordat is designed to change over time, and we review it regularly to make sure it meets the changing needs and priorities of the sector. It provides a steer for the research and innovation sector to bring about systemic change across the entire ecosystem, and to create a better place to produce excellent research.

The government’s new strategies – the Research and Development (R&D) People and Culture Strategy and Innovation Strategy – lean on the objectives of the concordat to implement their visions. The concordat’s purpose is to bring us closer to a research environment and culture that genuinely celebrates difference, supports wellbeing and mental health, and nurtures the talents and career development of researchers. We welcome the government’s desire to improve research culture and we would like to work with government, policy makers and the research community to make sure our researchers thrive. Only by doing this can we realise and support the potential of individual researchers, their communities and ultimately the UK’s global ambitions on the world stage.

A report to highlight the impacts of the concordat and its value to the sector will be published in the coming months. If you would like to find out more about the Researcher Development Concordat or how you can be involved, please visit the current website or contact Dana Gamble, Policy Researcher at Universities UK and the lead on the implementation of the concordat.