King's College London

The Symposium was opened with remarks from the Vice-Chancellor of King’s, Professor Shitij Kapur and Vice President (Research and Innovation), Professor Sir Bashir Al-Hashimi, who highlighted how King’s values all involved in its research endeavour and outlined how the University is proactively reimagining what a good research culture looks like.

An opening keynote was given by Executive Chair of Research England, Professor Dame Jessica Corner who explored the organisation’s role in supporting research culture, with a Q&A chaired by Senior Vice President (Academic) at King’s, Professor Rachel Mills. Professor Corner’s presentation positioned research culture as a global endeavour and highlighted the intersectionality of research culture challenges, including career precarity in research.

Three panels followed, each focusing on one of King’s three Research Culture pillars: A thriving community, valuing diverse contributions and good research practice.

Chaired by Professor Mitul Metha, Director of the Centre for Innovative Therapeutics at King’s, the first panel explored how we value and reward people and ideas across the research ecosystem. Dr Aline Tabib-Salazar, Programme Manager at The Institute of Cancer Research and James Graham, Head of Research Software Engineering at King’s, outlined the importance of technicians and research software engineers to the research endeavour before Dr Hetan Shah, Chief Executive at The British Academy, brought the perspective of a national academy.

The second panel introduced attendees to several funded projects across the sector related to building thriving communities in research and included lively discussion of how institutions can bridge the gap between policy and practice to best support their people. Chaired by Lorraine Kelly, Director of Culture and Talent at King’s, this session included presentations from Alex Peden, Head of Research Cultures at University of Edinburgh, Dr Dan Mullins, Research Development Manager at Birkbeck, Dr Thandiwe Hara, Innovation and Research Policy Manager at University of Oxford and members of the INKLUDE team at King’s, Jasdeep Singh and Dr Hana Morel.

The third session was chaired by Professor Tim Newton, Dean of Research Culture at King’s, and reflected on the links between good research culture and good research practice, interrogating the incentives that underpin the research ecosystem. This session welcomed Dr Stephanie Neave, CEO at UKRIO, Professor Marcus Munafo, Chair of the UKRN and Dr Lizzie Gadd, Head of Research and Innovation Culture and Assessment at University of Loughborough.

The Symposium underlines King’s commitment to reimagining research culture and to using its convening power to bring together relevant stakeholders from a diverse range of universities and funders, to make tangible change.

Research Culture at King’s is led by a central team working closely with faculties and directorates to inform and enable strategic change at various levels. Socialising core research culture principles and initiatives across King’s is a large part of the central team’s mission. If you would like to find out more about the team, or would be interested in incorporating research culture into a local event, please reach out to ResearchCulture@kcl.ac.uk