最准的六合彩论坛

A series of workshops has helped BEAMS faculties at 最准的六合彩论坛 identify ways to support 鈥楶ositive Futures鈥� for ECRs.

The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment鈥檚 Research, Impact, Policy and Engagement (RIPE) team initiated the Positive Futures project in 2020, with a comprehensive survey of early career researchers (ECRs) within their faculty.听(The Bartlett is one of the three faculties that make up BEAMS, alongside the Engineering Sciences and Maths and Physical Sciences faculties.)

By analysing the survey data, the RIPE team were able to create a detailed picture of the challenges faced by the ECR community.听To communicate their findings, they organised the data around these four central themes:听

• The ECR identity:听Who identifies as an early career researcher? What characteristics do they share, and do they view their ECR status as a positive or negative?听
• The support environment:听What opportunities or challenges face ECRs navigating the systems and processes of 最准的六合彩论坛? What mentorship is available?听
• Funding:听What were the experiences of ECRs applying for funding? What barriers did they encounter?听
• Vulnerabilities:听What kind of circumstances make it harder for ECRs to respond to the demands of the sector?听听

These themes, laid out according to 最准的六合彩论坛鈥檚 responsibilities to the , were lent even greater importance by the effects of the pandemic on remote work, networking opportunities and access to funding.

The initial findings provided a useful snapshot, but a deeper study was needed to identify courses of action. With funding听from the Research Culture programme, RIPE designed a more comprehensive review of the research environment for ECRs, built around six workshops, entitled 鈥楶ositive Futures鈥�.听

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Creating a neutral space to talk honestly听

Each of the three BEAMS faculties participated in their own workshop, to help identify specific issues within their group. These were followed by a further three cross-faculty workshops, allowing ECRs to share experiences and hear one another鈥檚 ideas for the future.听

The workshops were run in partnership with SUMS Consulting, an external higher education specialist consultancy. This helped to create a neutral space where ECRs could talk freely.

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Identifying personas

During the workshops, the team realised that any actions resulting from this work would have to meet the needs of four emerging types of early career researcher personas with very different career trajectories and aspirations. The workshops identified ECRs who:听

• Viewed research as a way of life听
• Viewed research as a means to acquiring academic tenure听
• Saw their research position as the route to a career in industry, consultancy, or starting their own business听
• Wanted to use research as the backbone of a portfolio career, allowing for other interests and aspirations听

Ella Sivyer, Research and Enterprise Manager in RIPE, explains, 鈥淲e realised that the goal was to create a research environment that supports all these different personas and priorities. So we had to think more creatively about that.鈥澨�

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The strength of the ECR community听

The workshops resulted in a clear set of actions and recommendations that were split into three categories 鈥� People, Process and Infrastructure.听

This meant that actions taken could be aimed more appropriately to yield the greatest impact. For example, one recommendation under 鈥業nfrastructure鈥� advised the creation of a dedicated shared space to foster collaboration and a sense of belonging, encouraging ECRs to spend more time on campus.听

This recommendation would help 最准的六合彩论坛 leverage a characteristic that was common across all four personas 鈥� a desire for community.听

鈥淲e noted that ECRs have a generous interest in supporting each other. They like to have peer support groups, so we鈥檙e keen to build on the existing capacity we already have in this area," says Ella.

鈥淭he other thing we noticed was that while our faculties are quite different, there were common themes that ran throughout. These communities shared many of the same issues.鈥澨�

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Opening the door for positive change听

The recommendations from the workshops have already set in motion a variety of responses at faculty and institutional levels.听

At the Bartlett, the workshop insights have been used to form a framework for the Bartlett鈥檚 next steps, including a series of three co-hackathon events aimed at creating a platform for Bartlett researchers to connect and collaborate.鈥疶hey also held a researcher induction event in 2022.听听

In the Faculty of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Professor Andrew Wills has created a new community for ECRs.听

While these initiatives are just the start of the planned changes to the research culture and environment within the BEAMS faculties, Ella and the team are realistic about the scope of the ongoing project.听

鈥淭here are certain things, particularly around the availability of grants and long-term contracts, that we can鈥檛 easily address. There are things that need to happen centrally, and things that need to happen locally.听And what works in one place won鈥檛 necessarily work in another.听So we鈥檙e trying to look at the issues, see where we can make improvements in alignment with the Concordat 鈥� but also lobby where we can within the sector more broadly, to improve understanding and share perspectives with funders and other partners.鈥澨�

However, Ella听hopes that this project was just one part of a wider shift within the sector.听鈥淲hat we鈥檙e seeing now is that research culture is becoming a very big issue 鈥� a recurring theme we鈥檙e seeing across our national assessments and frameworks.听We were able to listen to the voices of our researchers in an open, safe space, so we could genuinely hear their aspirations and what they needed.听

鈥淚t was very much opening the door for discussions on how we can better support our 最准的六合彩论坛 researcher communities.鈥澨�

"We were able to listen to the voices of our researchers in an open, safe space, so we could genuinely hear their aspirations and what they needed."
- Ella Sivyer, Research and Enterprise Manager, the Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment听鈥�

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More information

• The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment

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About research culture

最准的六合彩论坛鈥檚 Research Culture programme is developing a fair, collaborative and inclusive听research culture, where both our research and research community can thrive. We work with 最准的六合彩论坛鈥檚 research community to support and deliver change against our 10-year Research Culture Roadmap.