The combined features of world-leading research environments
Strategy

  • Has an ambitious, credible and living research strategy that is long-term with a focus that extends beyond the REF.
  • The strategy is to be delivered by advancing a set of credible and targeted strategic priorities.
  • The priorities are informed by a self-awareness of research strengths and are designed to:

Be pioneering within the discipline:-

  • Enable research to excel or lead in key areas.
  • Establish or develop or build on or grow or expand or extend an area of research strength.
  • Embed or sustain or consolidate or focus on or deepen or stay at the forefront of or capitalise on an area of research strength.

And outward looking across disciplines (facilitates access to greater diversity of funding and partners):-

  • Extend or deepen or increase inter/multi-disciplinary collaborative research.
  • Facilitate the translation of research through collaborations outside of academia.
  • Facilitate international collaborations.

Leadership

  • Is led by people who recognise the equal importance and value of both individual and collaborative endeavour as both behaviours and practices are needed to advance the strategy.

Climate

  • The leadership fosters a climate that is essential to the advancement of a globally ambitious strategy in which all people invest:
  • is open & international– PhD students, Postdoctoral Researchers, Fellows, PIs, Professors, Retired colleagues, Alumni, Academic Partners, Non-Academic Partners are all seen as making essential positive contributions towards the achievement of strategy – international openness is vital.
  • is inclusive of allin decision-making (e.g. in away days, committees), in supporting inputs (e.g. grants), in supporting outputs (e.g. papers), in supporting professional development and wellbeing)
  • expects excellence in researchandthe upholding of high research standards.
  • expects, recognises and rewards both individual and collaborative endeavour.

Systems and Processes

  • The leadership sustains this climate by highlighting and reinforcing its values and expectations (openness, inclusiveness, excellence, standards, individual and collaborative endeavour) through:
  • Policies.
  • Recruitment Processes.
  • Induction Processes.
  • Management.
  • Recognition and Reward systems.
  • Examples of collaborative endeavour: all researchers (from junior to Professorial) share and contribute to the effort of applying for grants, publishing, organising conferences, seminars, talks, socials, peer reviewing, editing journals, developing and delivering new programmes, ethics reviewing, mentoring, supervising, professional development and wellbeing, sharing equipment; PGRs and Research Staff on fixed-term contracts contribute to many of these efforts.

Recruitment

  • The recruitment of PhD students through to Professors is guided by the strategic priorities and there is an effort at balanced recruitment in order to progress both established and emerging areas of research strength. The diversity of the people (gender, ethnicity, international, home, young, old) is seen as necessary and advantageous.

Structures

  • All structures (soft and hard) are flexibly configured and/or reconfigured to help advance the strategy - e.g. soft structures like research groups and teams, centres and institutes and hard structures like buildings are organised in ways that advance the strategic priorities. The structures encourage dual identities, so that individuals are members of more than one group and/or team and/or discipline.

The benefits of an optimal critical mass are understood and reached:

Growth (e.g. in staff, postdocs, PGRs, income, facilities, equipment, partnerships, publications, programmes) leads to:-
  • Ability to be a major contributor to addressing global challenge
  • Ability to further broaden and deepen research strengths in both blue sky and applied
  • Ability to collaborate with a greater number of partners
  • Access to a wider range and volume of funding
  • Ability to attract from amongst the very best researchers

*This information was compiled by Research & Innovation Services (Richard Hudson) and presents a summary of the findings of an in-depth review of the Research Environment Statements of the Russell Group universities who scored most highly in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework