Why is research culture important?

Hear from The University of Warwick colleagues and guests from UKRI and UKRN, talking during the International Research Culture Conference (IRCC 2023).

The National Centre for Research Culture is working with partners and HEIs nationwide to improve research culture across the sector. Watch this space for more information about the IRCC 2024, coming soon!

The Warwick PATHWAY Programme

Last year, we launched the Warwick PATHWAY Programme, designed to tackle the under-representation of black academics in Higher Education.

Led by Professor Sotaro Kita, PATHWAY offers a range of opportunities along the entire career pathway. It also provides opportunities for networking and community building to generate synergy and collaboration.   

Applications for the Undergraduate Research Support Scheme are open now, with further opportunities for PhD Studentships, Early Career Fellowships and more coming soon. 

Creative research reveals enabling and constraining aspects of research culture

Dr Harriet Richmond, supported by the Enhancing Research Culture Fund, is leading a new project exploring research culture. Stemming from her Creative Methods workshops for researchers, the study explores the link between research problems and research culture.  

Workshop participants explore research problems using arts-based methods, but the conversations prompted by these activities also touch on questions of identity, career anxiety, and belonging.  

The research will culminate in a public exhibition showcasing participants' creative work. Learn more about Harriet's work in research culture.    
 

Money talks

In September 2022, the Money and Medals Network (MMN) relocated from the British Museum to The University of Warwick’s Classics Department.

The MMN currently has more than 240 partner organisations and provides numismatic training (training on coins) to UK museum staff, equipping them with practical skills and providing a forum for information exchange. 
 
In 2023, the MMN organised two successful in-person training workshops, with more events planned for 2024. Regular beginner-friendly online talks will begin in January, providing easier access to training and specialist expertise across the UK. 
 

The Stages of Violence Research Network  

Since 2021, the School of Creative Arts, Performance and Visual Cultures has hosted the AHRC-funded Stages of Violence Research Network led by Dr Bobby Smith. 

The Network is facilitating international collaboration over a two-year period between academics and theatre practitioners in England, France, Kenya, Northern Ireland and Rwanda. The partnerships will explore relationships between performance and violence.

Findings will help enhance the approaches adopted by performance practitioners in their work, and inform the agenda for the final online symposium funded by the AHRC.

The Mental Health and Productivity Pilot (MHPP)

Over in Warwick Medical School, the Mental Health and Productivity Pilot (MHPP) comprises a collaboration of seven Midlands universities and other stakeholders. The group is working together to support Midlands’ business communities and their employees to improve workplace mental health and reduce the impact of sickness absence and presenteeism on productivity. 

As part of this programme, Warwick researchers (Professor Caroline Meyer, Dr Carla Toro and Dr Talar Moukhtarian) partnered with the University of Birmingham and Mind, the mental health charity. They led on the development and testing of four evidence-based interventions to support the mental health and wellbeing of employees across the region.

New grant secured for an international collaboration on pioneering research

Congratulations to Dr Mark Greenhalgh, who has secured a substantial grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to establish an international collaboration for his pioneering research in catalysis and molecular interactions. 

Dr Greenhalgh's project focuses on 'chalcogen bonding' in catalysis, and he will work in collaboration with computational chemists at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). The collaboration was initiated through the EUTOPIA European university alliance. 

He said: “I am incredibly excited about this collaboration and believe we will achieve things together that would have been impossible on our own. This collaborative effort exemplifies EUTOPIA's spirit, enabling us to achieve scientific milestones beyond individual capacities”. 
 

A blueprint for Cockney rhyming slang

They say that the Cockney dialect will soon be dead (or ‘brown bread’), but Dr Christopher Strelluf in the department of Applied Linguistics is working to change that. 
 
Working closely with East London community organisers, Christopher provides guidance on how to use Cockney to foster confidence among residents and increase socioeconomic and educational attainment. The work is part of a new £800,000 Community Languages Programme awarded to the London borough of Tower Hamlets. 
 
With support from an ESRC Impact Accelerator Award, Dr Strelluf and partners have created and published A Cockney Blueprint for Tower Hamlets to provide linguistically informed learning materials on language prejudice, features of Cockney, and the role of language in shaping culture and identity.
 

Could AI threaten academic freedom?

Professor Shweta Singh at Warwick Business School explores how academics can manage AI to enhance learning without hampering academic freedom.

She explains: “As academics and as a sector, we need to consider how to adapt to AI while maintaining academic freedom. AI tools such as ChatGPT inherently feel positive for education, but we must keep alive the importance of learning for its own sake, as well as critical thinking. It’s vital that the next generation of students are taught how to think rather than what to think, as AI risks us doing.”