IoPPN Research Culture Insights: Joanna Bright

What do you think of when you hear 'research culture'?

To me, research encompasses everything from the decisions we make about what research we do, to how we do our research, to how we treat those we research with. It covers spaces as local as our immediate team, to our standing as a university in a global network.

We are responsible for the impact of our research (to an extent), and the impact we have on those in our team & wider university community as we produce this research. To me, taking responsibility for building positive research culture comes first – before we even think about what question we are going to ask. It is a process which continues throughout the research career.

Research culture is something that is built through active participation in creating a better world, it cannot come from passivity, or waiting for someone else to do the work for us. Building a research culture which is positive and empowering for all is an active choice that we all must keep making as we learn more, and face new challenges.

What aspects do you think are done well in IoPPN?

I can mainly speak to the Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre as this is where I am located.

We have a grassroots project – the Anti-Racism Working Group, which has been fully supported by senior leadership to highlight the ways racism exists within our department, and in our work. I think the level of support we have been given in challenging our community to think about our research practices and impact of our work has allowed us all to grow. It is empowering to come to an academic department as an early career researcher and be given the trust and agency by our head of department to create change that aligns with the kind of research culture I want to be part of.

I also have been encouraged to see issues brought to the IoPPN CEDI committee have been taken seriously and escalated to higher leadership, such as the eye-watering visa fees international staff must pay upfront if they accept jobs at KCL. The openness of CEDI reps to instigate changes brought to them gives me hope for a more inclusive, empowering research culture for all members (and future members) of our research community.

Going forward, what do you want to see in the research culture space?

I have been thinking a lot recently about who takes on the burden of building a positive research culture. The recent study by Järvinen & Mik-Meyer (2024) exemplifies how “unequal distribution of service work in academia is dependent on relational work, where participants balance individual against collective interests in gendered ways”. For various reasons detailed in the paper, women are more likely to take on the burden of service work such as joining committees, mentoring, and other ‘student-related academic housework’. This work takes up a considerable amount of time, and time is power! The unequal distribution in who gets more time to focus on their own research and career development, and who invests more time in collective growth is an invisible driver of gender inequality in research.

We also must recognise that there are unique barriers to career progression faced by colleagues who experience other kinds of discrimination based on race, class, sexual orientation, physical ability. I would like to see everyone, but particularly those in positions of power (PI’s, team leaders) taking responsibility for each team member having the same opportunity to personal achievement, whilst also contributing equally to collective development.

I want to be part of a research culture that stands in solidarity against the destruction of knowledge and actively supports our fellow researchers, educators and students who are so often persecuted and targeted during times of conflict and crises. In Sudan, 19 million children have been left without access to education following the forced closure of over 10,400 schools since the outbreak of the current conflict. Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, over 3,790 educational facilities have been occupied or destroyed.

In Gaza, every single one of the 12 universities have been destroyed by the Israeli military, and over 5,500 students, 260 teachers and 95 university professors killed over the last 6 months. This is in addition to the restriction on movement of many Palestinian academics in the West Bank and detention by Israeli military when attempting to attend their universities for a number of years.

Events like these are happening right now in conflicts across the world, in international and civil wars, in dictatorships and repressive regimes. I want to see stronger condemnation from our local research community of the attacks against members of our global community, as we watch it happen in real time. As researchers within a powerful UK education institution, we can support our global colleagues under attack by holding our government and policy-makers accountable for the commitment they have made to protecting students, educators and facilities in areas of conflict.

This blog is part of a ongoing series looking at research culture at IoPPN. If you would be interested in contributing, please contact aneita.pringle@kcl.ac.uk.