The Action Research on Research Culture project is an international collaboration investigating how changing the recruitment, development and retention of researchers could improve research culture.
Improving research culture – the norms, values and behaviours of researchers and the research system – is a key to revitalising research and increasing its contribution to society.
The Action Research on Research Culture (ARRC) project investigates how changing the recruitment, development and retention of researchers could improve research culture.
Numerous empirical studies, reports and surveys point to problems in the culture of academic research. These include an over-reliance on inappropriate metrics, poor leadership and management, a lack of job security, unhealthy competition, and poor inter-team relationships. These problems lead to a loss of talent and diversity from the sector, and a consequent loss of quality and creativity in research.
Various solutions to these problems have been proposed and the ARRC project will test three approaches intended to improve research culture.
The findings will be used to develop relevant frameworks, policies and materials to ensure effective approaches are embedded in institutions and produce sustainable long term change.
The ARRC project is an international project, led by the University of Cambridge, in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh (UK), Leiden University (The Netherlands), Freie Universität Berlin (Germany), and ETH Zurich (Switzerland). As the project progresses the empirical research will be developed with and extended to partner institutions.
The project is led by Steven Wooding, Head of Research on Research in the Research Strategy Office. Prior to September 2024, he co-led the project with Liz Simmonds, Head of Research Culture.
The project team encompasses a balance of skills to enable them to: engage with researchers and other stakeholders in the research system; understand the context of the different institutions, circumstances, and disciplines, and; carry out high-quality, robust research, to produce the resources that individuals, and the sector, can use to improve practice.
The team members at the University of Cambridge are working on three main research projects:
Narrative CVs
Using ‘Narrative CVs’ in recruitment is intended to move away from an overreliance on publication lists and grant awards. The project will quantify how different CV formats affect the shortlisting of research applicants alongside studying applicants and recruiters experience of those different formats. This will build an evidence base for the potential for narrative CVs to drive positive culture change.
After successfully completing a pilot study with 5 recruitments in year one, our main phase is currently underway.
If you are recruiting for Postdocs at the University of Cambridge please get in touch with us to see how you can get involved by emailing us: arrcproject@admin.cam.ac.uk
An example narrative CV template, based on the Royal Society’s “Résumé for Research” can be downloaded here.
How do researchers navigate their role and professional relationships?
The dynamic between early career researchers/academics (ECR/ECA) and their principal investigators (PIs)/managers is formative in shaping academic careers.
Research suggests potential conflicts in the different professional expectations held by ECRs and their managers. To delve into these differences we are employing three different qualitative, narrative-based methods to explore how PIs and postdocs perceive their roles and professional relationships.
Your voice (YV) submissions
In this method, research staff at the University of Cambridge will be invited to tell us about their research experience by responding to one of three writing prompts that aim to bring participants’ emotions about research work and relationships to light.
Research culture celebration
Postdocs and ECRs at the University will be invited to nominate their research supervisor or research group to the celebration based on their contribution to positive research culture.
My postdoc journey
Online diary entries will be used to capture how first-time postdocs at the University shift from thinking about what the role might be like to knowing and experiencing the job in practice.
Precarity in academic careers
Precarity in early research careers caused by short fixed-term contracts is one of the major issues cited by the community as leading to challenges in research culture. The problem is complex, and many discussions of the issue fail to take account of the many constraints on, and within, the research system.
This project is developing an understanding of the ways in which early career researchers make choices about their research career; how principal investigators make recruitment decisions and; how the variety of research posts has changed over time. The findings will lead to a better understanding of the different solutions available for addressing questions of precarity or mitigating its worst impacts.
We have launched the exploratory phase of this strand to elicit advice that will inform the attributes included in a discrete choice experiment.
For more details on the research approach see the project website.
The research team for this project is based in the Research Strategy Office and the Human Resources Division, working in association with the Bennett Institute for Public Policy. The team is supported by a grant from Research England alongside funding from the Institutional Strategy Support Fund of the Wellcome Trust, and internal University of Cambridge resources. The ARRC project team can be emailed at: arrcproject@admin.cam.ac.uk
